September's Photos

02/09 - Our arrival in Japan
03/09 - Window Views
05/09 - Daiichi University
06/09 - Typhoon
07-09 - Fukuoka
09/09 - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
11/09 - Fukuoka Tower
12/09 - Dandelion Bar
16/09 - Son House
18/09 - Moon Festival
23/09 - Flowerpots
25/09 - Dazaifu Light Festival
28/09 - Postoffice Book

Kanji

We started learning kanji today. Not for very long, though. We just looked at ten characters and read their pronounciations before moving on to something else. I think we're supposed to learn them ourselves.

We learnt: 日 (sun), 月 (moon), 木 (tree), 山 (mountain), 川 (river), 田 (rice field), 人 (person), 口 (mouth), 車 (car), 門 (gate).

Unfortunately I've just realised that I've left my kanji book in the classroom. Damn the clever desks: they have little storage shelfs underneath the main surface for books, but it means you can't see them. I suppose I'll have to do my homework on paper then, and copy it back in later.

I taught this afternoon after lessons for the first time outside of Linden Hall. This was for Yoko who provided me a with a lesson plan despite having told me to plan to do something for an hour. My ppor mother thought about that plan for a long time, and then I basically didn't do any of it.

There were six children between 4 and 5 years old, so it was a kindergarten class, and their English was limited. We started by singing 'Ring a Ring of Roses'; I told Yoko what it was about beforehand as she didn't know, but we refrained from telling the children. Hehehe. I love the hidden messages in nursery rhymes. Anyway, after that Yoko disappeared for a bit and I showed them some flash cards of verbs and said "I can" and "I can't" do whatever the flash card said. Getting them to say what the flash card said was a big chore, though, me not knowing the word for 'say' in Japanese.

Upon Yoko's return we just did more 'I can', 'I can't' stuff (mostly I can since they seem to be able to do everything). Most of the lesson was spent with me saying something in English and her translating it for the children. I suppose the point is that they just here an English person speaking as opposed to understanding what they were saying.

After that, I read a book to them. Well, not so much read as turned the pages and pointed to the animals therein. It was about dancing animals, but there didn't seem to be any story. I just asked them what each animal was, and sometimes the colour, or the number of them. And that was it.

Everyone's gone out drinking again tonight in Kurume this time (the opposite direction to Tenjin). I don't really like going out at night. I think I'd much prefer exploring in the daylight - I can take pictures then!

Mobile Phones Part 2

Today we got our mobile phones! That's one quick service. Ciarán actually registered for his this morning and had it in the afternoon. We were late out of class though, and the bus timetable has changed slightly so we had to grab our phones and run for the bus (well three of us did, the others stayed behind).

Unfortunately we can't use our phones to text ones in the UK, which is annoying, but they can send and receive emails. However, it costs to download these, but we have so many yen of free downloads each month.

They're pretty cool phones. Everyone over here has a flippy-style handset and now we're no different. I can take pictures and movies, and record things and my ring tone is a rocked up version of "Air on a G string". Smooth.

Mobile Phones

We got our post office accounts this morning. There is a nice blue sleeve with the colourful passbook inside. I'll take a picture of it at some point. We also learnt how to tell the time this morning. Though the bus driver was trying to tell me when the bus was going to leave this evening and everything just went out of my head. I hate it when that happens. There have been so many situations when I could have understood something first time, or could have said something in Japanese, but have just forgotten everything. The sterile class environment is very different to the outside world.

At lunch, Ikema-sensei brought three hairdressers to meet us. It was very random. I think that, just maybe, they're trying to get our business. They even left us some strange snacky things in the office. Little do they know that we've already got a discount at Tony & Guy's from the modelling woman.

Ikema has also invited us all to a jazz concert a week on Sunday. He likes "to take us" and "to enjoy". Mmmmmm.... nice!

Then instead of our usual culture lesson, the man from AU (a mobile phone company) came. We all bought phones in the end (apart from Ciarán, who wasn't there) and we all got the same tariff. He brought along 10 different handsets for us to choose from, but it turned out that five of them didn't qualify for the student discount scheme, you had to pay extra for one of them, and three of the remaining four were the same model in different colours. So we're all having similar phones as well! We should get them tomorrow.

Ciarán forgot that he was supposed to be teaching today, so Drummond had to cover for him. I taught the first years today with Binks again. I had a much better time than yesterday. We did different occupations, and discussed them, and also a little bit of telling the time. I think they quite enjoyed it - I did!

It's surprising the number of injuries that they have. If they're not getting injured in our lessons (one kid had his hand stepped on today), they seem to already have plasters everywhere. The nurse actually kept popping in to look at people's previous injuries.

No Control

Taught the second years again for the 4th time. Not sure how I've managed that since I'm only supposed to see them once every other week. Even so, they still have no respect for me and I've given up trying to enforce any discipline.

We played hangman, pictionary, and another game where you have to describe an object without saying what it is. There's a game like it I've played at Hannah's, but I can't remember it's name. They didn't participate well in any of them: Keisuke didn't want to guess letters in hangman, and they couldn't descibe anything using words; resorting to actions and sound effects in most cases. I given up caring, to be honest - it's only an after school extra thing anyway.

I've got another vocab test tomorrow, so I'm off to revise for that.

Jinkoshiki-taisai

Didn't do anything today (or as one of Drummond's students would say: nothing doing). I have, however, uncovered a little more information about the Light Festival we went to on Sunday.

It is called the jinkoshiki-taisai (some sort of large festival) and it is the annual autumn festival of Dazaifu Tenmangu (shrine). It dates back to 1101AD in Heian era Japan when a then officer of the Dazaifu, Oeno Masafusa, founded the festivities to commemorate Sugawara no Michizane, the deity to which the shrine is dedicated, in addition to show their appreciation of the harvest. It is the most important festival of the shrine.

I also found the shrine's homepage at: http://www.dazaifutenmangu.or.jp/other/index.htm

Dazaifu

I went to the Dazaifu light festival this evening. I have no idea what it is about or for as my internet searches have turned up a blank. Oh well.

Dazaifu is a lovely place, if slightly touristy. Once inside the shrines, though, everything takes on a more peaceful and tranquil mood. There's something about the big torii (stone Pi signs), the bridges over little lakes, and the shrine buildings themselves that is very relaxing. We got there an hour early and so had a look around the shrine itself. We possibly should have stayed on the bridge, since that was the closest point to the action. Instead we watched from over the lake, not too far away - we still had a good view. I felt slightly embarrased at our obvious height advantage as all these little Japanese people clamoured to see, but we stood our ground like any good gaijin (foreigner).

In front of the crowd, along the edge of the lake, were hung little candles all the way around. Before the festival began, a few were lit by helpers in Hawaiin-style shirts and more candles were given out to be used as tapers. The front row of the crowd spent the rest of the celebration fruitlessly trying to keep these candles all lit as the wind kept blowing them out. None of them seemed to have any regards for the flamability of there clothes nor of the dripping wax as they leaned as far as they could to light that one candle. When they were all lit though the effect was really lovely, especially the reflections in the lake.

The celebrations took place on a little sort of mini-pier structure in the lake. There were about three dances, not the high energy sort, but consisting of slow and deliberate movements. The first was a man, the second four girls initially with fans but who swapped to sleighbells, and the third was another four girls with flowers. They were accompanied by a man with a big drum, though not played quickly like the taiko drums but, again, deliberate and slow. There were also some men who droned in the background, achieving quater-tones (don't know if that was deliberate), and some stringed instruments and some sort of wind-powered keyboard instrument. At least that's what it sounded like; I didn't really get a glimpse of any of them, apart from the drum.

The whole thing only lasted about 40 minutes, but my back was hurting from all the standing by then. I enjoyed the experience and the little bit of Japanese culture. I didn't take many good photos as it was too dark. I shall have to return during the day to capture the shrine better.

Alcohol

Didn't do much today. I didn't even leave the building. Had a nice lie in until gone noon, and then did more nothing. Five of us went and played pool, unharassed by the Japanese natives on this occasion. Had dinner, then went and sat in Flick's room with Drummond and drank umeshu. She's got new speakers so we were checking out their fidelity. We spent all night in there, later joined by Ciarán and James.

I also talked to Hannah over the internet for an hour, which was as lovely as usual. Bit hard to say bye though as neither of us were going anywhere, or needed to sleep. She had work to do, though, and I don't want to damage her medical career.

It also seems that Brendan and Binks have started something, with reports of certain "noises" emanating from his room unconfirmed. I hope they don't spend too much time in there, as I share a wall with his room! On a slightly related note, Brendan also has a blog at http://brendanmillerjapan.blogspot.com/, which has a different selection of photos and comments (including a run-down on all of us).

Indian Pool

Went to lunch with Flick (whose aquired the new nickname Froshty) and Yoko at "Que Sara Sara". It's an Indian restaurant run by an Argentinian in Japan. The food was good, and not too expensive. I had some sort of giant wrap thing for only ￥550 and it was very filling, if extremely difficult to eat without the contents pouring out everywhere. We talked about some really heavy topics, though: religion (again), the war in Iraq, the Northern Ireland violence, and the teaching if disabled children!

We talked about the classes very briefly in the middle of all of this. In my class next Friday I am supposed to introduce my country and sell it to them, like an advert. Then the rest of the hour we're going to do "I can" and "I can't" (which immediately made me think of the League of Gentlemen). I'm not sure how I'm going to do that for an hour, though she suggested that maybe I bring a worksheet for them to do.

This evening, Rushen and I were going to play pool, but were joined my two Japanese girls: one called Akiko, and the other Nozumi (or something like that). They didn't seem to know how to play, though, and teaching them was interesting. They spoke a little English, which helped, though they spent most of the time imitating my laugh, and the way we spoke Japanese. It was quite an unnerving experience, simply because we can't speak the language. It's nice that they're friendly, but I can't wait until I can speak Japanese well enough so that I can have at least a simple conversation with people. The dorm staff are always asking us questions and it's annoying that I can't understand them and they have to try and explain in bad English. It just makes the whole interaction unsettling.

Going to a light festival tomorrow, though, which should be good fun. It's at the Dazaifu shrine, which is a big tourist attraction; it's in all the guide books as a place to visit.

Wan wan

Dogs go "wan wan" in Japan, we discovered today. That was when we side-tracked the teacher for at least 10 minutes. We also tried to explain what a guinea pig was to her, but she kept saying "Marmotte?".

After classes James, Ciarán, Binks and me went to collect our gaijin (foreigners' cards). An easy process if ever there was one, though it took them far longer than I'd have expected to pull four cards out of a drawer! I was going to go into Tenjin afterwards, but no-one else was going, and I only wanted to pick up my plane tickets, so I didn't bother.

Most people are going out tonight, at about 10pm. The last train back is 11.30 so I think some of them might be pulling an all nighter again. Not really my cup of tea, so I'm going to stay in. Maybe I'll have an early night; I've been quite tired these last few days.

Shinto

Today's lesson on Japanese history was really interesting. We did the Yayoi and the Kofun. Then Seb told us the Shinto creation myth. It's really interesting, but quite long, but the start goes like:

In the beginning there was only chaos. No form, no ying and no yang. After a while, the refined bits of the chaos drifted upward whilst the stodgy parts moved down. They created Heaven and Earth. The interaction between these two places brought about the creation of eight gods.

The first gods summoned two divine beings into existence, the male Izanagi and the female Izanami, and charged them with creating the first land. To help them do this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a spear decorated with jewels, named Amenonuhoko (heavenly spear). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi (floating bridge of heaven), and churned the sea below with the spear. When drops of salty water fell from the spear, they formed into the island Onogoro (self-forming). They descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually they wished to be mated, so they built a pillar called Amenomihashira and around it they built a palace called Yahirodono (the room of eight footsteps). Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side, Izanami spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was the proper thing to do, but they mated anyhow. They had two children, Hiruko (leech child) and Awashima (island of bubbles) but they were badly-made and are not considered deities.

Hiruko was born without bones, and could not stand by his third birthday. So they put the children into a boat and set them out to sea, then petitioned the other gods for an answer as to what they did wrong. They were told that the male deity should have spoken first in greeting during the marriage ceremony. So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time, Izanagi spoke first when they met, and their marriage was then successful.

If you want to read more, then have a hunt around. Start with Izanami and read around (click on the links). It's very interesting.

Internet Down... Again

Well, some how we managed to break the internet connection again last night. Hannah and I managed to get Google Talk working the other day, which was sweet, but means confusion when the internet connection breaks. She spent about an hour waiting for me to come online and then phoned me three times to get through, as I went to breakfast (I didn't know what else to do!). Anyway, they've fixed it already, which was nice of them seeing as we're so incompetent.

Haven't done much interesting in the last few days, especially since yesterday was "Respect the Aged Day", and a bank holiday. Just one lesson today, and then I taught instead of Kathryn. More money for me.

I shall note a few interesting things:

• The baths in our rooms are shorter and deeper than at home. This might be because we're supposed to use them like Japanese baths, or it could be a space saving measure;
• Cyclists really cycle whereever they want to: left side, right side, on the pavement, or a combination of all of them;
• They only talk about their food, and (as you may have gathered) I'm not a big fan. It's hard not to offend them all the time, but I think they like the fact that we don't like it. It means we can't understand them properly!;
• They all know we can't speak Japanese, but when we try and communicate in our poor Japanese, they waffle their answers back as fast as they can;
• The length of each sheet of toilet paper is at least double that of in England (might just be the roll I have, though).
  

Present!

Oooh, just got my last package from Hannah! It's a scrapbook so I can stick all my memories in. How cool.

Also got a fourth postcard from my parents. Thank you! Though so far they've all talked about post cards! Oh well.

Moon Festival

Chika from the model agency came again this morning. I had to do a little video, and record a jingle: basically me saying "Stars & Brains Winter Sale Now On". My video was awful, and she laughed at me making a fool of myself, but said it was good. Initially she told me it had to be between 5 and 15 minutes, but later came over, slapped me on the arm and said "between 5 and 15 seconds".

We all left for the Moon Festival at about 4pm. Kanashima-san had brought loads of food with her, which we carried. It was a long trek, and I was dripping in sweat. Very disgusting. I don't think I've sweated that much before in my life (I feel for you Steve!).

The place itself was a big field with loads of little tables and mats on the ground, and around the edges lots of little stands selling food, drinks, and other assorted goodies. We didn't stay long however, about 1 minute, before we were off walking again. Up a big hill (it's at least 280m high), which took another good 30 minutes, with the final bit being a long, steep staircase. By the time I was at the top you couldn't tell I'd been sweating as my shirt was just all dark blue. There was a nice view from the top, and a little Shinto shrine. The shrine workers were all dressed in white, looking very smart, and they served as sake from god. You have to take a tiny, flat bowl in two hands and sip the sake in three goes. Unfortunately we got there too late for the dancing shrine girls. Oh well, I think the shrines look really amazing, so it was worth the walk. And there's nothing like a good sweat!

Back at the bottom of the hill, we went to a tea ceremony. Not overly formal, as most people talked (well we did). The ladies in kimonos came round with a little white serviette on to which you placed a leaf made of sugar. Then they brought round the tea. First you eat the sweet, then you drink the tea. Remember to bow lots, especially when they bow at you. Then we got a refill! I quite liked the taste of the warm tea with the sugary sweet.

We spent the rest of the evening sat around a little table, drinking umeshu (plum sake) and eating the food Kanashima-san had brought. Little sausages, egg and meatballs on a stick, breaded pork bits, rice wrapped in seaweed, and chicken legs fried in Coca-Cola and soy-sauce!

The moon festival is basically celebrated because there's a full moon, and it managed to rear its head eventually, despite the heavy cloud cover. There were acts on the stage at the front, and I went up and managed to see some real life Taiko drumming. It was amazingly cool and elegant, and the rhythms they made were fantastic. At the end of the night they lit a whole bunch of fireworks, getting progressively more noisy, until a couple of huge ones at the end.

Manga

I went back into Fukuoka (Tenjin station) this afternoon and got my tickets. I have an invoice and a receipt, and hopefully they won't just shut down and disappear anytime soon.

Afterwards I went into a giant manga shop called "Mandrake" (like the character from "Defenders of the Earth"!). To be honest, I don't know how anybody finds anything they want in any of these shops. All the ones I've seen (including this one) are just wall to wall with tightly packed bookcases of little comics, all sporting Japanese script. I hardly saw anything I recognised, though I did see some "Bleach" manga, and loads of "Gundam" things. They even had cels, and best of all: loads of really old computer games. I saw many Gundam games for the SNES (though I don't know if they'd work back in England), and I bought a couple of Japanese PlayStation games that I've always wanted: "Parasite Eve" and "Chrono Cross". I was tempted by many others, including "Breath of Fire IV", and they had Final Fantasies IV, V, and VI... boxed! I think I'll be going back there.

I then went to Tower Records, and looked at the music. The Japanese tolerance for noise is amazing, and they must have some amazing ability to filter different musics. For example, here in the shop there was live music (some girl promoting her first album, but she never turned around so I only saw her back!), but at the same time there was other music blaring out of the loud speakers. Insane. And this happens everywhere. I bought the new "Final Fantasy" film on DVD and then came back home.

Tickets & Son House

After classes today, James and I went into Tenjin. I posted a letter at the post office (how proud am I?!), and then we went into "No. 1 Travel - The Discount Travel Company". We enquired together about flights home, however the prices went up widly two days before our lessons ended. So, I'm going home two days early! I'm leaving on the 15th December, and getting back on 9th January. So about 3 1/2 weeks at home. Should be nice.

It cost about £450, but I had to pay in cash. So I reserved the tickets, and went back to the post office to withdraw. It didn't work the first few times (especially the time when the guy managed to enter ￥8,000,000!). I managed to get some out in the end, but only ￥50,000, so I'll have to go back tomorrow to get the rest out.

We all went out in the evening to a place called "Son House", which is an American Diner. Well, sort of. I had a burger and fries - it was nice, though not as nice as the ones back home. It was a bit like compresses mince meat. Afterwards we went to a little karaoke bar and sung our lungs out until one in the morning.

Yoko & Presents

Yoko was slightly strange. Flick and I met her in the lobby of Cambridge House, and we went for tea at, of all places, "Mister Donut". How very Japanese. We had a strange conversation: It wasn't long before she was telling us how she used to go to a Pentecostal church, how she became a really hard-core Christian, but that she had questions. Her minister told her that they were a work of the devil, and so she left.

We arranged a time for us to teach, though she's leaving her job at the end of October and doesn't want us to work very much anyway. In the end I think we're both going to do about four hours of work for her! She ideally wants to be a nursery school teacher, but she's quitting her English teaching job to become a general secretary for a company that sells farming equipment internationally! She says the nursery thing is something she wants to do when she has her own children, but she's already 35 (though she looks about 21) and she still lives with her parents. Even she knows she's running out of time.

I think she mostly just wants to be friends, though she comes over as a little desperate and she didn't want to talk about what the job involved. Instead, we're going out for an Indian next week on Friday - it's a holiday anyway, so I'll have to get my own food. Haven't got a proper job yet, however, so I'm trying not to spend too much at the moment. She also wants us to try raw eel. Supposedly our predecessors, Heather and Katie (whom she talks about endlessly), really liked it. They also liked the Indian place. Flick suggested that in turn she try Marmite, though we couldn't explain what it was to her.

We did "present giving" in class today. ほんの気持ちです (honno kimochi desu) "It's a small gift." At the end she gave us all a present ourselves: some Japanese cookies. They taste like a cross between rice crackers and very salty popcorn. Quite revolting. Though I shouldn't have got my hopes up given the standard of other Japanese food.

Ramen Day

Lessons are speeding along. We've only had two so far, and I can already say "I am English. I am a student", and "That person is not a doctor. That person is a researcher". All good stuff.

Had ramen for lunch in our quick 40 minute break, though the first lesson overran a bit, so it was even shorter. Wasn't so good; I'm not sure the seaweed adds much to the appeal. Though a guy called Yoshi did come and start talking with us, which was cool. He'd been to St. Anne's and Fitzwilliam Colleges in the summer to learn English, which he spoke quite well (better than our Japanese at least).

We had our first lesson on Japanese history, given by Seb. It was quite informal, and he just told us a few things about the Jomon period (10,000BC - 300BC). So, we covered about 10,000 years in an hour and a half. Pretty speedy. Though, to be honest, not much is knowm about the time, as they were still illeterate, and so everything is just speculation.

Taught the 1st years for the first time, with Binks. Was quite a laugh, with us all pretending to be different types of transport: planes, bikes, taxis (that was an interesting one), etc. They already knew "The wheels on the bus", and "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes". A few of them misbehave slightly, but Binks has a "stern voice" mode which stops them (at least for a little). We then played relay games in the gym, as it was raining outside.

Dinner tonight was..... ramen. But I've already had it once today!! Agggh. This one of slightly better, as it had no seaweed, but neither were as good as the one we had in the street the other day. Also had some orange jelly. Fruit!! Fantastic.

Received a parcel from Hannah today, which was super awesome; it was a dissapointing to find she wasn't inside, but presents are a good alternative for now. Also got a third postcard from my parents.

First Lesson

Today was the day of our first proper Japanese lesson. We learnt how to say:

• I am Edward: わたしは　エドワード　です。
• You are Drummond: あなたは　ドラモンドさん　です。 (Notice the polite -san suffix used when referring to other people!)
• I am not American: アメリカじん　でわ　ありません。
• etc.

It was a pretty fun class with lots of interaction and speaking. I guess that's how we'll be learning, for the time being at least.

Afterwards most of us visited the ￥100 shop. My gosh, it has loads of cool things. I bought some coathangers, a new tie, an A4 folder, shoelaces, and some "Milk Caramel" pieces. Each for only ￥105 (they add tax after). Pretty cool, heh. There was loads of stationary, and other little bits and bobs. So much to choose from, you could spend a fortune in places like that without realising.

I taught the 2nd years again this afternoon. There were four of them this time, and it went much better than last time. We did the house, and room and things inside the house. We then had a spelling test (the 2nd years always have a spelling test) and then we did colours. We then went outside and met up with Brendan and Ciarán, who organised a couple of little team games which they seemed to enjoy.

Drinks

The lads went out last night (apart from Rushen) to a little bar just down the road. We call it an educational outing, though it's more just getting a drink. The Japanese seem to like our enthusiasm for the language, and find it quite amusing that we just shout out the random words we have learnt, like "company worker", "cow", and "umbrella".

I'm enjoying certain aspects of Japan, like the zaniness of the locals, the language, the public transport (!). Other things I don't like: most of the food, the backwardsness of a supposedly technologically advanced country, the food, the expensive prices, etc., etc. This bar had a couple of zany clients, as well as the bar lady (Kazuko). She taught us a few words, and drew kanji on our flash cards. Even more strange was the DVD of Singin' in the Rain (1952) on in the background!

The crazy old cook (maybe her mother?) brought us out a bowl of somen (Japanese noodles) each. They were basically thin noodles sitting in oil. Tasted good though, but James had the short straw since his seemed to be loaded with ginger which the old lady found hilarious.

When we going to leave, one of the other clients offered to buy one of our drinks each, so we must have made a good impression, which was weird since we hadn't spoken to him the entire time. We then bought him a drink collectively, so in the end my ￥400 umeshu actually cost ￥90 (45p). A pretty good deal - thank you whoever you were. We then took loads of crazy photos.

Earthquake

Heh, we just had an earthquake! How cool. It's like disaster central here, maybe... Though, admiteddly I didn't notice a thing, though some of the others felt a little tremor. According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, the epicenter was at in the sea to the west of Fukuoka (33.8°N, 130.1°E), it had a depth of 10km and was 4.2.

The Return of the Internet

They fixed the internet today. Woohoo! Though they said it was just a loose cable, or something, but I don't believe them as I'm sure I wiggled them all. Eel for breakfast, by the way - wasn't too bad, but the thought was.

We went into university for interviews. First, we were given a few instructions:

• Stand when the teacher enters the room and say おはいよう　ございます (ohaiyo gozaimasu - good morning), though in the afternoons you should say おねがいします (onegaishimasu).
• At the end of the class you should say ありがと　がざいました (arigato gazaimashita - thankyou).
• Two teacher's assistants (pets) are needed each lesson to help carry stuff and to plug the TV in, etc.

The interviews themselves were quite mundane. We went in twos, which made it even more casual. What are your hobbies? Have you learnt any other foreign languages? (3 so far: French, German, Italian.) What were your reasons for coming, and how much do you want to learn?

We met Liz, one of the Oxford students from last year. I've heard of her in Oxford, though I think I only met her once (if that). She's a bit of an otaku (i.e. likes anime and Japanese stuff), plus she knows where the ￥100 (50p) shops are!

This afternoon we were visited by Chiku from a modelling agency who took our photos, and we recorded our voices as well. So hopefully we'll get some commercial, or voice over work. It pays quite well: Liz did a kimono advert for a day, and was paid £200. Chiku left us some sweets as well: Bourbon Chotos (bitter chocolate rusks), Look - A La Mode (they look like chocolates with fruit flavoured centres), Diet Coffee Candy, and a strange lump of something squishy.

I've also damaged my left thumb from trying to do a handstand. Edd, next time put your palms on the floor as your fingers can't support your massive weight!!

Fukuoka Tower

Another good lie in. Had some nice dreams too. Had a couple of slices of toast, before we all went out to Fukuoka. Some went to try to get into an art museum, but it was shut. The rest of us hit Starbucks, and Hagen-Daas (some good Japanese shops).

We then caught the bus to Fukuoka Tower. The buses are pretty cool here, as with all the public transport. You collect a ticket when you board and it has a number on it, depending on the zone you boarded in. There's a board at the front which then says how much it has cost you so far, which updates at each stop. You then pay the driver when you get off.

The tower was pretty cool, but in the end it was just a big tower with a viewing platform. It's nice to look out over the city, but I don't think I'll be going back too often. The coolest view, though, was of the mountains in the distance, covered by clouds. Some even looked like they were floating in the sky. On the 3rd floor is something they call a "Love Compass". Supposedly, if you stand on it, face your loved one, and say something, they'll receive the message.

After that we went for a little meander on the beach, since we were right on the coach. We sat on a wall by the sea until it got dark, and then took the bus back in to Fukuoka. Most of us ate at a little ramen stand, which was really nice. It's quite a cool eating experience, since you'll all crowd round this little stand with a bunch of strangers and all slurp away at your noodles. The food was yummy, too.

Looks like Junichiro Koizumi is going to win today's election, as well.

Saturday Wanderings

Got up at 12 today. Needed a lie in, as was feeling quite tired after the last few nights. Plus it gave me a chance to catch up on my jet lag.

Saw Flick, who had been to the doctors. She had been given some antibiotics, but had had an allergic reaction to them, and her lips have puffed up. She borrowed some DVDs and went back to bed.

Pretty much went straight into town after with Rushen, James, and Ciarán. We went looking for sushi, though I didn't enjoy the things I tried. I think I can handle the raw fish part, it's just the endless amounts of wasabi (hot mustard) that they put on things. I'm not a mustard fan; it just burns. We then went to Rainbow Plaza to read the newspapers, and use the internet.

We went to Best where I bought an AV cable, so hopefully now we will be able to watch DVDs on the big TV instead of huddling around a laptop. Then on to Canal City, though some how we managed to walk directly through the red light district. Prostitution is illegal in Japan, though the area is called Soap Land, since technically you are just paying for a bath. (Oh, god, my mother reads this). *Cough*

Anyway, Brendan and James bought some new shoes, and at 6 o'clock there was a fountain display to the "Peter Gunn Theme" from Blues Brothers. That was quite spectacular and cool. I came home since my mother was going to call, whilst the others stayed out to try and find a ramen stand. I mistimed it slightly, getting back 20 minutes after they were going to call. I think I also missed them trying again (if they did indeed try the first time) at 8 o'clock, by about one ring. Damn!

Not doing anything this evening. We'll probably watch a DVD on the TV. We'll see if it works or not. May also learn some Japanese, since lessons begin on Tuesday.

Teaching

Made it to breakfast this morning. They seemed to be a bit disappointed when I didn't take the miso soup. Everyone here is really nice, though, as they brought out the milk cartons (like at nursery) after I had gone past, and the guy behind me in the queue came over with one for me.

Toast for lunch before heading off with Drummond on the bus to the university. Flick met us in the office, where we were all checking our mail. I replied to an ad on the "Fukuoka Now" forums about part-time English teachers, so we'll see how that turns out.

Teaching! Aaah. We got to Linden Hall school early, and Seb took us on a tour and introduced us to some of the staff. The place is really amazing. It's a new (only 2 years old) English immersion "junior high" school, and each class has two teachers: a native English, and a native Japanese speaker. The whole place is really immaculately built, and it looks wonderful. Plus they have a huge (3-square-km) adventure playground, and a slope for sleding down.

The class itself was appaling. I had three children from the second year, and one was called Ryo. They all arrived separately which meant I had know idea what to do with them. I tried to introduce myself and show them where England was on a map of the world. I then asked them their names and got them to write them down, basically so that I could look at them for reference. Children have never had respect for me, and this group didn't either: talking amongst themselves in Japanese. I wish I knew what they were saying. It's just very off putting, and I don't know how to get them to stop. Plus Ryo had some kind of baseball card, and the totally shy one who wouldn't even tell me her name had two model white tigers.

After giving up with things they liked and things they didn't like, I resorted to the animal cards that were there. These were basically lots of two piece puzzles, with the name of the animal on one piece, and the name of the baby of that animal on the other. I got them to match them together, though I think it was more of a putting the pieces together thing, rather than any English usage. The white tiger girl left half way through, when her dad came to collect her. He just waited outside for ages until I motioned him to come in.

It was soon the end of the lesson though, and I took them outside with the other class to play about. Seb gave us a lift home in his Merc, as the bus timetable is slightly different for the next few weeks due to exams. Fridays is a good day to teach, however, as they have to fit in the extra hours that were missed due to the typhoon. Hence there is less teaching and supervising to do, but for the same amount of money.

After getting back I had a postcard waiting for me at the reception from my parents. It only took four days to get here. Some of us then went on a walk to You Me Town, where I bought some B5 paper (it's cute!). Our search for a sushi bar was fruitless, and we gave up when someone I asked told us there wasn't one. Oh well! The cold hamburger in cantine was enough.

We watched "Goodbye Lenin!", which was good. And the bonus surprise of the evening: Hannah phoned, which was lovely, though they put her through to the common room as I hadn't heard the phone in my room. We haven't figured out how to transfer the calls elsewhere yet, which meant we only had a brief conversation, which was a real shame. I'm looking forward to hearing from her tomorrow.

Opening Ceremony

Wasn't feeling quite so good this morning when Hannah rang, in fact I think I was still drunk, so that was an interesting conversation - though as usual it's always good to hear her voice. Breakfast was weird again: some kind of strange chicken rolls with a bit of carrot and green bean stuffed in the middle. Not feeling so hot.

Kanashima-san took Drummond, Brendan, and I to the city prefecture in her car to register as aliens (I love that term). I think the Japanese make up for their lack in stature by buying big cars as shells to sit inside. Registration was quite simple, as the form was mostly filled in already. Just sign a few times.

After a chicken and rice lunch (the rice this time wasn't just boiled, but had some other things in it so it actually tasted nice) we had the opening ceremony. The room was like those in which politicians might debate global climate, or such like, complete with a translator. The deputy head of the university, Professor Sato, sat in the main chair, whilst other heads of department were seated around the edges. We were in the middle on fold up chairs in full view. Sato-sensei gave a little speech in Engrish, after which we were required to each stand up and tell them who we were and what we'd like to do whilst in Japan. The whole thing lasted only 20 minutes.

We caught the bus from outside the University to the "Asahi Beer Comunity Hall". Three of the guys (Drumond, Katherine, and Rushen) had been the first to teach this afternoon, and they came back with reassuring comments about the place. I'm teaching tomorrow, but I also have to supervise the children afterwards for a playtime. Scary stuff. Hopefully it will be alright. But I digress. It turns out in fact that beer gardens in Japan are totally void of any grass at all. It's basically like a big restaurant with free flow beer.

The tables had hot plates built into them, on which you cooked the raw beef, and the vegetables provided. Everybody had two small, white, shallow bowls, into which you poured a different sauce each. The food was placed on the hot plate with some metal tongs, and then cooked by the four people sitting around each one with their chopsticks. When it was ready you took the food, dipped it in the sauce and ate it. It was very nice, though I'm not getting much vegetable intake. Lots of protein and carbohdrates, though. How am I ever going to lose weight?

After dinner Chip and Seb took us into Fukuoka - we took three cabs. We went to a ￥100 bar, though it turned out that there was a ￥500 entrance fee, and that the ￥100 was only for girls, it was double for boys. So after staying 80 minutes, and £10 later, we left. Flick and I came home on the train, as I'm not a big party animal, much to Chip's disgust, and Flick's was in pain from what she thinks are kidney stones.

Karaoke

Breakfast was disgusting. I have no idea what it was. Just rice for me.

Five of us went into Daiichi early today to use the internet. The damn thing is still broken, and I'm not getting any hopes up that is going to get fixed soon. We then went to the cantine for food. I had "champon" - a bowl of Chinese-style noodles, though it turned out to contain seafood. Octopus is very crunchy; I don't think I like it.

We met Sebastian-san who took us to Fukuoka on the train. He showed us around the town, where things were, etc. I don't think I remember where anything he said was. We went in to "Best", the Dixons of Japan, though they do it in style. However, after searching all ten floors, I couldn't find any Nintendo DS's, not even a PlayStation in sight.

On the way to the restaurant we came across an amazing car park: It was like a regular, home garage, but with a turn-table in front of it to spin the cars. Each car was stored on a big ferris-wheel like thing, which just span around, and stopped either at an empty space for cars going in, or at a car for collection. The car would be driven out and spun around to face the right way, then they would drive off. That's how to have a car park in a small space!

Dinner was at an all-you-can eat and drink restaurant. Shoes off upon arrival and placed in lockers (I took number 47!), they then brought out lots of different types of food: octopus balls, ravioli pasta-like things, fried chicken (kara age), and some tofu based things. They are very big on tofu here, unfortunately I am not. A guy, Chip, who was on the scholarship previously was there. His middle name is definately "beer", as that's all he talks about, and does. I sat next to him, and there's a picture of us. I am not a beer drinker, but I discovered umeshuu (plum sake)! His favourite food is kakuni (some kind of pork), and I enjoyed it too. Chip left at eight, totally drunk, to go and teach an English class!

After dinner, we went to a karaoke bar, and got a room, a karaoke machine, and all we could drink. We were all very drunk by then and made an awful lot of noise. There's a telephone in each room, which you use to order the drinks from, so you don't have to leave.

After two hours of karaoke we left, and I went home with Drummond and Lauma. I wasn't feeling amazingly well, but we managed to get back with no incidents.

Typhoon

The typhoon looks like it's going to hit us dead on. Already it's raining heavily, and the wind has been whistling since last night, though it's much louder this morning. It's still looking like it will be on top of us at 17.00. I'll have my camera ready to record any destruction, if there is any.

I went to breakfast on my own: salmon, more rice, some sort of bean sprouts (maybe?), and the obligatory miso soup (though it's going to take me a while to get used to the taste - however I doubt I'll ever enjoy the strange things floating in it). Brendan joined me halfway through, and we asked one of the Japanese students next to us, who was the best football team in Japan. I can't remember what he said, mind you, but at least we were able to communicate slightly.

Daiichi University

Hannah phoned at 7.30 as planned, which was wonderful, especially since the internet has been down (and still is) and I haven't been able to chat to her on MSN. She's been allowed to use Google Talk (at least for the time being), so hopefully we'll get to try that soon. I've also found a headset in one of the cupboards, which hopefully will be useful.

Breakfast consisted of a bowl of (foul) miso soup, a small plate containing chips, brocolli and cheese-injected sausages (all cold), and another bowl of rice, a boiled egg, and a packet of fermented soya beans (yuck!). Not really what I'd call breakfast, but I'll keep going, since it's free, and maybe I'll get used to it. Though I might cut back on the rice part.

We caught the free shuttle bus to Daiichi University, and were greeted by Kanashima-san who works in the International Office, which basically exists to look after us! We were then taken to our class room where Ikehara-sensei told us about what we would be doing. We then had a kana (hiragana & katakana) test, and were then given our textbooks. There are five of them totalling ￥8,985 (£45) and they are ours to keep, though admitedly they will take up suitcase space and weight. In true Japanese style we had to select two class presidents (one from Oxford, and one from Cambridge) to be responsible for us, and organise parties, etc. and Brendan and Lauma accepted the posts. We also created a daily schedule of class assistants who have to help carry the teaching materials, and wipe the board after the class.

The aim is to be at Japanese Proficiency Level 4 by Christmas: Grammar at beginner level, knowledge of 100 kanji, 800 words, and the ability to engage in simple conversation and to read and write short simple sentences. By the end of the course we could be at JPL Level 2 if we study really hard: Grammar at intermediate level, knowledge of 1000 kanji, 6000 words, and the ability to converse, read and write about matters of a general nature. A previous scholar actually reached Level 1 on his year here!

We then went to lunch in one of the university cantines. I had curry-rice with pork (more rice!), which was rather nice. We sat and talked with Kanashima-san, who told us we would be going to the Asahi Beer Gardens, complete with vomit sinks in the toilets (cringe), on Thursday. We then had a tour around the campus, including the Multimedia Centre, the shop, and a building containing sports court and gym.

I was supposed to be teaching this afternoon, but it has been cancelled due to the impending typhoon. Tomorrow has also been cancelled, with the peak of the storm expected to hit at about 17.00. At least I don't have to teach first, and can have some advice from the others who go first. On the downside, you don't get paid if you don't work.

Rain

I thought I'd turned off the morning chimes, but they still came. I'll have to look into that more, or just change my sleeping pattern. Mum and dad called this morning at 7.45am, which was early, but it was very good to hear them again. I'm still missing home lots.

Hannah called soon after at 9.00am for 20 minutes on a phone card. Hers are better value than the one I got, but it's still quite expensive. Need the internet talk thing soon. I hate being away from Hannah. I know I say this a lot, but it's really hurting not being able to hold her. I think the worst thing is that I can't just speak to her whenever; we have to schedule our talks, which is lame. We then chatted on MSN for a bit longer.

A porter brought the schedule chart for our Linden Hall teaching up for us to fill out. It's a two week schedule, and I'm teaching 1st years on Monday (week 1) and Wednesday (week 2), and 2nd years on Friday (week 1). I tried to spread it out. Each session is 2 hours long, in which we teach English for 45 minutes. It starts tomorrow, though I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do. Hopefully it will be rained off, as there is an incoming typhoon, though it might miss. It's started to rain however.

I've found where we're staying on Google Maps finally: Cambridge House. It's the interesting looking building opposite SLOTZEBRADOTCOM.

I'm going to probably just play computer games today, and maybe learn a few Japanese characters later.

Games

The internet connection has gone down, which is highly annoying. It's surprising how much I use it. Hopefully it should be fixed tomorrow. Most people went out for lunch, but Rushen and I stayed in and played N64. Mario Kart 64 is cool. After that we and Katherine went and played pool downstairs for an hour.

In the evening, a meal was cooked. We all had noodles with chicken, carrots, squash, and egg. Very nice (though not sure about the squash). We then played games:

• We created a story by each saying a word;
• We created a story with each person continuing it when they were pointed at;
• Mafia, where there are two mafia who work together and kill people off, and the others have to lynch people until they catch the Mafia.

First Day

The bean bag style pillow wasn't too bad to sleep on, though I still didn't sleep too well. It's very hot, and I was sweating constantly, and the noise of the air conditioning isn't helping. I woke at 5, 6, and 7, and eventually got up. At 7.30 the Westminster Bells played across the PA system, to signal the start of breakfast. I would have gone, but I thought at the time that it was the end of breakfast, having gotten confused about the time. Oh well.

I was the first one up, and over the next few hours, everyone else emerged. I looked if Hannah was online, as she said she'd let me sleep and then call me at 11.30. It wasn't until the morning that I realised that that would be 3.30am in the UK. I couldn't get through in the end, as she was sleeping, and got up to call me. I love her so much, and talking to her is so reassuring. I trust her totally and can tell her anything, and she'll support me. My relationship with the rest of the guys here isn't good enough to express my fears yet.

I walked with Ciaran down to the convenience store again to get something for lunch. I got bread (it's only sold in doorstep sized packs of 5!), and some eggs, as well as some chocolate Pocky, and a bottle of Pocari Sweat!

Seb came at 1.30pm and told us a bit more about what's going on. He then showed us how to work the washing machines and tumble driers, and afterward we had our group picture taken downstairs in the foyer. Then we went on a tour of the building. Cambridge House has three karaoke rooms, two billiards tables, a tea ceremony room, a little shop, and a canteen. We also have a foot locker, since you're only allowed to wear slippers in doors - it's a hygiene thing - and a bicycle assigned to each of us (they're not flashy, they have a basket on the front).

In the afternoon we went on a trip to "You Me Town" (pronounced yoo-meh), which is a giant supermarket-cum-department store. Everything seems to be really expensive, though, which is putting me off eating. For example, 4 bananas: ￥298 (£1.50), or 6 apples: ￥598 (£3.00). Even the rice is about £4 per kilo! The pot-noodle style "just add hot water meals" on the other hand, are very cheap: about 50p.

On our walk to You Me Town we discovered that the traffic light crossings don't beep, but randomly play tunes. The Japanese are truly crazy.

In the evening, Brendan, Drummond, and Flick went to a UN party, and the rest of us went down to the cantine for food. My first proper Japanese meal! We had curried-chicken with rice, and a potato cake. With a yoghurt style thing to finish. Yummy. We then went into Fukuoka on the train for a drink and a look around. Every bar, though, seemed to want an entrance fee, and the prices were high too: £4 for a beer! In the end we found a tiny underground rock bar with no entrance charge. The place was empty, and the barman spoke English. Since we were new he gave us a discount, though it still was £2.50 for a rum and coke. Though he did have a free foosball table.

We left at 10.30 to go and meet the UN party-goers, and then we went to a small restaurant, where they let us have just drinks. It was nice and cosy, and maybe we'll go one day to eat at a similar place. The workers were all dressed in a judo-style blue gown, and the proprietor banged a drum everytime somebody came or went.

Binks, Lauma, and I left to catch the last train (11.30pm) back home, whilst the others stayed out later and got a taxi home. I chatted to Hannah on MSN when I got in, which was wonderful, and then I went to bed. We're trying to figure out some way of talking over the internet, but Skype is P2P and Hannah isn't allowed to use it at uni. I think Google Talk is just what we need, but I'm not too sure if it is P2P or not. Hannah's going to go and ask at the I.T. office when she goes there.

We're there

We arrived at Fukuoka International Airport on time. After collecting our bags, we met Seb, and a few others, and we were taken by coach to Cambridge House (the halls where we are staying). The place is amazingly unlike any other university halls, as it looks like some kind of wonderful conference centre, with a wonderful fountain in the centre courtyard.

The eigth floor is huge, having 20 rooms, of which we are only using 10 (the furthest ten from the elevator I might add). Each room has a bed, bedside table, lamb, alarm clock, terrestrial TV, wardrobe, ensuite toilet and shower, fridge, hob, sink, and some cooking utensils, as well as some other little things like a kettle that keeps the water at 98C. We have also been provided a towel, toothbrush set, tea towel, and many other little things I'm sure I'll never use!

We were given orange juice and told a few things about the place by Seb. Then he left and we had some sandwiches (egg & cheese, potato salad & ham, and banana!), and some pears and grapes. The others didn't think it was enough, and Drummond and I wanted to get telephone cards to call home so all of us bar Lauma went exploring.

The 24 hour convenience store is about 200 metres down the road, and has magazines, manga, bottled drinks, ready made meals, etc. However, nothing that you'd really buy to fill the fridge. It is more a shop of convenience, hence its name. I inquired in bad Japanese about a way of phoning England from here, and finally we worked out that the Japanese name for it is "telephone card". They didn't seem to know whether they had any unfortunately, though after a while they found some. After an even longer while they worked out how to sell it to us. I got a ￥1000 card (about £5).

When we got back I couldn't make the card work, which was upsetting as I wanted to call Hannah whilst she was still at home. I am really missing her, and not being able to talk makes me feel alone and helpless.

After writing a few emails, unpacking a little, and making my bed, and after Drummond having failed as well to make the card work, he phoned the helpline, whereupon he realised that he had to drop the leading 0 from the area code, whilst I learnt that I hadn't scratched off the last character of the code. So finally I was able to call Hannah, albeit on her mobile. Though ￥1000 got me 8 minutes 18 seconds to a landline or a mobile, so I didn't lose out there, just the fact that she couldn't hear me too well in the shopping mall.

I love speaking to Hannah. Going away makes me realise how much I love her, and how much I need her there for me. I am quite incapable without her. Hopefully, we'll find a cheaper way of communicating soon, as I think I'm going to need to talk to her quite a bit.

I'm going to bed now after having made the bed for a second time, correctly this time... I think.

Going to Japan: Part 3

We spent ages checking in at immigration as they had 5 people on the "Japanese people only" section, but only 2 for the foreigners section! They removed my "Certificate of Eligibilty" from my passport and attached the return slip of the disembarkation form.

Osaka was sparse, and we collected our luggage before checking in to the next flight, though I forgot to give them my mileage card - damn it! I had to take off my shoes at the security check point, as I set the metal detector off. I also had to take my laptop out and put it through separately, and it took ages to put it back in my tightly packed bag.

We waited at gate 73 (see picture), where the toilets were quite funky as the hand drier had a blue ''energy bar" which charged up depending on how fast you rubbed your hands together.

The next flight was on a B737-400, which is smaller. I was sat next to Ciaran and Binks, though most of the others were sitting in the row behind. We got a kids book of Aladin, so that we could look at the hiragana.

The flight was short, however, so we got no food, just a drink of apple juice.

Going to Japan: Part 2

After having tried to sleep for 3 hours, I gave up. Maybe if I'd have had three seats to myself I'd have managed... probably not.

Two seats, however, meant I had dual screens, and as I was watching the external camera view, another plane flew directly beneath us in the opposite direction leaving a vapour trail. That was pretty cool. I also watched the sunrise.

Another ocha, and an orange juice followed, before I watched "Hostage". Then after that I watched "Monster-in-law" starring Jennifer Lopez, for want of something to do. It was pretty dire.

Brendan came to sit next to me as he didn't want to disturb the sleeping baby next to him by turning on his light, though not soon after they turned the cabin lights back on.

More hot towels and orange juice preceded breakfast at about noon... so about the normal time I have it!

• Morning roll (kind of a mini-croissant), with butter and marmalade.
• Egg Rice & Vegetable Omelette with Kassler ham, baked beans, and mushrooms.
• Strawberry yoghurt.
• Red and orange oranges, with lychees.

I had some more ocha and an apple juice to go with it, though I left most of it.

Brendan was trying to learn some hiragana, and the flight attendant, Ijichi, asked us if we were studying japanese, and for how long. We were given "disembarkation cards for foreigners" to fill out, so Brendan returned to his seat to do that. Ijichi came back round later and gave Brendan and I a kid's toy wind-up plane, which was cool, though hopefully she doesn't think we're children.

The plane touched town at 7.01am BST (3.01pm local time), at Osaka Kansai International Airport on runway 24.

Going to Japan: Part 1

We left for the airport at about 3.30pm, in our smaller car, since the other one decided to break down a few days ago. Got there with no trouble and found a few of my fellow students already there. We eventually decided to check-in, but the stupid check-in woman failed to seat us all together, even though she said she would. In the end, it was probably for the best as it turned out that I was sitting on my own, so I could attempt to lie down to sleep. However I only had two seats as I was at the back of the Boeing B747-400, which made it difficult.

I was slightly dissapointed with the Economy tickets that we received, though the price can probably be explained by the fact that they are an open return bought only about one week ago.

I am now over 6000 miles away (the first flight was 5929 miles, according to the navigation screen), this puts me decidedly outside the range of my little radio controlled alarm clock, which I have had to sert manually for the first time ever.

We took off at 19.25, half an hour late, from Heathrow gate 23 (for those of you who care about these things).

On board we were given hot towels to wash our hands and faces, as is the Japanese custom. Drinks (apple juice) were then served with otsumami (nuts & crackers), though I didn't like them. I then watched "xXx: The Next Level".

Then food came round. The beef was running out so had I the chicken (cos I'm nice like that). Turns out that the beef was the Japanese-style meal, whereas I had the western-style one. This constisted of:

• Chilli Pork Fillet, Chiken Liver & Ham Parfait, Potato Salad, an olive, and a cherry tomato.
• Salmon Rolls with Juniper Berries and a lemon.
• Two chicken medallions, with tagliatelle, and over boiled mini-podded-peas, red and yellow peppers, and a bread roll.
• Bonoffee Mousse.

To drink, I had some ocha (green tea), and then some English tea. The whole thing was served with choice of knife and fork or chopsticks. I stole the chopsticks and a tiny toothpick...

After dinner we were given a free bottle of Evian water. I then tried to get some sleep.