The Adventures of Aaron-san (in Japan)

November 30 - Practice test

Yes, Honma-sensei gave us all some practice tests to work on. I did fairly well on it (i.e. better than the others who haven't started studying yet), but I still did not do too well. Oh well, no time for studying today, with the re-write of the conversion tool still going on. This evening I had a fairly intensive Karate class, but I am getting through it just fine. I never realized there were two styles of Katare though (I am not counting Kung Fu). Apparently, my style is taught mostly in Japan, and nowhere else. Well, Nori knows of a place in Waterloo for us people, but because they are so different in style, I would have to start over again if I went to the other style, and I am not about to do that. If I want to continue on in my studies, I would like to pick up where I left off, so to speak.

November 29 - Study and study

That was my day. My brain was doing real funny things near the end, but I got a lot more words in my vocabulary now, and even a lot with the kanji! Perhaps I can pass this test after all without relying solely on luck. Mind you, I may still have to do that.

November 28 - Memory card

Well, that is what I got today for my camera. It is great! It allows me to take a boat load of pictures (well, more than the standard anyway), so I can go many places and take pictures without having to worry about saving shots. I will have to use this in Tokyo. Speaking of which, perhaps I should get my bus ticket soon. Yes, that would be a good idea. After going home for a while, I got together with the rest of the guys in the dorm and we all went to an all-you-can-eat with some Japanese friends. What a great meal, and only 1980 yen too! That is cheaper than an izakaya, and I don't have to worry about dead fish staring at me while I eat. Afterwards, we went to Taito amusement city where we blew some more money on "fun". We played our video games, played some bowling (sasu ga, ne), and even shot some pool. After that, we went to the park right beside the Matsumoto airport (we all drove there (or got rides there)) and played basketball of all things. Since it was very late, we eventually stumbled home and all went to bed. Pity I forgot my camera, though cameras were NOT allowed in Taito city or the all-you-can-eat place, so there was not much to take a picture of anyway. That is the thing about Japan, foreigners are not allowed to take pictures of just anything, and that just sucks.

November 27 - A nice break?

Well, I did make it to the post office again today to send back some more stuff, but that wasn't the relaxing part. It was the fact that I had lots of meetings, none of which I understood much of but had to attend anyway. I wonder they think I am getting out of these? All the same, I noticed the workers messing up my residence even more, and my TV reception went to NIL today, so I had more time to study Japanese. How will I ever learn enough for the test? I always hate it when I talk to someone about something they have, and they give it to me. What this means is I have to change my speaking style to reflect the fact that I am talking about something I have now, and not the other person. Very nasty when you have to acknowledge it is someone else's when you are holding it. Ah well, maybe it is just me.

November 26 - More Karate

Karate is good. I can vent frustrations and angers, and get new ones trying to follow the instructions of all the black belts. One of the women who came for the beginners class asked me if I would like to play Santa Claus for her elementary class, but I am not sure. I leave myself open to criticism (which is not the problem), but also, every kid here thinks Santa speaks perfect Japanese, and won't they get a nasty shock! I will have to think it over, but I would tend to think no at this point. At least I understood her request, though. I worked on the 3rd kata some more today. At this rate, I should be able to get my Green belt, but I don't want to jump to conclusions quite yet.

November 25 - More Rewrite

Word is getting around that I am rewriting the tool, and everyone seems to care...except some of those in the online team, strange enough. Oh well. Today I also studied more and more Japanese than ever before. I now have quite a few adjectives (keiyoushi) memorized, so that helps tremendously with understanding a lot of the text. Too bad everything is still just as hard. It must be quite a transition for the staff in my office, first having Sakomoto-san whose parents are Japanese and thus his Japanese is excellent compared to mine, to me, whose Japanese could be measured by a short stick. Really, I don't think some of the people here appreciate that I am trying to actually learn the language.

November 24 - Rewrite the tool

That is what I began to do. What a pain. I can not believe how messed up some of this logic is. Honestly, how did some of this work? Oh well, one at a time. Never got a chance to do too much else. Hooked up my camera and downloaded some pictures with no real problem once I realized I needed to set the camera to "On" before I tried to download pictures from it. I will have to send them out tomorrow (some of them). I will also have to get back to the script re-write, but that is another story.

November 23 - Kyou wa yasumi

Yes, today is a holiday. I played and tinkered with my camera for most of the day, including taking shots around the city. I will have to try and upload them tomorrow, but I do like the option of hooking up my camera to my TV. I practiced my Japanese (not just Kanji) today for the most part, including memorizing certain phrases and parts of the body and particle rules and adjective forms and... well you get the idea. There is just so much I do not know, but it appears that from the practice tests I will have to know. Ah well, I will have to keep working. At least I can read a fair chunk of my camera manual.

November 22 - Kanji and cameras

Last night I studied more Kanji (you can never know enough), and when I woke up this morning, I grabbed my Kanji book and headed to the Train Station so I could pick up the digital camera I wanted (if it was still there). Everything was great, I even got a nice hot can of tea out of the vending machine on my way, and then I remembered I forgot to take out enough money for the camera. Oh &"$#&, and there are no English bank machines in the whole city, either. So, with much luck, and absolute gratitude to myself for bringing my Kanji book, I managed to use the bank machine well enough to get some money out. Phew, thank god for that book. I only recognized three Kanji in all the screens. What was that? Another language? Anyway, I marched on down to Yamada Denki and looked for the camera. Argh! No boxes left. Fortunately, using my highly confusing and persuasive Japanese, I talked the sales rep into selling me the store model with a discount. It still came with all the goodies, and the savings are the best. I will have to get a memory card sometime, as I can not take too many pictures at once without one (though not a bad amount, 9-40 depening on the quality I choose). Geez, only two weeks until the test! How will I ever pass it?

November 21 - Yamada Denki dewa TP Publications kaigi ga arimashou

Very strange, but it seemed everyone was at the Yamada Denki today. Tanaka-san was looking for a memory upgrade for his digital camera, and Hatakoushi-san was looking for a bigger hard drive (I saw him looking at the 9.1+ gig models). Tanaka-san was kind enough to show me all he knew about digial cameras, and after a grueling amount of time looking over specs and details, I finally concluded that the EPSON CP600 was the best bang for the buck largely because it came with everything you would need to get going. The price was good too, 32000 yen. I was politely reminded that things go pretty fast in Japan, so if I wanted it, I would have to get it soon. Perhaps tomorrow is fine. My feet ache like anything after walking all that way and back.

November 20 - Dinner with the Famicom man

After a debatably entertaining day at work, I got to go to the Joy 401 and have dinner with the Famicom man. It was a fair trade; I showed him some better English and he showed me some Japanese all the while munching on McDonalds goodness (?) I think his English is about the level of my Japanese. He tried to demonstrate how he could welcome me to the store in English and ended up saying "What do you want?" "I can help you if you do not know" and other related phrases. After politely stating that telling a customer "What do you want" first off is rather "shinsetsu ja nai", he thanked me and said he would correct it. I wonder how many people he said that to? Still haven't used that 300 yen off (in total) at his place yet. I don't know, maybe some better cables or something?

November 19 - Karate with the master

It is kind of fun, being a higher level than a native Japanese and having (sorry, trying) to explain concepts to them. They all huddle around like so many football players and try to decipher what I say. Kind of funny, though everyone assumes that I know NO Japanese on first glance, and will always try to speak English. Okay, but I could really use the Japanese practice. Miwa-san helps a lot, because she is learing English like I am learning Japanese, and somewhere in the middle we can talk to each other. I still chuckle to see people's reaction when they see I have blue eyes: "Oooooh. kimi no me was aoi desu. Kawai da ne." Forget the fact I have different colour skin, just go for the eyes. Ah well, even the master gets a good laugh out of me once in a while (because of this, and also that I mess up some commands once in a while). Nori told me about the party coming up in the second week of December. I still do not know the exact location, but I do know it is up in the mountains up north a bit. I think we are getting drivin up, but I am still not sure.

November 18 - What is today

Been doing manual conversion all day long. I am really starting to hate how slow it is. Sigh, I may have to rewrite Sakomoto-san's code sooner than I thought. At first, manual conversion was interesting, but now it is just tedious, especially since noone else seems to understand anything about it except for me, Sakamoto-san (who is in British Columbia right now), and Hiranuma-san (who has other things to do). Is all this worth little more than minimum wage? Well, I do not have any taxes taken off, and the residence is paid for, so I guess I have more money than I thought, but you would think there would be more exciting work to do (like QA in the Colour Laser division). I just realized, how am I going to get all my stuff home? I know shipping will kill me, but oh well, I guess it is worth it.

November 17 - No fun

Been checking the latest news from my University. Not good. Tuition rising again, Enrollment way up (more crowded), and the fail-out rate has more than doubled in Computer Science (makes me feel wonderful). I swear I am going to finish as fast as I can to escape all the red tape that will surely stop me from getting my degree if I stick around too much longer. I think the solution to the money problem is obvious... I will start a telethon. It seems to be the only way I can afford to go back at this rate. No matter how much I try to save money, it still gets eaten up by something or another (not that I am always complaining, some of the goods I buy are much cheaper here and/or only available in Japan and/or I would like them as souveniers). I wish University wasn't so expensive though. At this rate, I would be living in my car to go to school. Heck, I have got to stop reading news from back home. It is too depressing.

November 16 - Karate: the next kata

Been fixing up online manuals all day (no fun at all). Ever since Micronet was given the boot, I had to take back a lot of work. So much for my yellow time for studying Japanese. Talked with Tanaka-san about digital cameras today. He is quite knowledgable in this area it seems. He pointed out some other good cameras, though they take those damn flash ram cards and are $150 a piece for 10 megs of data (8-10 high res (1024x768) photos or maybe 20 or so 640x480 images). That plus I would need expensive software to get the images into a computer in the first place, and the battery can not be recharged in some cases. Argh! This is so difficult. On a lighter note: I actually received mail back from Lord British (Richard Garriott) at Electronic Arts thanking me for my input in his debate on Role-Playing games and computers. Wow, another celebrity. To close off the day, I got my receipt for my Japanese test (I will write in Tokyo Daigaku (University)) and at Karate, I learned Haien Sandan (the third Kata). No doubts about it, they are expecting me to skip a grade for my next test (since it is a long time away). I could try going for three levels in one test, but they usually frown at people that think they are that good (though the test IS longer than usual away...) Ah well, perhaps I am too cocky today (or I just want my Purple belt instead of a Green).

November 15 - Dinner with a Joy401 employee?

Well, not today, but next Friday. The nice man at the Famicom-land store (note: Famicom is the name of the North American "Super Nintendo" system ("FAMI"ly "COM"puter). Even though the system is obsolete, the name still sticks as an icon of entertainment in Japan) got talking with me. Quite humourous. We both had dictionaries (of the opposite language) and tried to discuss various things. He gave me coupons for 300 yen off anything in the store (hey a new Audio/Video cable would be nice). Today I got a new Playstation game for $28 (gotta love the Japanese prices) called Another Mind. It is an adventure game featuring video footage of various spots throughout Japan (nice graphics), and the dialog system is prime. You form sentences based on ideas (I can not properly explain it, I'm sorry) in the order which most likely affects the outcome (you confused yet?). Hence, you select a prefix (a noun or adjective), your tone (question, statement, order, etc.) and then the subject. Strange as it may seem, that is how you do it. Wow, I can learn a lot from this (hotchikisu wo okarishite mo ii desu ka? (Is it okay to borrow this/your stapler?)). Who would have ever though I could study from a game... Anyway, in the midst of the conversation, this man invited me to a McDonalds dinner next Friday (woohoo, real food), so I had better practise a few more phrases before this Friday.

November 14 - The big walk to Yamada Denki

Not knowing exactly where it is, I first went to Matsumoto to get my hair cut (it was ridiculously long). After my dealing with the mafia...er...barbers, I braved my way to Minami-Matsumoto eki. From the station, I asked a nice taxi driver where it was, and he pointed the way and said it would take about 15 minutes or so. On the way, I made a wrong turn because I saw a lot of buildings that were really tall rectangles and though Yamada Denki would be in one of them. After asking someone else at a gas station, I got back on track and found the place. Geez, this place (Yamada Denki) still reminds me of Futureshop, except everyone speaks Japanese and they have a lot cooler electronics. Priced out some digital cameras. Saw the Sony Mavica (the one that takes floppies). Now, the resolution really isn't that great at all, but on the other hand, I could arm myself with a boat load of disks for nothing and take pictures until I drop. More likely, I will have my regular film camera for good shots, and my digital camera for shots I regularly would not use film on (things that are different in Japan from America), and I can send those digital pictures over the web to everyone in no time flat (computer required). I will have to think about it.

November 13 - One last try

Finally, after figiting for days now, I managed to get my WinNT computer to be able to let people log on to it. Now, there is nothing on it, but it is a start. I guess I will have to look up what exactly a CGI server is... Shame they never teach you these things in class; you just have to learn them on your own. I saw they have even heavier material over the windows now than ever before. Now I have no idea what the weather is like unless I go outside. Joy. Wow, I have more food from home, so I think I will partake in this real food. Remind me to take some pictures inside the supermarket sometime. It would frighten a lot of people.

November 12 - Japanese Manuals

It is bad enough having to try and set up WINNT in English, let alone Japanese. None the less, I had to try and read through the manual (at a painfully slow pace). Tanaka-san got some mail from the University. I am pretty sure it is my evaluation form, but that won't be filled out until near the end of my term. Practiced my Japanese this morning with Honma-sensei. As I though, my Kanji knowledge is more than sufficient for the test, but the adjectives and verb conjugations depending on formality are just killing me. I never got anything like this back in school, and it is safe to say this material would send some of the students of that class into therapy. Oh well, soon enough it will be done with. Only one thing left... the receipt from Tokyo stating where I will write the test. Ash got his, but he is the only one so far. Karate was good. The master was there, but only for tonight. He has other work to do for the rest of the year, so it is doubtful whether or not he will be back this year. Saw some ads for digital cameras, and I am thinking about getting one in place of a camcorder (of which the lowest priced ones have been dropped, and I can no longer afford the cheapest one (which is more hi-tech than I need). Perhaps a visit to Yamada-Denki is in order (since Akihabara is too far away for me for a normal visit).

November 11 - A WinNT box?

Geez, people sure do react to suggestion around here. Jim wanted a computer which was dedicated to handling CGI routines (for HTML forms and such), and I asked about CGI, seeing as I never really knew a heck of a lot about it. Next thing I know, they plop another Pentium on my desk and ask me to make it a CGI server running on Windows NT Server. I almost forgot what a painful time I had at NCR trying to install it in English let alone in Japanese. If absolutely ANYTHING goes wrong in the installation, you have to start from scratch (very frustrating), so it has not been a fun day, and the new computer only adds to the heat emitted in the office. Oh well, I was glad to get home and relax today. I got hit with a swarm of bills, so I am not left with much money right now (or anytime in the near future). Geez, at this rate I will need a job when I get back just to have ANY money.

November 10 - Dreary Construction

Well, the construction workers are out again waking me up every morning before 7:30 with pounding machinery digging up the parking lot, and they have a huge metal frame in front of the buliding (i.e. in front of my window), so I lose a bit of sleep, and the noises are really bothering me. We also can not use the front or side entranced according to the signs (those are the only two entrances), so we all just say "screw it" and pour in through whatever door we feel like. The front desk lady protests, but when we ask her how we are supposed to get in and out, she just stays quiet for a while and then mentions that you can use the front door between the hours of 10PM and 6:30AM. Great, nice, convenient hours (hah). Construction makes about as much sense here as in Brantford, but at least we have those cool countdown lights to watch. In Canada, there are people holding signs telling when traffic can go through, but here in Japan, there are lights with counters telling when you can drive through. Real funky.

November 9 - Movies

As per the title, I rented a few movies today (non-anime) which included a very unique title called "Business commando Yamazaki". The beginning was a little slow, but right near the end I couldn't stop laughing. It was like my boss made an action movie in which he was the leading role. Absolutely hilarious. I also rented "The cooking battle". It was a show in which people compete to make the tastiest food. Basically a cooking show, except the announcer and special effects made it seem like an action movie. I love it.

November 8 - Shopping

Well, light shopping. I looked at the used CD store to see what was new (old), and picked up some small Chage&Aska CDs which sounded nice. I saw the newest stuff at the Wave, including sheet music to a lot of popular JPOP songs. Perhaps I should pick one or two up sometime. There were also some new keyboards (musical) that lit up the keys as you played them, and also acted as a guide to follow along with those songs, but the coolest part was that if you made a mistake, it would work the song around while it was playing it to make a workaround for your error (it was awesome!) Being foggy today, I never got to do too much, but I did find an import store which had a lot of foreign stuff, like Macaroni and Cheese, and Cambells soup (regular flavours like tomato), and taco kits. What strange objects. I wonder where I have seen them before...

November 7 - Musical Chairs

We moved around the office today...No..we moved the OFFICE today, literally. Along with the office move next door, we also changed some seating arrangements. I was not moved, but a lot of people were, so I have to get used to a whole new setup. Oh well, a nice break, anyway. Tonight I taped my usual Shinchan and Doraemon, so I was happy. Tomorrow I will go to Matsumoto and check out what is new.

November 6 - Micronet strikes back

Yes, they came...again. They are nice people and all, but no amount of explaining seems to help them with converting the paper manuals to online form (i.e. my job). As such, I have been *asked* by my kachou (section leader) to take back some responsibilities. They are not difficult, so I did them. What is going to happen when I go for vacation? Geez, I am trying not to think about it. At Karate tonight, the grand master (whatever his name is), was there, and started a 14 part course on Karate basics through intermediate lessons. I partook along with a bunch of newbies who looked at me and wondered what a blue belt would get from these basics, but I found it quite educational. He (the master) focuses on flexibility and speed and is real nice...if only I could understand him. I think his Japanese comes from somewhere else, because I have trouble understanding a word he says. Oh well, it was a good chance, all the same. I also picked up more copies of the magazine I was on the cover of for *mailing purposes* later.

November 5 - Great rate

With a subtle "Yahoo", I noticed that the exchange rate really rocks today (for me). I knew I should have sent some money back, but wait! Oh! That's right, the post office is not open this week, damn! Oh well, the rate will probably drop for a while now, and then I will have to wait again until the time is right. I am going to send whatever I can afford, because I know that I have to either almost bankrupt myself here, or come back bankrupt (in which case the Canadian government gets to kill me with my student loan). Sigh, if only I could win the lottery.

November 4 - Show everybody

Brought in a copy of the magazine to show everyone at work. It got an interesting reaction. I also noticed that the one green belt in the photo (B&W, but I know she had green) was holding a beer and already seemed a little intoxicated. I will have to bug her about it sometime. It was nice and quiet today (as usual), and I really like it. After all, considering the squat I get paid, I deserve a little yellow-time as it is known in the business world. Also a little-known fact: coffee beans are a fruit. Studied more of the Japanese (non-Kanji) today. It certainly was refreshing to be able to play some of my Playstation games this evening and be able to understand quite a significant part of it. Still a ways to go, though.

November 3 - Day Off

Ah, a holiday. What a relief. Now I could catch up on my missing sleep. I swear, I am going to come back home and sleep for a week and eat nothing but beef. There are a lot of great things in Japan, but I am afraid my stomach will not let me partake in all the delicacies that Japan has to offer. I have some horror stories about the koi (carp) and salmon from here. I am not a fish eater to begin with (boy, did I pick the wrong country), so when it is served with rice three times a day, I get sick of it real fast. Especially that pate... Paid my phone bill today. Geez, the bill was not expensive, but I had to run across town to a bank ATM that was operative during the holiday (when there is a holiday, EVERYTHING shuts down). Ah, I need more sleep.

November 2 - Karate Surprise

Well, the day went pretty smooth (as is usual lately). I did get a nice surprise this evening, though. Apart from being one of the rare ones who already has his or her new belt, I also noticed that I was on the cover of the monthly recreational magazine for Hirooka. The picture was taken at the Shiojiri Genba Matsuri (where I was still 15kg heavier than I am now). I will have to scan it in and post it on here sometime. Quite amusing.

November 1 - Pokemon Champion

Before you email me asking what the heck a Pokemon is, I will tell you. It started with the Tamagotchi's popularity. Some designer got really weird and made a form of digital pet/monster which you could link with another one and beat the hell out of each other (note: they never die due to fighting, they just go to the hospital when they lose). Anyway, this evolved into a N64 game in which you could hook up you pocket monster (Pokemon) into the controller and battle it out in 64-bit glory. There is even an anime series based on this, of which one of them, "Pikachu" is incredibly popular (almost the most recognizable figure in Japan). It is a yellow cat/rabbit thingy that is incredibly cute. Maybe I will post a picture sometime. Anyway, today at the Shi-o-ichi (Joy 401), there was a Pokemon tournament, and they had an odd number of contestants and thus needed one more. I know the guy because he sells me Playstation stuff (controllers and memory cards) once in a while, and he asked me to join (I would use a plain vanilla character instead of everyone else's built up monsters). So, not having any knowledge of the game, I partook in the fun. Random clicking rules! I finished in 3rd place overall, which was nice (and disturbing considering the average age of people was 9), and won a pack of Magic cards for my trouble. Well, it's something, and they have a lot of strange Kanji on it of which some I can actually make out. Oh joy. By the way, I played with Pikachu in the tournament.