銀座—築地

中午到築地吃午餐

除非真的很有錢，可以在銀座大買特買
不然 建議大家先到築地吃個sashimi午餐
再去Ginza

喜代村 Sushizanmai 這家的Sashimi便宜有新鮮

我吃了 3000yen 的Sashimi 大概有11件
女生可以兩人share一份

First Day of Summer Session in Sophia Uni

Instead of staying in the given hotel choices by Sophia Uni, I did some research and stayed in Tokyu Stay Yotsuya (service apartment). It's 10 min away from Sophia Uni on foot and it's cheaper than the given hotel. The orientation was pretty boring, the speaker basically repeated everything on the orientation packet.

今天早上戴隱形眼鏡的時候，竟然發生一個盒子裡有兩片鏡片！害我戴了兩片在左眼，看東西都看不清！然後一直以為我左眼花了，快要瞎吊了。

每個人都有點 自私
包括我在內
可是他大概是我遇過最自私的人

明明3個禮拜前約好這個禮拜六要去的
連票都買了
今天我問他的時候竟然說不去了！
還有膽叫我改日期！

搞甚麼鬼？！
你以為你是這個地球的中心嗎
大家都圍著你轉？！

你這個家裡錢太多＋被寵壞的敗家子！

ぶりだいこん

For 4 people

Ingredients:

- Buli (or any kind of red meat fish/ pork bones/ chicken bones/ beef bones)
- Radish
- Sesame oil (2 tablesp)
- Ginger (chopped)
- Soy sauce (4 tablesp)
- Sugar (4 tablesp)
- Sake (100 mL)
- Water (enough to cover the raddish)

1. Pour boiled water over the fish to take away bad smell
2. Chopped radish into quarters
3. Fry radish with ginger and sesame oil for 5 mins
4. Add sake, stir until sake is boiled
5. Add fish, wait 1 min
6. Add water
7. Put a kitchen paper towel on top
8. Put the lid on
9. Boil until the radish is soft

All night out

想說來日本一定要嘗試一下在外待一晚
坐第一班火車回家

晚上6：30出發到Shibuya
大概7：45點到火車站和朋友集合
8點到 The Lockup Restaurant 吃晚飯

The Lockup是一家連鎖的監獄＋鬼屋餐廳
我們去了 渋谷店 （ http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g528914/）
這個website有不錯的review
http://www.notquitenigella.com/2008/07/11/the-lock-up-prison-restaurant-at-shibuya/

走進去的時候要經過一條長長的可怕entrance
餐廳裡面像是一個監獄
大概沒一個小時會有一次大驚嚇
會把所有的燈都關掉
然後有人裝鬼來嚇你

我整個被嚇到魂飛走了
尖叫了10分鐘吧
然後我朋友有還故意整我一下
突然用腳在桌子底下碰我
害我以為甚麼鬼東西要來attack我

4個人吃了大概美金70元
每個人都點了一個菜
＋我們點了一個前菜和test tubs drinks

我大力推薦
不過太膽小或有甚麼血壓病，心臟病的
就不要去啦。

飯後到了coffee shop坐了一下
就是只有坐一下而已，
連一杯喝的都沒買
大概只有日本才會讓人在coffee shop坐著吧

coffee shop 後去clubbing
Club Atom 在 Shibuya有名的Love Hotels Hill 上
Love Hotels Hill 是一個充滿愛情旅館的地方
愛情旅館就是像台灣的motel啦
我在google map Club Atom 的時候
還沒發現說這些旅館是love hotels
我還想說遊客真多。。。

Club Atom入場費 1000／人
女生有 2 杯免費的飲料
club跟美國真的很不一樣
這裡的club比較像concert
大家都面向著DJ
男生超多
大概4：1吧
可是男生都不太好看
女的還可以
只是妝很濃

大概1am的時候
我就快死了
休息到3點
繼續跳到5點

去麥當勞吃個早餐
6點坐火車回家
7點到
可是我沒家裡鑰匙
所以打電話給朋友
問他給我到他家小睡一下
這個通常下午4點才起來的人
竟然早上7點起來給我開門
我本來是睡在他地毯上
然後他看到我誰在地上
就讓了一個位置給我睡在床上野
人好好喔

下午1:30起床
回家，繼續睡

－－－－－－－－－

不會在在外面待一整晚了
真的是超累人的

japan

check out my friend's blog, he has some pretty cool posts:

http://dielnickchronicles.blogspot.com

Hatoyama announces decision to step down as premier

what the heck?! he's the 4th prime minister who lasted less than a year!

------------------------------------

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced Wednesday his decision to step down during a general assembly of DPJ lawmakers.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announces his decision to step down during a general assembly of DPJ lawmakers on Wednesday.

Hatoyama's resignation comes amid plunging public support for his Cabinet and after the Social Democratic Party left his ruling coalition in opposing an accord with the United States to relocate a U.S. base within Okinawa Prefecture.

Slightly more than eight months ago, the DPJ formed a new government in partnership with the SDP and the People's New Party after its landslide victory in last summer's general election.

Hatoyama's departure also comes only weeks before a House of Councilors election that is widely expected to be held on July 11. The DPJ is desperate to win the election to secure a majority in the chamber, which it needs to enact legislation smoothly.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100602x1.html

letter to home (1/2 semester)

Kanda University for International Studies, Japan

from：靜宜大學交換學生網站

decorations for my room

Shinjuku

 The moment you arrive JR Shinjuku station, you will see all sorts of different people.  .  The station is full of people; it is unlike any train station in the U.S.A., where you only see people when there is a train coming.  Shinjuku station is packed at all times.  It almost feels like every single group of people in Japan has a representative in Shinjuku station, tourists, domestic travelers, commuters, students, families, salary men, office ladies, couples….  

If you are looking for people in the entertainment industry like musicians, artists, actors and directors, Golden Gai (meaning Golden Street) will be the right place.  Golden Gai is packed with many nice, cool bars and clubs.    Kabukicho is where all the “fun” is, this is the red light district.  When I was walking through Kabukicho, I thought it was just a place full of shady pachinkos, but very soon realized that it was obviously not pachinkos.  I was also a little freaked out by the fact that every shop has a man who look like some sort of body guards standing outside of it.  Kabukicho has more than just sex-related activities going on though; it is also full of bars and restaurants.  I find it interesting that a McDonald’s is located in this area, because I do not think there will be a McDonald’s inside the red light district in the U.S.A.  Walk a little farther and you have reached Okubo, Korean town.  If you expect this area to be packed with Koreans, you are expecting too much.  Okubo is probably a 7- block street of Korean restaurants and Korean entertainers photo shops, where Japanese who love Koreans gather. 

Kagurazaka is the hanamachi (geisha houses) district.  It is one of the last remaining geisha areas in Tokyo.  If you want to see geishas and be super gaijin chasing down a geisha to take pictures, this is the area to go to.  Most geisha houses in Japan are very exclusive to rich men, so it is probably not very easy for a random foreigner to gain access into one of them. Going to the west of Shinjuku, Nishi-Shinjuku, is the skyscrapers area.  If you are in the JR Shinjuku station, just simply walk out of the West exit.  Nishi-Shinjuku has the most skyscrapers in Tokyo, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building where you can enter the observatory for free, KDDI building and Park Tower.  

 About a 20- minute walk from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is the Shinjuku Gyoen (park).  This park used to be the park for the royal family of Japan, but later they opened it up to the public.  The entrance fee is 200 yen, and it is crowded with people during the hanami season (sakura flowers viewing season).  There is also the Shinjuku Chuo Koen (Central Park), and Meiji Shrine Outer Gardens in this area.  Shinjuku Ni-chome is the gay district. 

Shinjuku is small but it has places that serve every function that you can think of.  There is the Shinjuku park that families visit, especially for “hanami”, there is the red light district full of probably businessmen and movie theatres for young people, and not far away there is the Korean town full of “obasan”, older women”, in the Korean pop stars photo shops going crazy for the photos, albums, notebooks, pens and key chains of their favorite Korean entertainers.  What a contrast?  The older businessman who cannot stand his wife visits Kabukicho, the red light district, and his wife who needs new fantasies to dream about is 10 minutes away in Korean town enjoying being surrounded by the young Korean entertainers’ photos.  Ironic.  And then, in the alleys between Kabukicho and Korean town are random Taiwanese restaurants and spas, and residential buildings.  They do not seem to blend in very well with everything else around them, but they are there.


      Kabukicho means the Japanese traditional theatre region.  When asked why Kabukicho is called Kabukicho, I immediately thought that it would be a good name for a red light district to have.  The husbands can tell the wife “I am going to Kabukicho tonight” and make it sound like he is going to see a kabuki show.  What a good name to have?  You can lie to your wife without actually lying to her!  Although a good name, it is not the reason Kabukicho is named.  The original owner of the region wanted to build a kabuki theatre in the area, but he ran out of money and it was hard to get a permit to build a kabuki theatre, so plan failed and the area ended up serving another purpose. 

      If you have never been up to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, you should.  It is free and it gives an idea of what Tokyo looks like.  I went up to the observatory with my host family one weekend.  Looking down to Tokyo from the observatory, Tokyo looks extremely crowded.  You see little patches of empty spaces that are called parks, empty spaces with two trees and three benches.  The view is “sugoi”, but it was definitely not what I was expecting.  I was expecting to see the familiar scene of the entire city being in grids, like it is when I saw Chicago from the John Hancock Tower.  Tokyo is messy and there is no way you can tell which area is which.  In Chicago, it is easy to differentiate a residential area from a business district; in Tokyo, I do not know which is which. 

      It makes me wonder what people will do if an earthquake occurs.  With so many people living in, passing through or just visiting, how can Shinjuku, only 7 square miles big, be able to evacuate everyone to empty open spaces?  Shinjuku has more than 317,355 residents, not including the visitors.  Furthermore, there are probably so many foreign visitors in Shinjuku who have not experienced an earthquake and obviously have no idea what to do in the event of an earthquake.  How will the government cope with the massive population and the foreign visitors?  Another problem I find is people unfamiliar with the area will have problem finding the place they want to visit.  There are so many alleys in Shinjuku that do not have street names.  The maps will maybe have street names and the alleys on them, but they will probably be too confusing for one to figure out.  And with the limited English Japanese speak; I doubt one who does not speak Japanese at all will be able to understand. 


      Although the trip was interesting and I got to see Shinjuku from a different perspective, I wish it was not raining, because I could not write down any notes about what I have discovered!  Besides, it was very irritating to walk in the rain that I could not really pay attention to my surroundings, since I was trying very hard to make sure that I stay dry!  I think something interesting to do when it is raining out is to sit in the McDonald’s we sat in for one day to observe the crowd of people who passes through Kabukicho, and observe how the crowd changes throughout the day. 
 

Internship

      Wednesday morning, I put on my business formal in the early morning and left home at 8:30 am for my 10:30 am interview.  When I learned that Access is in Harajuku, the fashion district of Tokyo and I can go shopping after work, I thought to myself “I’m glad that this internship is unpaid, otherwise I would spend all the money I earn on clothes and crepes.” The interview went surprisingly well, or I should say that it went much better than I expected.  The interview was conducted in English; luckily, my boss is an Australian who obviously speaks fluent English.  In the interview, they told me that workload would be inconsistent.  I might have a lot of work one day and no work at all some days.  Even though this is a market research house, I thought their “daily routine” sounds exactly like an advertising agency. 
      During the interview, they asked me a few questions about my study abroad experiences and my language skills.  So, I was very glad that my study abroad experiences were useful in a job interview.  It did not matter if the experiences were related to the job or not, they were just interested in knowing something about my trips.  When it came to my language skills, they told me that I would be helping a lot with translating documents like questionnaires and focus groups/ one-on-one interviews questions.  I will be working with the international department during my internship. Working hours are 10:30 – 18:00 and dress code is smart causal. 
      The first day I started work; I got to the office 10 minutes early.  It was nice that work started at 10:30, because I can avoid rush hour in Tokyo.  When I entered the office I was expecting an introduction sort of thing.  I thought my boss would introduce me to everyone in the company and introduce everyone to me, or at least introduce me to the members on the international team.  After all, there are only 30 people in the office and only 7 on the international team.  But surprisingly, they did not do anything.  I entered the office like a normal staff, except everyone was looking at me weirdly because I was obviously a new member.  I got a card that allows me to enter the office, and then I sat down at the seat right behind my Australian boss.
      I got introduced to two people on the international team, a Taiwanese lady who speaks fluent Mandarin and a German guy who speaks Japanese and English very well.  They are both in their twenties and are assigned to help me along the way.  It is really nice to work with people who are about my age, because I feel more comfortable asking them questions.  I did not get any assignment to do on the first day, so I asked them to give me any work they need help with.  Since I did not get work to do, I started observing the layout of the office and the interactions among the staffs. 
      The office is not very big, but enough to fit 30 people.  There are 2 conference rooms; one of them is used for holding focus groups and has 4 surveillance cameras to record the focus groups.  The executives sit farthest from the entrance and their cubicles have higher walls.  The higher rank the person is, the farthest away from the door they sit and the more towards the window they sit.  I sit right behind my boss, because it makes it easier for him to give me work and take care of me.  Right next to me are the German boy and the Taiwanese girl.  Access is unlike an usually Japanese company, especially in my department.  They do not have “no mi kai” (drinking meetings) after work, and the hierarchy is not as obvious as in a Japanese company.  When I was observing the interactions among the staffs, I found it very interesting they do not talk a lot to each other.  Conversations are always about business, unlike in America when workers will sometimes chat about their lives or their holiday travels. 
      When it came to lunchtime, the Taiwanese girl and German boy took me to a “don ka tsu” (deep fried food) restaurant.  Most people in the company just eat on their own, which I did not expect.  I thought people would go to lunch together, but most of them either brought their own food and ate at their desks or they ate out alone.  It is probably because eating out everyday is expensive; a lunch would cost around 700 yen – 1,000 yen.  s
      The next two workdays, I got to help with a project they are currently doing.  Although the work, entering data, was not difficult, nor challenging, I was happy to be a part of the project on a “secret product.”  I am not allowed to tell the name of the product, because my boss said it is a business secret.  But I can tell you that it is a famous brand that most people in Europe and America have heard of.  I helped entered data they collected from questionnaires and arranged the data in a format that will allow the analyst to read easily.  Aside from the “secret product”, I also got to read the moderator’s script for the La Mer, which was super cool! Access works with such a wide variety of brands and so many internationally known brands and advertising agencies that I can get exposed to both small brands and big brands.
      When the clock pass 18:00, everyone was still sitting at their seats.  I left at 18:30 and I was the earliest person, not counting the owner of the company, to leave the office. Although work starts later for them, they all stay in the office later; even though they could leave already.  I heard from the Germany guy that our boss Simon, the Australian, would sometimes work so much that he literally sleeps in the office.  Sometimes, he would manage to catch the last train home and keep working when he gets home.  I wonder if the workers get paid for working overtime. 

看到他msn上線
會想跟他聊天
可是又沒膽量敲他
所以只好盼著他敲我
心裡卻清楚的很
那是不會發生的事


－－－－－－－－

今天突然很想回家
打電話給爸媽
問他們我可不可以
用asia miles 積分
換機票
當然是ok
可是打電話去
asia miles 換機票時
已經沒有機票了 :(

Emergency backpack!!

Today, I found out that everyone in the company has an emergency backpack underneath their desk!!

List of emergency supplies for your backpack

■Supply of emergency food and drink for 3 days (well.. more like 1 bottle of water + a can of bread)

■First aid kit (gauze, bandage wrap, eye drops, medicine for cuts, stomach medicine, adhesive bandages, plaster, disinfectant, aspirin, etc.)

■Survival blanket (packed very tiny, specially designed)

■Flashlight and portable radio (with spare batteries)

■Whistle (which should be carried with you at all times)

■String, rope, helmet, gloves, adhesive tape (gloves + rope are the most important)

■Lighter

■Swiss army knife

■Writing utensils (marker preferred)

■Change of clothes, waterproof clothing, spare pair of glasses (poncho)

■Towl

■Cash (10 and 100 yens coins for using with public phones)

■A map of your neighbourhood with all the temporary meeting points, evacuation centres and sites, hospitals, police boxes, etc.).

■A copy of your official papers (passport, gaijin card, bank books, driver's licence, health insurance card...
 
■An Emergency Identity Card
 
Card contents:


■Name, surname and date of birth

■Address, phone number

■Blood type

■Allergies

■Chronic illnesses

■Current medical treatment/medication

■Family doctor

■People to contact in case of emergency

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

好像好久沒有寫了，今天手癢。
寄宿家庭沒人，他們都出去了，所以家裡好不容易清靜。
聽著台北之音溫習日文，效果不這麼好，可是很享受。
上個禮拜六去了成田太鼓祭，感受日本文化。
表演著幾乎都是小學生，可是他們打鼓的氣勢不賴，
打鼓動作非常一致，很有看頭。

上上個週末和寄宿家庭到了Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building看東京的景觀，

新宿天王公園欣賞櫻花。昨天和同學到了東京步谷（Shibuya），新宿（Shinjuku）看看。

週末的東京實在是人山人海，比旺角還要旺。
禮拜一到五一整天都在上課，禮拜一到五早上7點起來，晚上6點回家。
中間有時間都和同學待在學校里溫習。所以都是等到週末才有時間到處看看。

temaki

my host family and i made temaki for dinner on sunday. the the wraps were very yummy, cuz i made them myself. and i actually ate a full bowl of rice, which was the 1st time it happened since i came to japan.

Narita Drum Festival

The time stamp is wrong, I went on 10 Apr 2010. I'm really glad I went, cuz it was super fun!

Hanami

I went to hanami (flower viewing) with my host family last Sunday. It was ok, the park is very beatiful, but I'm not that into Sakura. Jp people LOVE LOVE LOVE sakura, they all have picnics under the sakura trees when the flowers start blooming.

Sakura has really special meanings to jp, I don't know what it is though. They're pretty flowers, even prettier when you see the petals falling. It looks like the scene in the Disney movie Pocahontas

Dear all,

I miss you. I've been in Jpn for 2 weeks now and I wish I'm back in Chambana. Jpn is a cool country, my host family is pretty nice, the courses are easy/ interesting and I've made some friends here, but they're nothing compare to Chambana and you.

Commuting here is driving me nuts, it takes me at least an hour to get somewhere, whether it's internship every Wed, going to school everyday or traveling between 2 campuses (one of my classes is on another campus). I miss classes in Allen Hall when I could wake up 10 mins before class and simply walk downstairs. My commuting buddy is Keri from Hawaii. She and I both live close to the same station, so we end up going to school together everyday.

There's another guy, JK who also lives close to us. He's actually from the U of I, but I didn't know him until the 2nd day of the program. He's a Korean, 26 years old and I have a small crush on him :P It surprised me that I have a crush on him, cuz he smokes! Cigarettes and weed!! But don't worry, nothing's going to happen, because he has a gf.

I went shopping in Harakuku, Tokyo today and bought a ton of clothes. Most of them are dresses, dresses that are very Jpn style - all flowery and flowey. They're mostly around US$ 20 and my my host mom and Jpn friends told me that's super cheap. Jpn style is very different, they like wearing a lot of layers and clothes are usually not fitted.

My host family is easy to talk to, everyone in the family speaks good English (relatively speaking), so it wasn't hard to communicate with them at all. But I'm not very used to their eating habits. They eat a lot of rice (main dish) and a few side dishes (like 2-3). I honestly think that I didn't get enough nutrients for the past 2 weeks. But it got much better today. For dinner tonight, I had tofu, stir fry mix veggies and chicken. Hopefully it will be like tonight from now on.

This Saturday, I'm going to the Narita Drum Festival with everyone in my program. Speaking of my program, there's a student council election coming up this Friday, so everyone needed to nominate 3 people for the council. They do it the Asian way: you can nominate yourself, but it's more common that other people nominate you. They don't care if you want to do it or not, people will do it if they're elected, because it's an honor. Well.... I got nominated and I'm not happy about it at all! The student council has to meet at least once a week aka it takes away my fun time! Anyways, I'll send an update of the election after Friday.

I'll be traveling to Hokkaido for 4 days 3 nights Apr 29 - May 2, then visiting Dana in Kobe from May 7-9 (Fri - Sun). Hopefully we can all Skype when I'm in Kobe with Dana.

Good night.

Yinting

Commuting here is driving me nuts, it takes me at least an hour to get somewhere, whether it's internship every Wed, going to school everyday or traveling between 2 campuses (one of my classes is on another campus). I miss classes in Allen Hall when I could wake up 10 mins before class and simply walk downstairs. My commuting buddy is Keri from Hawaii. She and I both live close to the same station, so we end up going to school together everyday.

I went shopping in Harakuku, Tokyo today and bought a ton of clothes. Most of them are dresses, dresses that are very Jpn style - all flowery and flowey. They're mostly around US$ 20 and my my host mom and Jpn friends told me that's super cheap. Jpn style is very different, they like wearing a lot of layers and clothes are usually not fitted.

Clothes I bought

Harajuku is also famous for crepes!

My host family is easy to talk to, everyone in the family speaks good English (relatively speaking), so it wasn't hard to communicate with them at all. But I'm not very used to their eating habits. They eat a lot of rice (main dish) and a few side dishes (like 2-3). I honestly think that I didn't get enough nutrients for the past 2 weeks. But it got much better today. For dinner tonight, I had tofu, stir fry mix veggies and chicken. Hopefully it will be like tonight from now on.

This Saturday, I'm going to the Narita Drum Festival with everyone in my program. Speaking of my program, there's a student council election coming up this Friday, so everyone needed to nominate 3 people for the council. They do it the Asian way: you can nominate yourself, but it's more common that other people nominate you. They don't care if you want to do it or not, people will do it if they're elected, because it's an honor. I'll be traveling to Hokkaido for 4 days 3 nights Apr 29 - May 2, then visiting Dana in Kobe from May 7-9 (Fri - Sun). Hopefully we can all Skype when I'm in Kobe with Dana.

Good night.