JLPT N3

I recently took the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) here in Australia. Heh, it was quite a contrast to taking the JLPT in Japan. Here in my state, there were only four other people taking my level; in Japan, there was a huge room full of people and a very 'university exam' sort of feeling.

You are strictly forbidden to share the content of a JLPT test online, so I won't be doing that. But here's a brief overview of how the test was structured:

Section 1: vocab and kanji. We had 30 minutes for this, and there were five sections. For example, one section had a sentence with underlined kanji words, and you had to choose the hiragana reading for that kanji. Another section had a vocabulary word, and you had to choose the sentence that used that word correctly in context.

Section 2: grammar and reading, lasting 70 minutes. The grammar section includes grammar questions, some 'put the words in the correct order' questions, and a 'choose the correct grammar to fill in the blanks in this story' questions. There are several short and medium-length readings with comprehension questions. This tends to be the section that people find difficult; you can't be too slow at reading, and you need to know a reasonable amount of kanji, vocab and grammar to do well.

Section 3: listening, which takes about 40 minutes. There are several listening sections; some have you choose pictures that correspond to the correct answer; some have you choose sentences; others have nothing written on the page but you must listen and then choose the right answer by listening. Listenings are played only once each.

We had a short break between each section.

All in all, the experience and test style were similar to the old JLPT level 3 that I took several years ago. The main difference from the old tests - and the one they advertise - is that they are trying to test practical/communicative skill a bit more. Obviously, this is difficult to do in a multiple-choice paper test, but some of the ways they did this were:

• a grammar section where you must organise words into the correct order in a sentence
• listening questions where you must choose what language a person would actually use in a given situation (for example, if you're greeting a customer, or offering to help someone, what expression would you use?)
• having a 'real world' reading text (where you must find relevant information in a brochure or timetable, etc)

I think these are nice additions. This sort of thing comes more naturally to you if you have lived in Japan and learned most of your Japanese in real world situations anyway.

So how did I do? I think I did pretty well. My weakest section was probably grammar/reading. I had enough time to read (reading is the area I practised most, pre-test). But I didn't have time to re-read, and I tend to miss questions if I can't re-read a text carefully. The problem I have with reading is that I tend to dither between two answers that seem like they could both be correct; I've obviously overlooked a nuance or misunderstood a particular word, so I can't confidently pinpoint the correct answer.

In this recent post I mentioned the study materials I'd been using. How well did they prepare me for the actual test? They were okay; I think they set a slightly higher standard than the real test required. The 'sample test' book was useful as it helped me work out what grammar points I needed to study. Then I referred to the grammar book ('Sou Matome') to check the meaning/use of those points.

The reading book ('Jitsuryoku Up!') was useful, and the most interesting to study with. I mentioned that this reading book had quite difficult readings, as none of the kanji had furigana, and they used some quite difficult words. The real test did have more furigana than that book; you still needed to be able to read quite a few kanji, but you weren't expected to know all of them. So in regard to kanji, the real test was easier than in Jitsuryoku Up. The complexity of the texts was similar, though.

It also seemed like the real test's kanji/vocab section was easier than any sample test I had taken. Actually, this happened to me last time I took the JLPT. Each time, I did several sample tests, and didn't do very well on the kanji/vocab - always lots of answers I was completely guessing. On the real test, it seemed like they were not testing at quite such a high level and the words were more familiar. Perhaps I just got lucky both times. Anyway, I think it's always better to do sample tests that are more difficult than the real thing; that way, the real test won't come as a shock.

Useful Japanese phrases (that are difficult to translate)

There are some useful, commonly-heard Japanese words and phrases for which there is no perfect English equivalent. When I was in Japan, and talking to Japanese people in English, I used a lot of these words because they were culturally appropriate, or because they expressed my meaning more accurately than English could. (Or just because they're fun to say. ^_^)

itadakimasu! This is something Japanese people say right before eating a meal. In subtitles, it's often translated as 'bon appetit!' I don't know if it can really be translated. Maybe a combination of 'thanks for the food', 'I'm going to start eating now', etc.
Have you heard of 'keigo'? 'Keigo' is especially polite Japanese. When speaking very politely - for example, to a customer - Japanese speak differently and even use some different verbs. 'itadakimasu' is a polite, humble way of saying receive, accept, take, eat, drink, etc. So it's literally saying 'I (humbly) accept this food'. Although it sounds very polite, it's common, everyday Japanese and you can use it when eating out casually with friends too.

gochisousama (or more politely, gochisousama deshita) Just as you say 'itadakimasu' when starting a meal, you can say 'gochisousama deshita' after finishing. It literally means 'it was a feast!' but you can use it to mean a combination of 'that was great', 'thanks for the meal', 'I'm finished', etc.

irasshaimase! is the common greeting in shops. It means 'welcome'. You will hear this all the time from shop and restaurant staff. You don't have to reply to it. The verb 'irasshaimasu' is another keigo (very polite) verb meaning 'come, go, be'. So I guess it means 'come in' or something, in a very polite way.

osaki ni (or more politely, osaki ni shitsurei shimasu) You can say this if you do something before someone else. For example, if you are the first person to start eating something, or if you leave before someone else, you can say this as a way of excusing your bad behaviour. ^_^ 'Osaki ni' literally means 'before', and 'shitsurei shimasu' is like 'I'm rude' or 'please excuse me'.

ojama shimasu! 'Ojama' means something like 'intrusion' or 'nuisance'. You can say this when you enter somebody else's house. Even if they're your friend and they invited you, you can say this as you walk in, like 'oh, sorry to intrude'. Basically doesn't mean much beyond 'I'm coming in now!'

otsukaresama (or more politely, otsukaresama desu or otsukaresama deshita) Co-workers often say this to each other. It can be said at the end of a working day, or after a big effort/project at something, or just as a general sort of greeting throughout the day. It means something like 'we're/you're working hard', 'you must be tired', 'you've worked hard', 'we're working hard', 'keep up the good work'. It's a nice, and simple way, to acknowledge someone else's work and effort. 'tsukare' means 'tired', and the 'o' and 'sama' make it more polite. This is a polite way to acknowledge someone else's tiredness. I learned this expression quickly, as in the department store where I worked, any time any staff member met another in the corridor or elevator, they'd greet each other with 'otsukaresama desu!'

shou ga nai (or shikata ga nai) This expression means something like 'it can't be helped', 'we can't do anything about it' or 'oh well'. It indicates a sort of resignation and acceptance of a situation. Some people say this is a fairly typical attitude of Japanese in the workplace; a lot of people shoulder overtime or unfair work pressure with a 'shou ga nai' attitude, instead of complaining or fighting for their rights. A fair assessment? I don't know, but some companies do seem to assume their employees will take such an attitude.

genki This word can be translated to mean 'cheerful', 'happy', 'healthy', 'energetic', etc. If you ask someone 'genki desu ka?', you're asking if they're well. But because 'genki' encapsulates several different ideas, there's no perfect English equivalent. You can use it to describe someone who is perky and bubbly, or a child who is running around screaming, or a person who is healthy, or students who are actively participating in something...

mendokusai This is often translated by dictionaries as 'troublesome'. I usually translate it as 'it's a pain'. If something is a 'mendokusai', it's annoying or tedious to do, a pain, a disagreeable duty.

mottainai This means something like 'wasteful', but seems to be used to mean 'waste not, want not'.

sasuga This means 'what you'd expect'. For example, if your friend, who is very smart, gets the highest score in the class, you could say 'sasuga!' ('that's typical of you' or 'that'd be right') to show you are not surprised!

toriaezu This means 'at first' or 'to begin with'. It's often used in ordering, as in 'toriaezu, nama bi-ru' (for now, draft beer).

yoroshiku onegaishimasu A big one! This is a kind of greeting that people use a lot, especially at the beginning of a new relationship. For example, if you're a new employee, you will say this to people you meet, and they'll say it back to you. If you're a new student at a school, if you have to stand up in front of the class and introduce yourself, you'll say this. If you start a project and you need to ask people to work with you on it, you'll say this.

We really have no English equivalent; in these situations we'd just say 'nice to meet you', 'I look forward to working with you', 'I look forward to meeting all of you', 'I hope for your cooperation', etc. 'Yoroshiku' literally means 'well' or 'properly', and 'onegaishimasu' means 'please'.  It really means something like 'please treat me well' or 'let's work happily together' or 'let's have a good relationship'.

You can say it more casually as simply 'yoroshiku', and this can also mean something like 'best regards'.

Random Pictures (8)

If it is not immediately obvious, this is a piece of very freshly made senbei (rice cracker) with octopus in it. ('Oh, of course!') When I say it's 'freshly made', what I mean is that at this stall, the staff actually put the senbei mixture down, put a fat, juicy, fresh octopus tentacle on there, and then apply the equivalent of a vice to crush it into paper thinness! If you want to try this (it was pretty good!), they are specialties of Enoshima island.

I'm not sure if this thing is supposed to be cute or supposed to be nightmare fuel for young children. Either way, I'm about as close to it as I wanna be.

Sorry for the poor image quality on this one. Here are Street Fighter 'combination' meals. Get it? Combination? Ha ha ha. Sadly I had already eaten when I came upon this restaurant, so I will probably never get to eat the same beef fried rice that Cammy likes. ^_^

Random Pictures (7)

Well... you can't say they didn't give you a choice.

I first mentioned this diner, Bubby's, way back in my first month of blogging (see entry).  I finally got a picture of the sign!  As I mentioned, this is a pie cafe, and has a very homey, American-style 'mom's home cooking' kind of vibe. And as we all know, all American family restaurants include just a little bit of profanity.

Yeah, buy them a nice chew toy instead.

Random English

Japanese music often uses random English words. You'll be listening to a verse and chorus in only Japanese, and suddenly the singer will bust out 'only you forever', or 'I'm just a woman', in English. I suppose these words serve a decorative purpose...?

Sometimes, a Japanese artist will sing half their song - or a whole song - in English. How well this works depends considerably on the skills of the artist.

Monkey Magic, Orange Range

Listen to the song and try to imagine what they're saying...

The first time I heard their version of this song, I didn't even realise they were singing English. Sure, it didn't sound quite Japanese, but the pron was SO bad I wasn't sure. This is what I heard:

Punkama ei gadda mountain da
A punky is monkey got at the top
He knew every magic bisu unto the sun
This gaja everyone could hack some for

(Actual lyrics:
Born from an egg on a mountain top
The punkiest monkey that ever popped
He knew every magic trick under the sun
To tease the gods and everyone and have some fun)

Treat or Goblins, Megumi Hayashibara

Listen to the song.

'Monkey Magic' is my pick for 'most poorly pronounced English in a song' I've heard, but 'Treat or Goblins', which is an anime theme song, gets my pick for 'weirdest and most nonsensical English in a song'.

When she sang the English parts, I could tell there was something strange about them - they didn't sound like Japanese - but I had no idea what she was saying or what language it was. After I looked up the lyrics, I wasn't surprised.

Patch, patch with something red, like a maraschino cherry, and frozen
cranberry.
Chut, chut with someone hot, like an equilitarian, and Yam-yngdourian.
Fad, fad with something cool, like a hidden luminary, and will-o-the-wisp, too.

Yeah.

A week of eating

Since I like food so much, I thought I'd show you my week of good food in Tokyo and Kanagawa. ^_^ Prices are approximate since I don't really remember.

From Tonkatsu Wako (a chain)

This is tonkatsu - deep-fried, breaded pork. This set, which cost about ¥1200, came with ro-su tonkatsu (pork loin), two ebi fry (shrimp), rice, shredded cabbage, miso soup and pickles. This particular picture was taken in Kawasaki's underground mall, Azalea.

When you eat here, there are staff on hand to refill your cabbage (although it's quite a mound to begin with). I don't know why but I find that funny.

From Khazana, on B1F of Queen's Square in Minato Mirai, Yokohama

Mmm! There is a lot of good Indian food in Japan, mostly in small shops run by Indian staff. This particular place has a lunch buffet for about ¥1200 (1400?) yen per person. A good deal, because it's delicious. ^_^

From an Italian restaurant in La Citadella, Kawasaki

Italian food in Japan is a mixed bag. In general, foreign food in Japan is quite good - Indian, Thai and Chinese, for example - but there are loads of 'cafes' with really dismal, insipid pastas (not to mention pastas with really strange ingredient choices). If you find a real Italian restaurant that is trying to serve proper Italian food, however, the food is often quite good. Pizza, in Japan, is often really nice - simple, with fewer toppings (so long as you avoid the Domino's-style monstrosities where they top pizzas with entire hot dogs, wheels of Camembert cheese or foie gras -_-).

La Citadella in Kawasaki is an 'Italian town' with several good Italian restaurants. In this picture, the pizza and pasta were about ¥1000 each.

From Sawasdee, outside Daiei mall in Yokosuka

This Thai set meal was only about ¥800 and included the main (gapao), salad, noodle soup, dessert and a drink. I'd certainly recommend this restaurant if you're in the area.

From a restaurant near Fujisawa station

This is part of a Chinese meal I shared with a friend. You can get these sorts of dishes anywhere; there are masses of Chinese restaurants in Kanagawa. Each dish was about ¥800-1000. That pork and 'piman' (small peppers) dish is one of my favourite dishes to order.

From a soba restaurant in Atre, Ebisu

Finally, some more Japanese food. This is 'zarusoba', served cold and topped with nori (seaweed). Soba is a good accompaniment for tempura, since it tastes so wholesome, while tempura is more greasy. This particular tempura dish includes a prawn, okra, eggplant and fish. You take the soba and dip it in sauce before eating it. This is a very standard sort of dish; I got it for perhaps ¥1000. Note that cold soba is a very typical summer dish, so that in winter, there may be fewer of them on the menu.

From a department store around Yokohama station

Speaking of soba, here's soba in a different form - hot, in broth. This was a 'mini oyakodon set' which cost about ¥900. Oyakodon is a donburi (rice bowl dish) with an egg/chicken mix on rice. The 'oyako' in 'oyakodon' literally means 'parent child'. I know, it's a disgusting name!

Oyakodon's flavour is really nice and the juice flavours the rice underneath, but oyakodon often has the problem of using really fatty chicken pieces. This particular oyakodon was quite hard to eat. -_- Also, despite the title 'mini oyakodon' - where both the oyakodon and soba are in serving sizes smaller than normal - this was a huge meal!

These last three are examples of izakaya food. Izakayas, you may recall, are Japanese-style restaurants where you order lots of little dishes to share, and booze flows freely. A typical dish is ¥400-600 yen. I couldn't post all the dishes we had, but the first one is mackerel sashimi, the second edamame (soy beans) and the third is deep-fried tofu.

Batsu game

In Western countries, when you mark answers as 'correct', you use a tick. Wrong answers are marked with a cross.

In Japan, correct answers are marked with a circle ('maru') or a cross ('batsu'). I've even seen Japanese teachers of English check students' writing by circling correct words and sentences in red pen. In Australia, if you circled a word in red pen, it would mean the answer was incorrect, so I guess there's a small cultural difference there.

Anyway, 'batsu' means 'cross mark', but it can also mean 'punishment', and that's where the 'batsu game' comes from.

A 'batsu game' is like a 'fun' way of punishing someone. For example, if you're playing a game in class and one student gets out or loses, the other students might make them do a 'batsu game', like singing in front of everyone, or making a weird face, eating something strange, or showing off some unique skill. It's a popular exercise on game shows. I've seen teachers do it too, punishing other teachers who were late for staff meetings. ^_^

JLPT N3 study materials

[Update: I have just taken the test; I wrote more about it here.]

I am studying to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level N3. There are quite a few different textbooks and study materials published in Japan, which you can find in English-language sections of large bookstores.

As a general rule, these textbooks are not exciting. They are all rather serious, black-and-white affairs with lots of sample test questions and example sentences in them. Many of them focus on specific skills or sections of the JLPT. Some are written solely in Japanese; others have perfunctory explanations in English/Chinese/Korean.

I will review the books that I personally have been using.

実力アップ!日本語能力試験N3読む

Layout/contents: This book has a focus on reading skills (there are other books in the series focusing on listening etc). There are lots of example reading passages with questions such as you'd find on the test. The first collection of readings focuses on grammar and completing sentences with the correct words. The second section focuses on reading comprehension for short, medium and long pieces of text. The third section focuses on identifying important information from 'real world' texts like timetables or recipes.

There are a few rather random pages with lists of grammar or vocabulary on particular themes (eg, a list of different university majors, or a list of words containing the kanji 不). Texts are also followed by a short list of potentially unfamiliar vocabulary. For each reading, there is also an answer page which includes furigana readings for kanji. And there are explanations of the correct and incorrect answers (in English and Chinese), so you can hopefully understand why you got it right or wrong.

My opinion: This book is somewhat challenging, especially if you don't know a lot of the N3 kanji yet; a lot of the 'learning' is retrospective (ie, after you've attempted the reading, you find out the answers and try to understand the grammar/kanji more clearly). I think it's a really good resource. It's also arranged from simpler to more difficult readings, which is an added bonus.

短期マスター 日本語能力試験ドリル N3

Layout/contents: This textbook, which comes with a listening CD, is a collection of sample questions to help you practise for the JLPT. It includes questions in all the categories of the real test, and finishes with a sample test you can take. It includes answers and transcriptions of the listening tasks.

My opinion: This book serves its purpose well enough - it's a chance to test yourself and see how you might perform on the real test. As a study material, well, you might get some use out of it if you do it with a teacher, who can explain to you the parts you have trouble with. This book doesn't have any explanations, definitions, or reasons why answers are right or wrong.

As I've never taken the JLPT, I can't assess how well this book approximates the real test. I did find the readings somewhat easier than the previous book I reviewed; this book's readings had a lot more furigana help for reading kanji. Will the real test have the furigana? I'm not sure.

日本語総まとめ問題集

Contents/layout: This book is a couple of years out of date, purchased before the new JLPT was introduced. There are, however, books in this series for the new JLPT levels, with different books for different skills (vocabulary, kanji, grammar, etc). This particular book is for grammar. It's divided into 'weeks', each 'day' covering three or four grammar points with a few example sentences and usage notes. Grammar points are often grouped according to similar meaning, or grammar points that have a particular word in common.

At the end of each 'day' is a short quiz, and at the end of each 'week' is a longer review quiz. Explanations/translations of sentences are in English, Chinese and Korean.

My opinion: I really have tried valiantly to study with this book, but it's difficult. As a reference re. what grammar might be needed for the JLPT 2, it's very useful. However, you can't simply work through it as a textbook and expect to retain much; it's relentless in giving one new grammar point after another. There are review quizzes, yes, but not enough; so many grammar points are introduced in each week that you'll need to do a lot of reviewing of each day as you go along. Also, grouping grammar points by similar meaning - or having a word in common - makes it very easy to confuse them.

To use this book, you have to supplement it with your own study ideas; find some creative way to use it so it will stick; for example, reviewing and drilling endlessly, making flashcards, or writing masses of example sentences using each grammar point. This is a very dry way of studying.

At least, this is my own experience; on JLPT study sites, many people have recommended this book as a study resource, so clearly other people have been able to benefit from it.

漢字マスターN３

Contents/layout: This book introduces four kanji per page, with their readings, and spaces to write the kanji (stroke order is not given). The rest of the page is given over to 'reading' questions (you read sentences which use the four kanji in various ways, and must identify how you would read the kanji, in hiragana) and 'writing' questions (you read sentences where the key words are written in hiragana, and you must write the kanji).

Kanji are grouped according to topic. After one unit - five pages of kanji (ie, 20 kanji) - there is another reading/writing review quiz. And after every two units (ie, 40 kanji), there's another two review quizzes. These review quizzes/tests include longer reading passages. There's also a review test after unit 11 and unit 20.

My opinion: This is a really good layout for a kanji book. It is a bit repetitive, but there's plenty of review built in. The reading and writing exercises are very practical. It's great to have kanji in different forms in sentences. For example, you learn the kanji 拾, and then you'll read it in sentences in forms like 拾う (hirou - to pick up), 拾得物 (shuutokubutsu - found article) and 拾万円 (juumanen - 100,000 yen). Also, the sentences themselves are very useful and often allow you to deduce the meaning of unknown words in them. So much more helpful than just reading kanji/words in isolation.

The only downside to the book is, if you haven't really studied kanji writing prior to N3, a lot of the 'writing' section will be difficult. That's because the writing questions include lots of other kanji in compounds and therefore assumes some prior knowledge. For example, you learn the kanji 活, and then there's a question asking how to write かつどう in kanji (活動）. By this level you will have probably encountered this word, but if you haven't previously learned/remembered how to write 動 (which is not covered in this book), you will have to check the 'answers' section and copy it down. It's probably good practice, though. ^_^

City Spotlight: Minato Mirai

I can't believe I've had this blog so long without ever posting much about Minato Mirai. This is probably the number 1 destination for tourists visiting Yokohama.

Minato Mirai means 'Future Harbour' (minato = harbour), and it's just that - a harbour, with lots of modern buildings and development. The architecture and landscape is distinctive; if you see a picture of it, you immediately know 'this is Yokohama'.

For example, you have the Landmark Tower. This is essentially the tallest 'proper' building in Japan, barring a couple of towers like Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree. By the Landmark Tower is Queen's Square, a series of three buildings that taper downwards, getting steadily shorter and narrower. There's also the hotel, Intercontinental Yokohama, which stands right on the harbour's edge and has a distinctive sail-like shape.

View from near Landmark Tower in cherry blossom time. Here's the Nippon Maru (a ship which also houses a maritime museum; behind it can be seen the Intercontinental and Cosmo World) 

If you walk out of Sakuragicho station and stand looking at the harbour, on your left you'll see Colette Mare, the Landmark Tower, Queen's Square, Intercontinental Yokohama, and then Cosmo World, a theme park, followed by World Porters, a department store. You can also walk to World Porters across 'Kishamichi', a footbridge; it's a nice walk.

Colette Mare and Landmark Tower, as seen from outside Sakuragicho station

The image at the top of the screen, which is my picture for this blog, was taken in Minato Mirai. You can see the three Queen's Square buildings, and the Cosmo World Ferris wheel.

If you continue walking from World Porters, you'll get to 'Akarenga' (the 'Red Brick Warehouse'), past the cruise ship terminal, and eventually, to Yamashita Park and Chinatown. If you like walking a lot, you could therefore do one big walking trail of most of Yokohama's tourist attractions. If you want to explore each area properly, I would recommend doing Minato Mirai on one day and the whole Chinatown area on another day, just so you can spend more time in each place without getting footsore. If it's a weekend and the weather is nice, the whole area will be lively and full of people enjoying themselves.

Some of the things you can do here:
-go up to the top of the Landmark Tower to enjoy a view of Yokohama from above
-go to the art museum (go to the space between the Landmark Tower and first Queen's Square building, then walk for a minute or two away from the harbour.)
-go on rides at Cosmo World, or play arcade games. The huge Ferris wheel - 'Cosmo clock' - is a good tourist attraction
-go shopping - Colette Mare and World Porters are particularly good for this, in terms of number and range of stores
-catch a movie at Colette Mare or World Porters
-go to Manyo no Yu - it's a building behind World Porters and Cosmo World - where you can have a real hot spring experience in Yokohama. The water is real hot spring water, piped in from Atami and Yugawara. It's more expensive than a run-of-the-mill onsen, but you can experience several different types of bath, including a shared-sex foot bath on the top of the building, where you can see a great view over the harbour.
-sit and relax on the grass on Kishamichi or outside the Nippon Maru (ship out front of the Landmark Tower).
-take a boat ride; for example, boats go from Minato Mirai to Yamashita Park.

Colette Mare is a new building - it wasn't there a year ago. It literally filled a gap in the market. There weren't many good shops right by Sakuragicho station. Yes, Landmark Tower and Queen's Square have shops, and quite a few of them, but these buildings, though cool, have a rather vast, cavernous feel - they don't have the same density of shops as your typical department store. And Landmark doesn't have many shops to appeal to the average Joe. But your tastes may differ.

Minato Mirai is nice for a variety of reasons, but for me, its number one advantage is you feel like you can get some fresh air and open space, which is important when you live in a huge metropolis like the Greater Tokyo area. While there are a lot of buildings around the harbour, it's one of the few places in the city where you can actually sit near the ocean and look out and not feel claustrophobic. There are places to sit on the grass, places to stroll around, places to have a nice coffee.

To see it, go to JR Sakuragicho station (on the Keihin-Tohoku/Negishi line and Yokohama line). You can also go to 'Minato Mirai' station (on the Minato Mirai line), which is located in the basement of the Queen's Square buildings.

Japanese Pet Peeve: Squeak squeak

Have you ever been to a Christmas lunch or toddler's birthday party where someone gives a small child a toy that makes a loud, annoying noise? The mother smiles and thanks the giver, with a slight note of strain in her face. She knows she will be hearing that toy drum/musical truck/whistle/jackhammer sound effect, over and over again, over the months to come.

In Japan I have noticed a product that would make me feel this way: squeaky shoes. These are shoes for toddlers that emit a loud squeaking sound with every step. Imagine someone squeezing a rubber ducky. Now, as small children tend to run around a lot, imagine them squeezing that ducky relentlessly for minutes at a time. Not pleasant for anyone who happens to be in the same restaurant or shop.

I can only imagine that the logic for buying such shoes is to be able to have an idea of where your child is at all times. In such crowded cities, it might be useful to be able to hear when your small child is running off somewhere. At least, I hope this is the reason, and it's not a 'cute' fashion choice. I have to admire the patience of mothers who can tolerate it!

Baseball

Before I begin this post on sport, I would like to offer a hearty congratulations to Japan's women's soccer team, Japan Nadeshiko, for winning the World Cup!

I watched the first half of the match in an izakaya, but had to drag myself to bed (well, it was almost 5am). When I went to bed it looked like America would win, so I was super chuffed to turn on my TV this morning. Go girls!

The other day I went to Meiji Jingu stadium to see the Tokyo Yakult Swallows play the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya's team). (Yes, there is a baseball team named after fermented milk. If you look at other baseball team names, you'll realise it could be much worse. The Nippon Ham Fighters, for example.)

This photo is of Yokohama stadium, during a Swallows - Bay Stars match.

In Japan there are two main baseball leagues: the Central League and the Pacific League.

The Central League is probably a bit more prominent/popular. Its teams are the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya), Hanshin Tigers (Osaka - well, close enough), Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Yokohama Bay Stars, and the Yomiuri Giants (Tokyo).

The Pacific League comprises the Chiba Lotte Marines, Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Orix Buffaloes (Osaka), Saitama Seibu Lions, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Yes, there is a lot of unsubtle product placement going on in these team names.

If you're in Japan in summer, you should check out a baseball game. Even if you're not that into sports, it is a very interesting and very Japanese experience.

I have never seen any baseball other than Japanese games, so I can't tell you much about Japanese baseball and how it compares to American baseball. American friends have described Japanese baseball as conservative, and not that exciting. What I do enjoy, though, is the act of participating in Japanese-style ouen, or cheering.

There are some ouen leaders, who orchestrate cheers with whistles and signs. Seriously! While your team is at bat, some dude will hold up a sign to show what cheer you should do next (the signs say things like 'go go let's go' and 'kattobase!' (which means something like 'slam a home run!'). Whistles set the pace. There's a team with trumpets and the like to play the cheer songs. The more popular or established players all have their own particular cheer songs.

In the case of the Swallows, cheers are done using plastic cheer bats with Swallows colours and designs - you hit them together in lieu of clapping (which is just as well, because it would be a lot of clapping; while your team is at bat there is no rest in the cheering). If the Swallows get a home run, all hell breaks loose - or rather, out come the umbrellas, for a rousing rendition of 'Tokyo Ondo'. (Check it out on YouTube.

Tokyo Ondo is the Swallows winning song. It used to, to my great amusement, open with the words 'screw you Yomiuri!' because the Swallows are long-time rivals of the more popular Tokyo team, the Yomiuri Giants. This lyric has officially been changed to a more 'gentle' version, but a lot of fans still sing the original. ^_^

Each team has its own little idiosyncracies in terms of cheering, but it's a good workout for the fans. In fact I often get so distracted by watching the fans that I forget to focus on the game, ha ha ha. Funnily enough, cheering in unison like this is actually great fun and really adds to the atmosphere of the game.

You can get tickets ahead of time from ticket machines, like in Lawson convenience stores. You can also go to discount ticket booths, which can be found in many shopping malls around Tokyo and Kanagawa.

A Day In: Ebisu

I had a few hours to spend, and thought I'd go to Shibuya. But actually, apart from shopping and eating, there's not much to do in Shibuya. What was my plan? Go to Starbucks - where they're so busy they can only serve one size of drink, and there's never a seat - and watch the pedestrians cross the 'scramble' crossing? I have done just that several times, but I decided to go to Ebisu instead.

These lanterns say 'Ebisu Ondo' ('Ebisu Marching Song'). I'm not sure what that means. There might be a festival later.

Ebisu is a fairly unremarkable small hub in Tokyo; one of many. It's on the JR lines, also the Tokyo metro (Hibiya line). The station is surrounded by department store; in this case the Atre building. There are lots of streets with small shops and restaurants and bars all around.

I chose Ebisu because of Yebisu Garden Place. ('Yebisu' is the old spelling of Ebisu, but is pronounced the same. The area was actually named after Yebisu beer.) This is a complex with a few buildings, department store, a beer museum and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

Yebisu Garden Place

To get to Ebisu from Kawasaki or Yokohama, you can take the JR Tokaido or Keihin-Tohoku lines to Shinagawa, then transfer to the Yamanote line. From Yokohama, you could also take the Tokyu Toyoko line and transfer to the Hibiya line at Nakameguro.

I arrive in Ebisu and start by going in search of coffee. There's a cafe and sandwich shop right near the outside west exit ticket gates. It's pretty hot inside; the cafe is presumably following power-saving measures. Nice coffee, though.

Going back to the east exit side of the station, I follow the signs to Yebisu Garden Place. There are tunnels with moving walkways to speed your progress; it takes about 5 minutes to walk there from the station.

It's a hot day. I'd like to eat lunch somewhere... but I can't find a place. In the so-called 'restaurant floor', there are two restaurants - one is an izakaya full of businessmen socialising, the other is a ramen shop. I find a Burger King, and a cafe with fairly feeble-looking Italian food, and... not really anything else.

I go into Krispy Kreme as a temporary measure. I ask for one original glazed donut. Apparently they are having some kind of celebration and giving 'presents' to customers. The 'present' is a free original glazed donut. So... the lady gives me my donut and refuses payment. If I end up spending no money there at all, can I even be considered a customer?...

It strikes me that Krispy Kreme is getting quite ubiquitous now. I remember when there were only two or three of them around, and the opening of a new store was a big deal; there'd be ridiculous lines of people waiting to buy. Now I see branches all over the place.

I go to the photography museum. I have been here once before, and I really liked it. They have exhibitions which change periodically. I think there can be up to three exhibitions at a time, but today there's only two. You can buy a single ticket or a combination, and see both exhibitions. I choose to see one exhibition (700yen), that of the 'World's Press' - acclaimed photographs by press members from news stories last year.

It is a very good exhibition. Although some photos are of fun subjects, like festivals or interesting cultural oddities, generally speaking, it's not a light exhibition. It's quite something to see a year of tragedies laid out one after another. Here's an oil spill; here are pictures of overcrowding in Sierra Leone's prisons; floods in Pakistan; bodies of people killed in a Tibetan earthquake; illegal abortion methods in Kenya; a man failing to rescue his friend from drowning...

You see the suffering of the world, and it feels very far removed from the place you are. There are lots of images of poverty and desolation. When you are in the heart of safe, sunny Tokyo, with well-dressed people walking around you, in a clean and well-lit building, all that grief seems a world away.

Then you see the display of photographs from this year's tsunami, and it reminds you that nobody is immune, and tragedy can strike anywhere. Suffering does not belong only to developing countries.

Anyway, if you appreciate photography, I would definitely recommend this museum. I should think of something else to say, because it seems tasteless to segue immediately from human suffering to what I had for lunch. -_-

As I mentioned before, one of the other main attractions of Yebisu Garden Place is the Yebisu Beer Museum. I have previously mentioned Kirin Beer Village, in Yokohama. Kirin has nicer surrounds and a free tour with free tastings. However, it's a bit inconvenient to get to, and the tour is only in Japanese and is rather dry. Yebisu Beer Museum is more conveniently located, and has more interesting displays (assuming you do the tour). You can also buy beer jelly. No, I don't know why you'd want to.

For lunch, I go back to Atre and have soba and tempura with cheap beer. For some reason, this particular restaurant seems to be the most popular one on the restaurant floor. Soba and tempura is a good combination, I think. The unhealthiness of the tempura is somewhat mitigated by the more wholesome soba.

After this, from the west exit of Ebisu station, I see a sign for the 'Yamatane Museum of Art'. I've never heard of it before, but it seems to be fairly nearby, so I walk. It's a really hot day, and the sun is beating down quite fiercely. What should be a short, easy walk is rather a drag.

When I finally get there, I find that it is a museum of Japanese art. Just as a personal preference, I don't really care for ukiyo-e art. I mean, it's pretty and evocative, and I'm sure many people get a lot from it, but I don't feel much when I look at it. Just, 'oh, that's nice, some mountains. Oh, this one is obviously spring. Oh, more mountains.'

This exhibition is not just ukiyo-e, though; it's a collection of paintings, most of them from the last century, of landscapes showing the beauty of Japanese nature. As is common in Japanese art, the seasons are a predominant theme and, yes, there are lots of mountains. I enjoy it, though. Although I haven't visited a lot of the places in these paintings, it does show the natural beauty of the Japan I love.

It is not a very large exhibition, considering the entrance fee of 1000 yen, but it's not bad and may be a good place to visit if you're in the area and have an interest in Japanese art.

I go back to the station, stopping at the Segafredo cafe in the Ebisu Prime building. (A good chain, by the way, but only in Tokyo and further north. None in Yokohama.) I think I drink too much coffee in the summer heat, since I'm always wanting to go inside airconditioned places. ^_^

On returning to the station, I have one final place to visit: Good Day Books. This is right outside Ebisu station, and has a big collection of second-hand English-language books. The prices are not especially low - not like a Book Off - but what makes this store great is its variety. There are a lot of books you just can't find new in Japan, and this store also has a good collection of Japanese language study books. I recommend it!

Saving electricity

In the Greater Tokyo area, there is not a lot of visible difference since the tsunami. A lot of shops and restaurants have donation tins where you can give to the earthquake appeal. Friends have told me about damage that happened; for example, some older buildings in the Yokohama station area, and a ceiling collapsing in Kawasaki Muza. But to the casual observer walking around, there's no damage visible down this area.

One thing you will see a lot of, though, is 'saving electricity' notices.

Since power is now being conserved, a lot of businesses have this sort of sign displayed. Specific examples include:
-air conditioning off, or restricted to certain areas (for example, malls with uncooled corridors but cooled shops, trains where the air con was only switched on after the trains got crowded; most of the airport - a huge, airy space which would no doubt take a lot of power to cool - didn't have air con)
-escalators not running, especially where there is more than one escalator for each direction
-hand dryers disabled in bathrooms
-sports matches finishing earlier
-modified train timetables

Shopping in Kawasaki

Well, my first day back in Japan (I do love Japan ^_^) and I spent the day in Kawasaki, shopping. I've already written 'a day in' Kawasaki posts (see here and here), as well as 'Kawasaki city spotlight' posts (see here and here). So I thought this time I'd write about 'things I bought today in Kawasaki'. ^_^

I include some prices so you can get a feel for how much things cost here (prices would be similar in Yokohama or Tokyo). The current exchange rate is 100 yen = $1.15 (Australian) but I will just roughly translate the prices.

Books

At Maruzen in LaZona (near west exit of Kawasaki station, go down to the bottom floor), I bought these books:

Kanji for intermediate level (￥1890, $22). It is a functional book and looks practical. It doesn't look exciting. I have never seen a single Japanese textbook that is anything other than completely boring and uninspiring visually. (To be fair, most of the English textbooks published in Japan are similarly uninspiring.) I hope to take level N3 of the JLPT at the end of the year.

A Geek in Japan (￥1890, $22). I've been following Hector Garcia's blog, Kirai Net for a long time. He posts interesting content and great photos of his experiences in Japan. This is his book; I had planned to order it online, but I found it in Maruzen. It is not a re-hash of his blog posts, but a guide book full of great photos, with lots of information about Japanese culture, travel information, and some geeky stuff (despite the title, this book is certainly not only about geeky stuff but much broader ^_^).

If this was Australia, a nice-looking book like 'A Geek in Japan' would definitely be at least $40, so I'm really glad to come to Japan. So many cheap books. ^_^

Book Off

At Book Off in Kawasaki More's (across the road from the east exit of Kawasaki station, on the 3rd floor), I bought these CDs by nobodyknows+, Going Under Ground, Bonnie Pink, The Yellow Monkey and Hitomi Yaida. I don't know if they'll be good, but I like other songs by these artists, so...
Considering how expensive new CDs are here (often close to ￥3000/$34 each), second-hand CDs are super cheap. And second-hand CD shops abound. In the case of Book Off, there are different sections with different prices; all of these were from the ￥250 ($2.90) section.

At this Book Off, you can also find an English book section (prices generally range from ￥150 - ￥500 per book, but may be more for particularly large/nice books). You can also find cheap video games (in Japanese only). For comparison, I found Pokemon Diamond for ￥950 ($11). In second-hand game stores in Australia, I've never seen it for less than $55!

I also got the iTunes card from Yodo-

Sorry, pause to say that there's an earthquake happening at the moment. It's lasted a full minute! The hangers in my wardrobe are bumping against the wall. It's gentle, so nothing too scary, but I must admit I feel differently about earthquakes since the recent disasters. Before, I found the small tremors rather fun, since they were only small, but now they are a reminder of how nasty things could potentially get.

Anyway, got the iTunes card from Yodobashi so I can download Japanese music. But Japanese iTunes is not like the English one. English iTunes has pretty much any English song you can think of, while Japanese iTunes has a much more select range; even quite famous songs are not necessarily on there.

Speaking of music, I did drop into Tower Records (in Cinecitta, in the 'Tower of Pisa' building near the movie ticket box office). It's a nice way to check out the latest Jpop releases, since they have lots of music listening stations set up, where you can listen to albums on headphones. I plan to get the new album by 'Unison Square Garden' before I leave, but I feel like I already spent way too much money today...

Shoes

I got the shoes in Azalea, Kawasaki's underground mall, just outside the east exit of the station. This mall has seasonal displays and temporary sales in the centre - I've seen them sell traditional Japanese cultural paraphenalia, second-hand books, fruit and vegetables - depending on the week. And they often have a section where they sell cheap clothes and shoes; that's where I got these. They are not especially great but I needed a pair of comfortable sandals for the hot, humid weather here. Cost about ￥4800 ($55). There are many cheaper pairs around, so I plan to buy a few more pairs before returning home.

Azalea is always my pick for reasonably-priced clothes in Kawasaki. In general I'm not a big fan of Japanese fashion, at least for myself. Having pale skin and dark hair, the pale pastel colours don't favour my complexion, and not having a willowy figure, I do not want big, baggy clothes that hang on me like sackcloth. Also, there are a lot of fashions that are in roughly the same pattern and fabric as pyjamas.

What I do love buying in Japan are shoes. Having rather small feet, and coming from a city with ridiculously expensive footwear, I love Japan. I can't help feeling amused to see the shelves of shoes where 'M' - medium - is '23.0cm - 23.5cm'. That's an Australian size 6 or 6.5, folks.

Supermarket stuff

Well, I don't need to go into much detail here. This stuff is from the supermarket in LaZona (ground floor). I got salad (boasting '12 types of vegetable', but it's half cabbage, as most supermarket salads are) and beans to snack on, because I feel like eating out in Japan, it's difficult to find dishes that have many vegetables. I don't know if home cooking is different, but think of all the main types of Japanese restaurant - soba and udon, ramen, tonkatsu, sushi, curry, donburi - and very few of these dishes have vegetables. Nabe, I guess, but this is summer and I don't want to eat nabe.

The beans and salad were about ￥200 ($2.20) apiece (for pretty tiny servings). The apple juice was nice and cheap at ￥148 ($1.70). The two-minute noodles were about ￥100 ($1.15), the nori (seaweed slices) ￥138 (for a lot of pieces!)...

I like these 'granola' bars. I doubt they are especially healthy, but they're tasty. I discovered them when I was living in Nagoya and needed some alternative to muesli bars (which don't exist here).

The bread - ￥138 for three slices - is from the bakery in the supermarket. The bread is super soft, but you can actually taste the sugar in it. It's really not very good for you. I must try to find some tasty, but less outrageously unhealthy, bread today. ^_^

100 yen shop stuff

There was a great 100yen shop in Kawasaki Le-Front, on the 9th floor. It's no more, but there's a new one on the 7th floor. It's okay... and the sorts of things you can buy at a 100 yen shop are pretty good, I think. Back-up headphones, socks, gift bags, a camera case, post-it notes, hair ties, blah blah. I hope to buy lots more sockettes, the little foot covers that fit inside shoes. 

Everything 105 yen (including tax), or $1.15. Nothing to note, except that little notebook with the hamster on it. It's actually a kanji practice book for kids; inside, it's not a lined notebook, but ruled into grids, so kids can practise writing kanji in the boxes. Hopefully, if I have a book dedicated to kanji, I will actually use it. Ha ha ha...

Traveller tips - money

Japan is a cash-based society. There are ATMs all over the place, like in convenience stores and outside banks, but most of them only allow you to use Japanese bank cards, ie to make withdrawals from a Japanese bank account. At the airport, of course, you can find ATMs that will let you withdraw from overseas accounts.

If you need more money once you're in the city, you can find a post office. A lot of post offices have ATMs where you can use international credit cards, while most other ATMs - and I have tried a LOT of them - don't.*

*(I have successfully used my card in at least a dozen countries, from Egypt to Guatemala, Singapore to Norway. Japan was the only place I've found that had foreigner-unfriendly ATMs as the default.)

7-11 also often has international card-compatitble ATMs.

You should be aware that many ATMs actually have operating hours and may be closed/inaccessible at night.

Withdrawing from an international ATM generally incurs a currency conversion fee and a withdrawal fee, but this is usually still cheaper than converting your money at a currency exchange.

You can find currency exchanges around major cities in Japan, especially in very touristy places or in the most major banks, but they're not exactly ubiquitous. You have to seek them out, probably look up online where to find them.

Nonetheless, when it comes to money, do what's comfortable for you.

Traveller tips - Kawasaki and Yokohama hotels

Since I'm in the middle of planning my trip, I thought I'd share my process with you. ^_^

Hotels

I love this website: Jalan Net. Compared with English sites, you can find a much wider variety of hotels there, book them online, earn points which can be used in the future, and you can usually find things that are much cheaper than the standard range of 'international' hotels on English sites.

The problem? It's all in Japanese. Happily, with the help of Denshi Jisho, I have enough Japanese to work my way through it, but if you have no Japanese at all, it might be too difficult.

I've been in four different hotels in Kawasaki. The Nikko was the best, but then my company was paying for it at the time. ^_^ For cheaper ones, my favourite so far is 'Hotel The Crane', or at least, I had a good experience both times I stayed there. In my experience, service is efficient, rooms are fairly small but in good condition, but it's not far from the station, there's a bathroom, heater/air con, toiletries and Internet in the room (it's not a hostel, though the prices are cheap), you can get plans that include a simple breakfast, etc. Booking online, you can easily stay for 4000 - 5000 yen ($45-$55) a night.

A nice thing about travelling solo in Japan is that they often have single rooms and you are generally expected to pay per person. Like if you stay in a ryokan; often, one person or two can share the same room, yet each person will pay the same amount no matter its occupancy, which means it's no more expensive to stay there as a single than as a pair. In Japan, when searching hotels, I find it is a lot easier to find single rooms for single-friendly prices.

Staying in Kawasaki is nice too, because Kawasaki itself is a cool city, yet it's a bit less expensive to stay there than in Yokohama and Tokyo. But if you take the Tokaido line for ten minutes in either direction, you'll be in Yokohama or Tokyo.

Hostels in Yokohama

If you want cheap digs in Yokohama, there's a particular district which has a lot of hostels. It's near Ishikawacho station, about ten minutes walk from Chinatown and Motomachi. The street itself is not exactly pretty, but it's in easy walking distance of some nice places. Prices are quite good - you can pay  3000 yen a night! - but you'll get small rooms, shared showers and toilets, showers may be coin-operated, etc.

I have personally stayed at 'A Silk Tree' and 'Yokohama Hostel Village'. They're both cheap and good value for money; rooms are pretty small and basic, but that's what you'd expect, right? Location-wise, those two hostels are on opposite sides of the same street. I would recommend the Hostel Village; it just felt nicer. If you're into socialising in hostels, it's also a better bet. Silk Tree felt a bit drab and quiet, with no real public spaces.

Unless I'm on a really strict budget, I prefer to stay in Kawasaki because it's more lively and more central (also, my friends live there). If you're going to Yokohama station, it actually takes the same amount of time from Kawasaki station than from these hostels near Ishikawacho.

Japanese accommodation

I've mentioned before that I really like staying in ryokan (Japanese-style traditional inns) but I haven't recommended them in the case of Kawasaki and Yokohama. It's not that they don't exist - I assume there must be a few of them - but these are not really 'traditional' cities. If you go to a city like Kyoto, Nara, or Hakone, you feel it's a bit more traditional and natural; if you stay in a ryokan there, you feel like you're indulging in local culture. In Kawasaki or Yokohama, well, I guess you could do it if you wanted to, but since ryokan are often more expensive than regular hotels, I'd rather save them for a relaxing town with a fitting atmosphere. Also, it's really nice to stay in ryokan in towns that have an onsen (hot spring) culture, so you can enjoy the real hot spring baths.

Out of curiosity, I just did a perfunctory search for ryokan in Kawasaki or Yokohama, and the ryokan that came up tended to be rather far from the metropolises that surround Kawasaki and Yokohama stations. As I said, there probably are some in the cities themselves, but I don't know of any personally.

One thing you could do if you want a more Japanese experience is that a lot of hotels and hostels offer a choice of Western-style rooms (with beds, carpets, etc) or Japanese-style rooms (with futons, tatami mats, etc). They're usually the same price, so perhaps you could specify that you'd like a Japanese-style room, so long as you don't mind more sitting on the floor. ^_^

Trip!

I take a pause from posting from my old diary to say that I will be back in Kawasaki, my old stomping ground, next week on holiday. If it inspires me, then, I might have some new material. If I don't post, it means I'm having too much fun to blog. ^_^

Church

One thing I thought I'd write about is my church in Yokohama. I don't know how typical this church was - I'd say probably not very! - but in case you're interested to hear about church-going in Japan...

I found the church online; it was an ordinary, I guess you'd say Protestant, church. The reason I chose it was because it was multinational and bilingual - I didn't want to go to a church with only other ex-pats, since I was living in Japan, but nor did I want to go with only Japanese, where I wouldn't understand anything.

In that sense, this was perfect; there was a good mix of Japanese and international people attending. The church was led/run by Japanese Hawaiians, who spoke fluent English and Japanese. They gave the church a unique flavour; a lot of people wearing Hawaiian shirts, wearing leis, doing the shaka sign during the messages, etc. It gave it a nice, laid-back feel.

The church had one other quirk, which was that it didn't have a fixed location. There were four or five different venues, and the church moved from place to place according to the week and the venue availability. I got to see some new streets in Yokohama this way. ^_^

The meetings were bilingual. This manifested itself in three main ways:
-overhead projections were in both languages. For example, if we sang a song, there would be perhaps a couple of verses in English, then a Japanese version of the same.
-messages were translated. For example, the pastor would speak in Japanese, and have an assistant translating after every couple of sentences.
-when they handed out message notes, they had copies in both English and Japanese

You might think that it would be disjointed to have messages translated. But the translators were good at their job, and I rather liked it. First, it was good Japanese practice. Then, it meant the messages were usually kept a bit more direct and simple, rather than roaming into obscure theological tangents. Also, hearing a message at a slower pace, bit by bit, gave you more time to think about what you were hearing.

I liked this church. I only went for a few months, but it was a friendly place that seemed to preach the truth. This blog post is not meant to be an ad, but I might as well post the link, since I would recommend it: New Hope Yokohama.

Early impressions (6)

Every day in Japan there are 10001 things that are different from Australia. It's impossible to register them all, and before long you don't notice them at all. But there are just so many. I mean, just talking about the five minute walk to the train station makes me think of lots of things that are different from home.

There are vending machines everywhere; I pass at least eight on my short walk to the station. They sell both hot and cold drinks, in the same machine. It might sound strange to buy a bottle of hot green tea, or a hot can of cafe latte. But I've done it more than once. Around train stations, the vending machines often have sensors so that you can use your train pass to purchase drinks.

Now these train passes are really pretty cool. You buy a card and put credit on it, and it saves you buying tickets every time you use a train. You just touch it to the ticket gate - you don't even have to remove it from your wallet, 'cos the ticket gate can sense the pass through your wallet. They work on multiple train lines, and you can also set them as a commuter pass.

Back to vending machines... a lot of them sell cigarettes. Under 20s are not supposed to buy them (the age of adulthood is 20 in Japan) - but of course there is no regulation whatsoever in place to prevent 12-year-olds buying cigarettes if they so choose. Japan is actually a smoker's heaven, and the cigarettes are also relatively cheap. It's rare to find a cafe where you can't smoke at all. Usually there is a smoking and non-smoking section, but several times I have had to drink my coffee while inhaling smoke. You get used to it, I guess... I've also seen 'smoker's rooms' around the place, which always looks pretty funny to me. There's one right outside Yokohama station, it reminds me of a glass aquarium where the exhibit animals are cigarette smokers, haha...

On the way to or from the train station, you might choose to avail yourself of one of the ubiquitious 'conbeni' (convenience stores). Convenience stores are like mini supermarkets. You can pay bills there - bills arrive at your address with barcodes on them, you just take them into your local conbeni and pay them, it takes all of twenty seconds. I pay all my utility bills, my mobile phone bill, my upcoming Internet bill, etc... recently I bought an airfare (to Sapporo) and was given the option of paying at a convenience store...

Japan really is a cash-based society. People don't use credit cards that often, and when you see, for example, their bill-paying system, you can understand why. I guess it's also a very safe society, so it's safer to carry around more money. I've heard a few people mention losing wallets and having had them returned.

Just looking around a simple convenience store will yield many things unrecognisable to Western eyes. There are lots of bento - boxes of cutely packaged, various Japanese foods - and lots of other little pre-packaged foods. Sometimes I buy a pack of cooked rice, and they'll heat it for you.

There are the usual things you would find in Western convenience stores... cheese, drinks, chips and chocolate, a bakery section... Every time I see the so-called 'bakery' section of my conbeni, I think of something my friends did before I left Australia. As a joke, we all brought the worst and funniest food items we could find - the kind of thing you see in a supermarket and think 'who BUYS that?!' I tell you what, I would win that competition with the contents of the conbeni bakery section. I will be the disgusting food QUEEN! I mean, they have strawberry sandwiches. With actual strawberries and cream smushed in there. But the 'sandwich' bread doesn't even look like bread. I can't describe it...

There's a small section selling money envelopes; they're quite distinctive-looking and have little ribbon threads on them. In Japanese culture, if you give anything, the wrapping is important, and I guess so is discretion. So if you give a gift, it's always wrapped in a nice way. If you give money, it's always in an envelope. For example, I will pay my shamisen teacher by putting money in an envelope. I bought blank envelopes though; for all I know, the ones with writing on them say 'condolences on your loss' or 'congratulations on your wedding'...

There's also a section of comic books. Lots of people read manga (Japanese comics) in Japan, including adults. You often see businessmen reading them on trains; there's no stigma of them being 'for children' (though of course there are lots of manga produced for children). There also seem to be quite a few girly magazines (as in, soft porn) in the conbeni. Sometimes I'm slightly disturbed by the covers of various manga magazines and girly magazines - lots of pictures of girls bursting out of skimpy tops. I've heard that porn is popular and not that stigmatised in Japan. I know I've unwittingly stumbled across it in various unexpected stores and places, though fortunately never anything hard-core.

Anyway, obviously not all the manga and magazines in conbeni are porn, I just can't help noticing those that are, they kind of draw the attention. -_- In Japan, it's normal for people in bookstores to stand and browse the books. It's quite funny to go into a bookstore and see thirty or forty people all standing holding magazines, for example. In Australia, if you did that, surely someone would tell you 'this is not a library'.. hahah...

What else... there are so many different things, just on one street. The garbage system. Confusing, with different types of garbage being collected almost every day of the week. There are posters on lamp posts announcing the days of collection. Garbage has to be tied up in transparent plastic bags so they can see that you are throwing out the right type of garbage. Garbage usually ends up in masses of plastic bags, bound by nets, tied to signposts on the street.

Lots of the small, locally owned shops, seem a lot smaller than any stores in Australia.

Coffee shops. Coffee is very popular in Japan. But coffee shops and cafes are not the same thing, and I have learned to read the signs. There are several places selling coffee on my way to the train station, but I will only drink lattes or cappuccinos. (There are no such things as 'flat whites' here.) This is because Japanese coffee tends to be Strong Espresso. You can get it with milk, but then it becomes Strong Espresso With A Teaspoon Of UHF Crema. Like, I had a coffee at Subway once and couldn't quite believe what came out of the machine. Imagine drinking four or five shots of espresso in one cup. It was horrifying!

Anyway, quite a few places do have cappuccinos and lattes - though there are plenty of coffee shops that don't. Cappuccinos are interesting, as you never know exactly what it will be... sometimes they come topped with chocolate, sometimes with cinnamon, and sometimes with nothing at all. Often with lattes and cappuccinos, I find the froth to be a bit too foamy and bubbly for my taste (okay, I'm a sad, over-fussy coffee snob) so my favourite has become (guiltily...) Starbucks. Starbucks coffees here seem to be a little smaller and stronger than in Oz, so they're much nicer, and have a good consistency of froth. In my defense, though I may patronise Starbucks almost every day, I have at least tried cappuccinos at virtually every possible cafe and fast food restaurant in the area...

Cafes also have a wide variety of other drinks, most of them look sickly sweet, things like 'creme brulee lattes' and 'caramel cream lattes'. I have never seen a Japanese person order a cappuccino or cafe latte at a cafe - it's always strong black coffee, or one of the sickly-sweet conconctions.

One non-coffee drink I am quite partial is the matcha latte. (Matcha is the really traditional Japanese green tea - the kind they do 'tea ceremony' with. It is thick and dark green, slightly bitter, and looks foamy, like soap bubbles. I don't like the taste as much as 'ordinary' green tea, but it's okay.) Matcha lattes are pretty good! It comes with cream, so it's like drinking a hot cocoa... except it's matcha... hmmm...

Early impressions (5)

More of my diary from when I first came to Japan (three years ago). Sorry that these are the only posts I make now, but since I'm not in Japan at the moment, I don't have the inspiration to write much that's new. ^_^

This post shows a nice contrast to my post on taking trains. In that post, I said that actually, taking trains in Japan is reasonably simple... but advised readers to procure a map. This old diary entry of mine proves why a map is a good thing. (It also helps if you're not a person like me, who hates asking people for help. Hahaha.)

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Going to Roppongi, aka 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing'

[I wrote this on Christmas Eve as a way of venting my frustration. It's probably rather laborious to read, so just imagine doing it!... This is an entirely accurate representation of my worst experience on Japanese trains. :)]

What a day...

This morning I set out for Sakuragicho to enjoy the sunshine. (I love the word 'Sakuragicho'. It just rolls off the tongue.) It was nice too. My plan was to then go to the immigration office in Ishikawacho - I brought my visa papers - and then finish the day by seeing the Christmas lights in Roppongi. (Roppongi is in Tokyo.) Remembering what happened the last times I went into Tokyo, I made sure to bring my train line maps with me. I knew from experience it can be difficult to negotiate the train system if you don't have your own maps.

In Sakuragicho

As it turned out, I forgot to bring my passport, so I couldn't go to Ishikawacho. Instead I came home to get it, decided I didn't have enough time to get back before the immigration office closed, and by that time had started developing a cold. So I decided to chill out until the evening when I went into Roppongi.

As I got on my first train to go to Roppongi, I realised that I didn't have my train maps. Drat! I'd put them in the bag with my visa papers - because I had thought I would be taking that bag with me to Roppongi - but then left it at home. Nice going! You did it again! I was having a really triumphant day with remembering things...

After that, I made just about every mistake it was possible to make!

Anyway, this is the process I took to try to get to Roppongi without a train map:

I took the Yokohama line to Higashi-Kanagawa and then changed to the Keihin-Tohoku line.

I took the Keihin-Tohoku line to Oimachi because I had a vague memory that the train line I wanted went from near there.

It didn't. But by the time I realised that, I was in the Saikyo line station, so I didn't want to go back to JR Oimachi to get back on the Keihin-Tohoku. This Saikyo station at least had a map on the wall. Roppongi wasn't on it. The only thing I knew for sure was that Roppongi was a Tokyo Metro station connected to the Hibiya Line, so I decided the only course was to get myself to a station I *knew* was connected to the Tokyo Metro, so I could at least see a subway map. I didn't recognise any of the stations on the Saikyo line as being on the Metro system. Thus, I took the Saikyo Line to Osaki so I could change to another line.

In Osaki I changed trains. I had to decide whether to go to Shibuya or Shinjuku, as I knew they are both connected to the Tokyo Metro. However, the Osaki map, not being a Tokyo Metro station, didn't have Tokyo Metro stops printed. So I didn't know which Metro train lines connected through Shibuya and Shinjuku. I (wrongly) 'remembered' that Yoyogi was on the Hibiya line, and Yoyogi is near Shibuya, so I went to Shibuya. As it turns out, Shinjuku would have taken me to a line connecting directly to Roppongi. But Shibuya didn't.

At Shibuya, I had a choice between walking to the Ginza or the Hanzomon lines. I knew that there was another line connecting directly to Roppongi apart from the Hibiya line, and I knew for a fact that it wasn't the Ginza line, and I couldn't remember what it was - so maybe it was the Hanzomon line? So I walked to Hanzomon Metro station, which was, of course, further away.
You must realise it took me all this travel time simply to get myself standing in front of a Tokyo Metro map.
Once at the Hanzomon line, all the train maps had English on them, except the map of the Tokyo Metro - the one I wanted to consult. By a Freak Chance, I recognised the kanji for 'Roppongi' - it's made up of three of the few kanji I know - and realised that I had to take the Ginza line and then change in Ginza. Drat!

So I walked back where I'd come from, to the Ginza line, and took the Ginza line all the way to Ginza.

In Ginza, I changed to the Hibiya line and took it for a few minutes.

FINALLY ARRIVED IN ROPPONGI AFTER TWO WHOLE HOURS AND SIX WHOLE TRAINS.

And don't forget, every time I leave a train station to change trains, it's costing me the fare of a subway ticket! -_-

I realise this whole affair makes me sound really incompetent, but the fact is this: because Tokyo is connected by multiple rail networks, often you can NOT find a map you need and so you have to just randomly go somewhere and hope you end up able to get to the right place. I don't know what people do. You might say 'well, if you left your rail maps at home, why didn't you pick up another one at the station?' They don't HAVE them! Or if they do, they're hidden somewhere!

My main fault was in not deciding to just go to a station where I *knew* there was a Tokyo Metro stop, to begin with, and imagining that Oimachi connected when it didn't (actually the stop I wanted was Hamamatsucho, so don't ask me how I got those names confused...).

This was the first time in Japan I ever thought 'I wish I had my car!' It would have been nice to have been able to just drive home, comfortably, in the warm, without having to stand in trains, get off and on, off and on...

Roppongi Hills was okay. They had nice Christmas lights, and a small German 'market', and some carol singers. I had a hot bowl of Chinese soup. It's not quite my scene though. I never like designer shops; in fact, designer things and rampant commercialisation actually kind of annoy me. Also, it's funny to see how my attitude changes when I have a cold and I'm annoyed after spending two hours catching six trains to get somewhere!

You see, Christmas Eve is a time for lovers, and there were soooo many young couples around. Ordinarily I'd be like 'ohh! That's so sweet! Isn't this nice, all these cute young couples!' But with a runny nose and my head all stuffed up, I was like 'geez... there are too many people here... all this lovey-dovey stuff is getting on my nerves... have a bit of self-respect, girls... and don't buy such expensive jewellery, you don't need it...'

Hahah...

Anyway, coming home was much more straightforward, as I'd seen every possible Tokyo train map by this stage. I still had to make a number of choices on my journey home, but this time I learned my lesson and made the right decisions. The lesson is: if presented with a choice between a) an unknown option that *may* be quicker/more direct, and b) a known option which may be slower but will definitely get you to the right destination - always, ALWAYS choose B!

Even a 'straightforward' route home from Tokyo can look like this:

I took the Hibiya line to the end of the line as I could see a way to end up at Kikuna, a station on the Yokohama line.

The Hibiya line went through Ebisu. The announcement said that this station 'connected to JR line'. Yes? Which JR line? It's kind of a relevent detail, you know! So, not knowing if it would be a JR line that I wanted, I stayed put.

At Naka-Meguro I stopped to get on the Tokyu Toyoko line. The first train that came along was an Express train. Well, I didn't know if Express would include Kikuna (I was 95% sure it would, but by now I was a broken woman, unable to face the possibility of getting it wrong yet again), so I had to wait for the next train. 

The next train, unfortunately, didn't go all the way to Kikuna. So I had to get off halfway and wait for the next train (along with everyone else on that train). The next train, unfortunately, was a Ltd Express. Again, I didn't know if it would include Kikuna so I had to wait for the next local train AGAIN. (To be fair, the trains are not far apart. But it is absolutely, completely FREEZING tonight, so not much fun waiting on platforms outside.)

Finally arrived in Kikuna. Changed trains to the Yokohama Line and finally returned home.

Yeesh! I should have just stayed home!

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[Update, 2011: Just to comment on this, express and limited express trains DO stop at Kikuna. At the time I wasn't familiar with station maps and the features of the stations I was to frequent, so I didn't know how to check. I think I was reluctant to ask anyone for help because at that time, my Japanese was very basic, and I had had a lot of rather demoralising experiences in train stations failing to communicate and ending up more confused than when I started.

I can also report that what most Japanese people do in situations like these is check train timetables on their mobile phones. Failing that, of course they would ask the station staff, like a sensible person. Also, I believe train maps can be gotten from many stations; at least from major stations; but you have to go to the information counter and request them; they are not just sitting around for the taking.]