from the phone

I karaoked with a Japanese CEO and company prerident tonight.

Did not see that one coming.

久しぶり

internet at the homestay house has not been working well with my computer. (It's a Mac and also seems like Airport has been acting up)

I'm going into the final days of the internship and while I'm ready to get back to life in America, I'm kind of sad to go. I feel like I just finally got used to my internship routine, and getting to know people around the company. Too bad.

Also, I need suggestions for where to go on a trip from Tokyo. Dad and I are staying in Tokyo for a while, but I have about 4 days I don't know what to do with. Something with bicycling like the Shimanami Kaido Cycling Route, but closer to Tokyo (i.e. NOT a $130/one-way shinkansen ticket away) would be nice. I'm thinking we might go to Nikko or Kamakura, but other than that I'm at a loss for what to do since a trip to Hokkaido or southern Japan is not in the budget. Advice for future travel to Japan: fly into the Chubu region of Japan and leave from Tokyo (or vice versa).

A kind of weird, but not unwelcome situation came up today. Because my homestay family has to go to a wake (   :(   ), I'm going to be on my own tonight for transportation home and dinner. The president asked me this morning if there were people at the company I wanted to eat dinner with, and while I could easily think of a few, I know these people have lives and probably plans for their Friday nights, and tried to tell him that I could get dinner on my own.

The people who are in charge of me usually don't like the "I'll do it on my own" answers, and seem to get nervous when I suggest them, even if it's as simple as using the bus to get home. For example, I wanted to ship some books home and asked for a box. Now the people I asked are trying to take care of the whole process. I really really promise I can function in Japan, guys. I like getting help, but I know how busy Japanese workers are without helping me take care of my business too. ANYWAY, even though I tried to assure the president I'd be just fine, Tobisawa-san told me later in the morning that we'd be going to dinner after we got back from my newspaper visit. I don't mind spending time with people from the company at all, and I'm used to the forced interaction that usually comes from studying abroad in Japan, but I never get a say in my company plans. EVER. I try to suggest something that seems simple enough in my American mind, and then I'm told, no, we really want you to do it our way. Thankfully at lunch I was told a few other people are joining, which should tone down the awkwardness a little bit. We're going for my favorite food, okonomiyaki, too, so I'm really happy. But yiiiiiiikes, talk about "you will go to dinner and like it".

rent

looking at rent for apartments in Tokyo just for fun... the apartment rental company I found in the newspaper charges for utilities DAILY. (525 yen/day)　

things have been really busy again. this is really great and really exhausting at the same time. I had a pretty fun week at work. Thursday I went to the Tokyo Gas Showroom and the "What is gas?" Museum (trust me, way more fun than it sounds), and Friday I got a tour of newspaper companies in Tokyo (the Gas Energy Newspaper, Tokyo Newspaper Reporter's Club, and Mainichi Newspaper Company buildings). Unfortunately, the cheap heels I bought before I left just aren't at all supportive or helpful for gallavanting around Tokyo trying to keep up with Japanese businessmen.

Friday night I went to a local bar with the homestay mom to meet with her gospel group. Saturday was the Hundred Lantern Festival that Bushu Gas and the interns participate in every year. Sunday I volunteered with another intern at the International Junior Soccer finals. We gave the medals to the first, second and third-place teams.

More on this later I hope. I keep trying to write down things I want to post later: more on these events and how this country just does not take care of themselves--they never drink water (only juices and tea), go to the bathroom or stop to cool off in the high-humidity, persistently high 80-90 degree weather. Yikes.

Good night. Turning off the air conditioner before I go to bed :(

＼(^o^)／

I just went to the bookstore to buy Miyabe Miyuki's Brave Story. I looked at the first page and could understand the first sentence without any help. That's a first for me with Japanese novels.

Also found floss for under $5. Victories all around.:)

long time, no update

I've been typing my these entries into Word for the past few days because of lack of Internet, and although I have Internet at work, I have no time to upload them there (and I also forgot to put the Word file from my computer on flash drive ><). I've been using my free time for getting a start on the Japanese version of my final report, researching internships, jobs, and fellowships in Japan, and also looking into reservations and activities for when my dad gets here. My experience with Japan is if you don't by the tickets or reserve something for a trip a month in advance you probably won't get to go if its a popular event.

I have learned something else valuable from this internship: Never assume two groups are keeping each other informed, even though they're supposed to. I recently told the workers from the Saitama government that I'd volunteer to help at the International Junior Soccer Tournament that's taking place at Saitama Stadium. After talking with them I was pretty sure they'd inform my company of this and let them know I was going to stay at one of the Saitama worker's houses (where another intern will be staying) because it's a little far. I happened to mention it today, and they had no idea about it. Whoops.

If the next house has a nice internet connection then I'll upload the rest of the entries tonight. For now, I'm getting back to work.

testing... let's see if i can update from my phone

おはよう〓
Trying to send an email from my phone to see if it'll post to the blog. It'd be really great if the emotes/顔文字 showed up, too.

Right now I'm headed to Omiya to meet the other interns for a day trip to Chichibu.Today is 海の日 (Umi no Hi/Sea Day)

moving, pt 2

Today I moved to Watanabe-san’s house. It’s weird to move right as I adjust, but that’s just the way things go with homestays in Japan it seems. My room here is really big, has a TV, old manga and children’s books (yay!) and lots of shelf/drawer space to put my stuff in. There’s no Internet for me to connect my computer to (although there is a dial-up connection on the PC downstairs), but I have a nice connection at work so I can deal with this for a week.

 

Yesterday, I found out I had an interview scheduled for today. It’s a little short-notice, but I’ve survived an interview for publication at the company before and knew I could stumble through it. I really wish I would’ve asked more about the nature of this interview though because after the two newspaper reporters arrived in the meeting room, I found out I was supposed to be asking the questions. Whoops. I was able to think of a few questions on my own and ask them in Japanese the best I could, but there was still a lot of awkward silence and answers from the reporters I just didn’t really understand. I found out that if I wanted to do journalism-related work in Japan, the best route would be pursuing anアルバイト (arubaito; part-time job) translating Japanese newspaper articles to English, or be a foreign correspondent for an English-speaking news outlet. As I expected, foreigners don’t really get bilingual journalism jobs in Japan. I could tell one of the reporters was getting frustrated with how little I could understand by the end of the interview because he would say things like, “well she probably doesn’t understand right now, so please explain it to her later,” and “I don’t think she could do a public relations job.” Ironically, I understood those bits and pieces.

 

After the interview I went back to the Yoshida’s to wait until my luggage could be picked up. Noriko gave me a tea lesson before I left, and that was fun. I’m always so impressed with people who study sado, Japanese tea ceremony, because there are SO many little details to remember.

 

Tomorrow I get up early to leave by 6:45 a.m. with Watanabe-san. She usually doesn’t leave this early, but because there’s a special meeting tomorrow she has to arrive early to help prepare for it and make tea. LOTS of tea-making goes on at all Japanese workplaces it seems. Most of the time it’s prepared by the female employees. The only time guys have tea duty is when the women aren’t around.

 

Watanabe-san and I talked a little bit about what we might do this weekend. Saturday’s schedule was decided my first week at work when she invited me to see kabuki (Japanese theater). We’re also going to see fireworks after that. On Sunday we’re kicking around the idea of going sightseeing in Odaiba or Yokohama. She has family in Yokohama so if they’re free we might go sightseeing with them.

 

I really want to make a post about the baseball game and Fuji-san from this weekend because both were really fun ^^ 時間があれば、ね。

 

 

 

moving

I'm moving to a new homestay family today. For some reason I don't have to be at work until 10:30a.m., so I'm hanging out and writing while Noriko takes care of the usual day-to-day business around the house. I try to help if I can, but a lot of the time it's just best if I sit back. For example, this morning I had gathered all of my trash from the last week and sorted it accordingly to burnable items, non-burnable items, and then my plastic bottles. I thought up until this point I had an OK handle on how the Japanese trash works, but, as usual, the Japanese way of doing things is not as simple as expected.

I went to help Noriko take out the trash, and went to empty the non-burnable trash into a bag. She stopped me and told me today was only for the burnable trash. She started taking the magazines I had placed in the burnable trash and said they would go out tomorrow with the newspapers as part of the "paper" trash. My plastic bottles would be put with the glass bottles and cans would go out on their appointed twice-a-month date. No wonder she has this written out on the calendar.

My moving date is also scribbled in on the calendar here. I've finished packing, and realized that I have WAY more souvenirs at this point than I thought I would. I also thought I'd have less money, too, but I've been pretty well taken care of in that respect. I already know I can't thank these people enough.

When I do go into work today I'm supposed to have an interview and lunch with two people from a Japanese newspaper. I found out about this yesterday, and although it'll probably be fun, I'm not looking forward to feeling dumb when I don't know what they're asking. The last interview I did was with someone from Bushu Gas, and he used a lot of words that I didn't know, but were synonyms for words I did know (i.e. different words for "study," "experience," etc.). He also had the worst kata-kana-ized English ever, so when we were talking about American actors or movies he would have to repeat the name or title a bunch before I could actually make the connection. I can't even count how many times he said "Eddie Murphy" before I realized what he was talking about. Maybe this will go better, though. And afterwards I don't really have anything scheduled I don't think, so I'll probably do the same thing I do everyday--try to figure out how I'm going to get back to Japan again.

busy busy busy

NO FREE TIME HERE! EVER!

But at least it's tons of fun. :3

It's coming up on my last night with the Yoshida's, and they've just been awesome so far. This weekend we went to Mt. Fuji (and other surrounding places) and a baseball game, which I've been wanting to see since my time at Chubu University.

Details and pictures later hopefully!

It`s only 8:30 a.m. and two embarassing things have happened already. The article from the interview I had on Tuesday was not only published but sent to the entire company through e-mail, and the husband in the homestay family told the two people who work with me about my skin condition. Yay, privacy!

 

bright and early

I was up at the crack of 6:00 a.m. The sun here gets up well before me though... it wakes up at about 4:30 a.m. and is shining at full bore by the time I`m awake. Sort of like the Japanese people, I guess.

I really wish they hadn`t given me a guys uniform. Not that I`m complaining though--having a uniform means that I didn`t need to bring a weeks worth of business clothing in addition the casual clothes (mostly capris and t-shirts) I brought.

They just handed me the company principles. THere`s a meeting in 10 minutes. Gotta go.

homestay

I'm at the Masahiro's house tonight and they are *such* a nice couple. They're both very easy to talk to and have an interest in learning English. I always feel a little more comfortable when my host family is willing to learn English because I feel like I can give back to them a little more, instead of just giving them a small gift of American chocolates (even though Malleys is great stuff).

I asked why the government official had come by the office today, and Yoshida-san (the husband) explained that they had a stockholders meeting that morning. He said he thought it would be nice if Bushu interns could sit in on the meeting, which they have once a year, but the schedule usually doesn't work out.

We had katsu, tofu, rice, miso and salad at dinner, which was topped off with an tasty and adorable fruit and pudding cup for dessert. Delicious. Breakfast, however, is at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow. Yikes. After that, I'm supposed to bike with Yoshida-san to Bushu Gas. It's about a 10-minute bike ride. Another worker from Yoshida-san's section, Tobisawa-san, guided me on the bike ride to the Masahiro's house. Japanese streets are really small (about the size of an American road's lane), but you don't fully realize how small until you're riding your bike on it with all kinds of cars weaving past you. That was a little scary. The bike the company is letting me borrow is battery-powered though, so that's really cool.

So tomorrow I return to Bushu Gas for what I'm told will be a more general tour and orientation. I'll have my uniform ready (thanks to Watanabe-san, who hemmed my pants to a more fitting length, and to Fujimura-san, who found me a new pair of shoes because, although I gave the company my Japanese shoe size, the shoes they gave me were men's and not women's), and will go to the locker room to transform from regular gaijin to intern gaijin.

It's so late here now. おやすみ :D

blogging live from Bushu Gas Company

I`m now sitting at my own official desk at the Bushu Gas Company. Did not know I was going to end up here today, much less at my own desk, with my own computer, welcome sign, 3 newspapers (all Yomiuri Shinbun), with my own business cards (which is probably the biggest deal of them all... I remember learning that students such as myself really shouldn`t have their own meishi/business cards). It`s difficult typing on this Japanese keyboard.

OH, and I might be leaving soon with the person from my first homestay family by bike soon. Good thing I decided not to wear a skirt after all.

The weirdest thing is probably watching everybody work and sitting here and passing time by reading the paper, checking my mail and writing this. Everyone is genuinely busy and works at a very fast pace. From what I`ve learned today, I`m in the HR group right now. I`ll eventually study with all of the major groups in the company while I`m here. I keep feeling like I should ask for help, but I honestly know I would slow these fast-paced people down.

So, the person from my first homestay family, who is the boss of the group I`m currently with、just came over and gave me some really interesting news. "You`re a journalism major, right?" he asked. He explained Bushu Gas has no relation to journalism, but that he can try to introduce me to a newspaper, online radio and TV company in Saitama. I think he`s on the phone with them right now because he`s definitely talking about me. I keep hearing a lot of dates, days and "Sou desu ka?"s so we`ll see how it goes...

So today the internship finally started (obviously). I was told I`d be going to my homestay family`s house first, but didn`t know I`d be going to my company today. I found that out on the car ride there. Just like I didn`t find out my homestay family wasn`t at the welcome party until halfway through the party. I can definitely see what Mike, another intern, joked about with "gaijin telepathy," one of the few Gaijin Smash powers that the Japanese people think foreigners have, but don`t. Gaijin telepathy is where they assume we know some important details (like whether you`re going to the company today instead of tomorrow), so they don`t actually tell you, leaving you in a perpetual state of ignorance. Another good example for just this trip was that the program directors assumed we knew what days to where nice clothes or casual clothes and the required degree for dressing up. You learn to think of and ask about these details ahead of time, but it`s just another disconnect to watch out for in my still-awkward Japanese communication abilities. (By the way, if you have time, check out the above link for more of the gaijin powers... they`re pretty funny, and very true).

I got a pretty cool welcome from the company though. I pulled up in the car with two people from the HR division who I met at the welcome party (I have to remember to write about that, too), and was met with a small group of people in the Bushu Gas uniform. They were clapping enthusiastically and made me feel welcomed and embarassed. I was ushered to a small room upstairs to wait for further directions, which was a really silent, polar opposite to the welcoming chaos downstairs. While I was waiting this older man in a suit and a man in a Bushu uniform came to the doorway. I stood up thinking this was the company president and starting the usual greetings, but noticed his business card was not at all from Bushu Gas. As they were departing, the Bushu Gas worker mentioned he was from the "lower house," and I realized I met someone from the Japanese House of Representatives. Yikes. This Representative was the reason that everyone in Bushu Gas was so busy today.

I really need to start writing down some of the minor details from conversations I have throughout the day because by the time I get to a computer, I never remember them.

more sightseeing!

Today we interns and Kubo-san of Saitama City's business department went to a festival, an Edo-style town called Kawagoe-shi (which is where Bushu Gas, the company I'll be working at, is located), and ate at Mexican restaurant "Casa de Rafa." I also finally got a prepaid phone all on my own!

The flower festival, which celebrated the marigold-like safflowers, was interesting. Apparently, safflowers not only look pretty, but can be used to produce oils for cooking and lip gloss. We didn't spend a lot of time here, but we took a few pictures as we walked through a field of safflowers and then had noodles for lunch.

After the festival, we went to Kawagoe-shi. We went to a museum that explained Kawagoe's annual festival, which is on July 26th-27th, and visited a few of the shops around there. Kawagoe has a *lot* of candy shops, so we got to see lots of cool Japanese candies. It was ridiculously hot out, so we stopped to have some "ice candy"--ice cream candy that is essentially a popsicle. Our flavor choices were truly Japanese: red bean, green tea, milk and pumpkin. I chose pumpkin and it was *really* tasty. Aside from the candy shops, we saw a store full of these incredibly creative wooden toys and a 1,000en (about $10) shop. We also saw the town's belltower, old brewery, and many signs for the Japanese TV drama, Tsubasa, which takes place in Kawagoe, or at least a town like it. We also saw NHK mascot Domo-kun and got a picture with him.

Dinner was interesting and consisted of a few courses. First was chips and salsa. Then was cheese-covered chips (so nachos, I guess), and then a salad that we were supposed to roll into tortillas. Next was a selection of beans, chicken, cheese and lettuce that we also rolled into tortillas for soft tacos. THEN was the Mexican rice. Finally, there was the tiniest, most dainty scoop of vanilla ice cream with mint leaves for dessert. Crazy take on Mexican food.

My Japanese seems to be returning pretty quickly. Because Kubo-san was with us for all but one hour from 9:30-8:00, we talked a lot. We stuck to pretty simple subjects most of the time, but also had a few more difficult conversations (i.e. about illegal immigration in America and Japan). Kubo-san has been spending a lot of time with us recently and must really have a heart of gold to keep entertaining and taking care of us gaijin. I'm trying to keep a list of new words I learn in a small notebook, so hopefully I can make that a habit.

That's all for now. I'm beat. Jet lag is still getting me down. >< Hopefully I'll remember to unload and add some pictures later.

first day ^^

Woke up at 6 a.m. and went back to sleep until 8 a.m. Pretty rare for the first day in Japan, rather than waking up at 5 a.m. and not being able to sleep afterwards because of jet lag. Brief summary of the day's events:

+Saitama Prefectural Government Building - The building was very large, but very old. The workers at the business department we visited kept laughing and saying that if there were an earthquake, the building would collapse.
+Lunch at pasta place
+Saitama Shintoshin tour – Super Arena, John Lennon Museum (why the John Lennon Museum is here, nobody knows. なぞです.)s
+Softbank store - mega-fail on trying to register by myself. I need a foreign registration card to get the prepaid phone USIM card I want, and it's going to be impossible for me to get one. I have a lead on Craigslist though.
+Bonsai - we saw lots of little bonsai trees! Some of them were worth up to $1,000! I took two pictures, and then found out that wasn't allowed.
+At dinner at a really nice restaurant at a hotel in Saitama Shintoshin
+Hotel - We watched a travel show about onsens. The onsens were in really spectacular places--one was in a beach with red-colored water, one was in a cavern and the other was one that was only reachable through an incredibly treacherous, 10-mile path on mountain cliffsides. Extreme stuff just for a bath. :D

back in Japan

After getting out of Narita Airport Customs and onto Japanese ground, it took:

3 minutes to find my guide Kubo Kayako and get to her car
4 minutes to receive my first schedule
4.5 minutes to fail at speaking Japanese to the driver who was driving me to Saitama-shi
6 minutes to see rice paddies
8 minutes to see a love hotel
10 minutes to spot somebody riding a bike

Some things about Japan just never change.

I made it to a very nice room in the Royal Pines Hotel in Saitama-shi and am going to set out soon to find a Softbank store. (Also maybe try to weasel free internet from Testsuya Fukuda, the manager at the Business Establishment Division’s Industry and Labor Department. I met him at the hotel and he helped get me checked in). We’re supposed to go out for a nice dinner and sake tonight, which sounds fun and maybe even relaxing.

I hardly slept at all on the plane—a few hours at most. I watched a few movies and American TV shows in Japanese with no English subs, played Disgaea until my PSP battery died and talked to a nice guy next to me.

I fell asleep on the car ride to the hotel, too, even though I was trying really hard to stay awake as we drove on the highway that seems to skirt around Tokyo. From the car it was difficult to recognize any landmarks, except for the glaringly obvious Tokyo Disney.

Well, it’s 4:41 p.m. local time. I gotta get going if I want to get stuff done and rest a bit before 8pm dinner. And I need to find a vending machine for a drink—the flight attendants plain forgot our row during the last round of drinks before we landed.

It’s so exciting to be back!!!

またね。