Ian Lewis' Blog

Recently I've been thinking about how stressful I have been, and trying to come up with some reasons. One might expect that living in a foreign country, that the stress would come from adjusting to another countries language and culture. But the real source is exactly the opposite, I have been really stressed out recently because my chances to immerse myself in Japan, speaking Japanese have become less and less, rather than more and more.

First, at work the office is filled with foreigners, who while they can speak Japanese, speak better English by far and so they use English whenever possible, much to my distain. The other programmers that I work with most closely are foreigners and don't even speak Japanese. My boss, while Japanese, seems more interested in filling the office with more foreigners than Japanese people and possibly trying to run an English speaking office (there seems to be too many times when there isn't even one Japanese person in the office, like today). He speaks to me in very broken English any time he can (though my Japanese is perfectly fine in that situation and I would understand him perfectly well or better if he spoke in Japanese) thinking it's better for me if he talks in my native language even though WE ARE IN JAPAN!! and he knows I'm learning Japanese.

Second, my girlfriend, while also Japanese, speaks English, having spent many years in the 'States. While it was necessary for the relationship to get off the ground I've found it really messes me up speaking in English all the time. I have a hard time switching between the languages. I tend to warm up to Japanese. As I speak more and more during an event or during the day, the Japanese words and phrases come to me easier and easier. Basically, speaking and working in only Japanese would do a lot towards helping me to learn quicker. Having to switch gears and talk in English, throws my Japanese off the tracks and I generally have to start over. So if we go to a restaraunt or anywhere, having spent the day talking to each other in English, and I need to talk to someone in Japanese, my Japanese needs to be thaughed out and is too slow for my impatient native girlfriend who instantly takes over pushing me out of the conversation (the Japanese person on the receiving end usually resists me talking in Japanese as well). So even the small opportunity I had to speak in Japanese is lost.

Third, I have very little time to study Japanese in my own time because I don't have it to begin with. Work lasts until 7p.m. and generally I work at least 30min over which puts me home at about 8:15 or 8:30 on a good day. Then I need to make dinner, since I live alone, which takes about 1 and a half hours to make and clean up (that is if I have any energy to make it). Which leaves me at 10:30 or 11:00 with about an hour or so to do anything else I need to do for the next day, finish laundry, put away clothes, clean etc. and study/use the computer to work on programming projects. Milage varies of course but generally I have very little time or energy after working 8,9, or 10 hours.

Fourth, The weekend is always filled with either spending time with my girlfriend or preparing to spend time with my girlfriend. i.e. Cleaning my apartment, doing laundry, preparing for Monday, shopping. So studying or doing some other activity or looking for an activity to do is usually out. I also work one Saturday a month which cuts into any time I might have on the weekend.

So basically, while I know a good amount of Japanese it's not near where it could or should be and I feel frustrated because I know that immersion and using Japanese all the time every day is the best way to learn, but I don't know how to get there. I'm in a catch 22 situation where I don't feel confident I could get another job that requires me to use Japanese because I can't advance my Japanese in my current situation. Changing my girlfriend is not an option and I'm already using what little time I have during lunch time or on the train to try to study.

So basically though I live in Japan I don't really use that much Japanese on a daily basis. I feel like I need to change something but I can't really think of anything I can reasonably change. Anyway, this will probably dominate my thinking during summer vacation this week.

Recently I've been pretty busy. Reiko and I haven't gone out to visit a lot of places partly because she is trying to save money, and partly because she has been trying to finish some school work.

This has been exacerbated by the fact that her mom's lymphoma has returned and will be in the hospital for a while. During the treatment her body will be weak so she will also spend some time in a 無菌室（むきんしつ）or clean room and her visitations will be limited. Her mom is still relatively young and strong so I have high hopes that she will be fine. But it has put a heavy psychological burden on her's and Reiko's shoulders.

I also learned that some friends from the Virginia area meetup are moving to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. It really seems like the meetup is fairly well dead. Without someone as a decent driving force who has enough time and interest in Japanese language it seems inevitable. This latest news is just the latest in a string of blows to the group (not the least of which was my coming to Japan, but also Emily coming to Japan and Joel's plans to move later this year).

So that's the end of the bad news. My next posts will be good news I promise.

Today I worked on finishing the upgrade to the website and I went shopping in Ikebukuro. I picked up a new shirt and sweater. Hopefully it should look ok with my blue slacks. I got a game called カブトレ, a stock trading game, for Reiko。I also bought her a small Mario ball thingy. It looks like a dog's toy but I think she'll like it. She likes Mario and stuff. I hope she isn't too stressed out about me spending so much money on her.

I'm watching Metropolis again after about 4 years. It's a pretty interesting movie. Reminds me of the Animatrix short that describes the world before the war between androids and humans.

Tomorrow I'll go to Musashimurayama with Reiko to the Diamond City Mall. We'll meet at Kojira at 11 before we head to Tamagawajyousui and then take the bus to the mall. Then we're going to Emily's place at the Yokota Air Base to study some. I hope we can work out something where we can study again. That would be pretty fun.

Happy new year everyone!! Been a while since I posted last. A lot has happened since the last time I posted. I was pretty busy for the holidays. But I spent a lot of time with Reiko so naturally I had a great time.

Reiko and I spent Christmas Eve together (Christmas Day in Japan was a regular working day and I had to work) . We had roasted chicken and exchanged gifts. Reiko is pretty low on cash since she is taking classes finishing up her college degree so we had a low budget Christmas but that's the way it should be anyway. The important thing was spending time together.

New years is a big thing in Japan so I had 4 days off of work. I spent most of that time with Reiko at her house with her family. We went to see the "Mysteries of the Human Body" exibition near her house at the Saitama Arena. On New Years we went to a local shrine to ring the bell but there was a huge line so we opted to just drink tea and watch others for a while. On the 2nd we had a party with Reiko's family and had lots of new years food.

Unfortunately, I had to work on the 4th but I took the 5th off instead so it balanced out. On the 5th, Reiko surprised me and came to my apartment and cooked me yakisoba for lunch. Then we went to Meiji-Jingu (Shrine next to Yoyogi Park) for Hatsumoude (first visit to the shrine in the new year). We went to Meiji-Jingu last year when we met in Tokyo, so we remembered some memories from last year, and made prayed for the new year.

On the 6th, Reiko came over again and we went to the Edogawa-ku Sports Center and played badminton for a couple hours before coming back and watching Piglett's Big Movie My mom gave it to her for her birthday last April but we never got to watch it together.

Sunday, we went to Ikebukuro and returned some DS games that we didn't like. I returned Kanji-Ryoku since it's too hard for me. Reiko returned the Mario Basketball game I got her since it's too hard to play. We got some new games instead, Tales of the Tempest, and an English language game. I stayed at Reiko's house that night and we ate gyoza dumplings. Today we went to eat kaiten sushi with Reiko's family and went shopping.

After such a long break from work it'll be hard to go back. I have to work this next Saturday so it'll suck, but I can see Reiko on Sunday probably so I'll look forward to that. Anyway, Reiko and I bonded a lot during the time together these holidays. Since the 30th, we have been together every day except the 4th when I was working. No matter how much time we spend together I don't feel like we've spent too much time together

This past weekend Reiko and I hung out with Emily again. On Saturday, we all met at Reiko's house. We went out to the store to do some shopping and checked to see if they had Nintendo DS, and they did so I bought two for Reiko and I (Emily already has one from the 'States). It's a cool toy but I'll talk about it later

After that we made Gyoza, Chinese style pork dumplings. After making those Reiko's Aunt and Uncle came over and brought Kimchi Nabe, Kimchi flavored soup with vegetables. After dinner with the family we played with the DS and learned how to use it and try our new games before going home for the night.

Sunday, we met in Shibuya, at Hachiko-mae (in front of Hachiko the faithful dog). After that we went to Yoyogi to see some Autumn leaves. We ate some lunch at at the park and did a bit of shopping before stopping in a Starbucks for some gingerbread latte. After that Emily had to go to meet some friends so Reiko and I went on a "date", though it didn't turn out too romantic. I corrected her school assignment, and then we went to the bookstore, and ate some Korean food and talked and headed home.

Recently, it's felt like though Reiko and I have been dating almost a year, that we don't know each other that well. Language, communication, culture, and our expectations have proven to be large barriers. However, if I think about it a minute, there is a lot we take for granted and we really know each other better than we think.

This weekend Reiko and I spent time with our friend Emily who moved to Japan last weekend.

On Friday Reiko and I went to visit Emily at Yokota Air Base. Walking around base you hardly realize that you are in Japan. All of the buildings are American style and aren't right next to the roads. All the stuff in the BX Walmart-like store are American goods at American prices.

On Saturday we went to Shinjuku and got Emily a cell phone, then we went to Ueno to look around. Emily bought a new wallet at the Mujirushi department store. After that we went back to Reiko's house and hung out with Peter and Mariko again before going to sleep.

Sunday was basically a hunt for the Nintendo DS which ended fruitlessly as every store we went to had sold out. This included shops in Akihabara, Shinjuku and Reiko's home town. Though it was a bit depressing not finding a DS, all in all, the weekend was pretty fun.

It's been a while since I posted last. Now that I have internet in the apartment here in Japan I'd like to post more often. Though it's a little hard because I'd like to keep my English and Japanese blogs pretty much in sync and writing Japanese takes time. I'd write every day if I could, but it's just too hard.

Anyway, Today I went to an engagement ceremony for Reiko's cousin Mariko. Mariko met her fiancee, Peter, in Canada while in college studying music. Peter plays the cello and Mariko the piano. Reiko's family is Christian so the ceremony was at a local church. It was pretty interesting to attend the ceremony since it's pretty similar to Christian ceremonies in the 'States. After the ceremony there was a reception and Mariko and Peter played a little bit.

Afterwards we went to Marko's house and ate dinner with the family. That was probably the most fun for me. I got to interact with Reiko's family some more and practice Japanese. While it's still kind of hard to keep up with everything that's going on, it feels pretty good to be more involved with Reiko's family.

Last Saturday Reiko and I went on a tour of Akihabara with the Tokyo Japanese-English Language and Culture Meetup. The assistant organizer for the meetup, Asako, planned out a pretty interesting trip for everyone. I guess she wanted us to see all the fantastic, and strange places in Akihabara, so we went to two maid cafes, a cosplay costume shop, and and finally an adult department shop. They were some pretty strange destinations but all in all it was pretty fun.

Well this Sunday is my birthday and my friend Emily is coming from the 'States so I imagine I'll be pretty busy this weekend. Though, I don't know if someone is coming to meet Emily or not...

So I've been in Japan 2 weeks already. I only started work Monday last week so I spend the first week buying things and setting up the apartment with Reiko. I had to buy a bed and furniture, and get a cell phone and stuff. This past weekend Reiko and I went to Yoyogi park again.

While I'm not yet used to Japan, the folks at work seem cool and there are English speakers here so I don't think I'll have any problems.

It seems that the internet company that I'm going to use is busy, so the internet isn't going to be hooked up until the 20th. I guess I'll just have to make do with the cell phone and work internet for the time being.

Anyway, So far I'm having a great time though the trains are crowded

So as many of you may know, I have decided to move to Japan. I will be taking a programming job in 大阪 (Osaka) Japan for a small company called Thought-s. I have been studying Japanese for a number of years, and my interest has grown to a point where I want to live in Japan and immerse myself in the culture and language. I've actually been thinking about moving to Japan for a long time. Almost as long as I've been studying Japanese. But my Japanese wasn't good enough, and my confidence that it would be good for me was lacking.

But I've kept studying and organizing and participating in Japanese social groups in the Northern Virginia and DC areas, and making many friends and growing my ties to Japan. I now have several friends who are already in, or are soon going to Japan.

Since January, I've been dating 玲子(Reiko) from Saitama also. While she isn't really the first reason I would move to Japan, perhaps she is the catalyst. She made me to get up and actually move towards my goal.

The hardest part was telling my family about my decision. I will miss them a lot and I've enjoyed working close to them for the last few years. I suppose it will get harder and harder to see them. But I plan to come back to the 'States to visit often and see my family. But I also plan to visit as many places as I can in the East as well.

Anyway, I feel better and better about my decision the closer I get to actually going. I really think this is where my life is going. It's my next adventure and challenge to conquer I suppose and I wager I'll be able to do it.

Earlier this year, my girlfriend Reiko applied to GMU since it was close to where I live. Over next several months GMU was really hard to contact about her status and continually pushed off our inquiries as to her status. The told us that they would finish reviewing the applications in April, but then April came and went, and then May was almost past. It came to the point where we both didn't have any real confidence that we would ever hear anything from them.

But then out of the blue, Reiko got an acceptance letter in e-mail!! Though she still needs to turn in some forms and stuff before she can be issued a VISA. Unfortunately one of those forms requires her to show that she has enough money in her bank account for tuition and expenses and that is set at $32,497. Unbelievable eh? Tuition itself is a whopping $17,000. Unfortunately there aren't many programs, scholarships, and loans available for foreign students wanting to study in the U.S, so I'm not sure what she will do, but I'm hoping some opportunities can open up for her.

Reiko and I just got back from New York. We went via Amtrak on Monday and came back this morning. We managed to see all the really famous attractions and do quite a bit of stuff while we where there. We took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, City Hall, and saw the Empire State Building on Monday. Yesterday we went to Times Square, Central Park, Washington Square, Colombia University, and Rockafeller Square. She's never been to New York, and it's been so long for me that it was totally new for both of us. I can tell you from experience now that New York's subway, while it isn't as complicated as Tokyo, is nothing to trifle with

It was terrible fun but we were exausted from walking around. Of course playing basketball and running after we got back didn't help (we bought some work out gear this last weekend).