Ian Lewis' Blog

Today a man drove into a crowded group of people in Akihabara and then got out of his car and started stabbing and slashing people with a knife. 7 people were killed and 11 people injured/wounded. Akihabara is the electronics shopping district in Tokyo and was closed to cars today so the road was full of pedestrians. From what I gather from the news is that the man drove his car into a pedestrian only area and hit several people. Then he got out of his car and stood over one of the people he hit and started stabbing him several times, He then came towards the station, stabbing and slashing people indiscriminately.

Kern, an English teacher in Osaka mentioned the incident on his blog. He also mentioned the trend of killers who say things like "I just wanted to kill people. Anyone would do" which has been said by several killers in the recent past so it's an interesting observation. The fact that this also occurred on the 7th anniversary of an incedent where a man killed 8 children and injured 15 other people at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture seems like more than a coincidence.

Akihabara is about 20 minutes by train from where I live. This apparently happened very close to the station so it's a bit hard to believe that something like this happened in an area that I have been to many times.  It's alarming to think that I could have been there. I wonder what kind of answers can be gleaned from such indiscriminate killers.

The story is also mentioned on Reuters and Japan Today. BBC videos here and here.

Living in Japan there are a few things that you might have the unfortunate chance to experience.

Today, a person who lives in my building commited suicide. The building where I live is small so the person lived just 6 doors down from me.

The night started when a police officer knocked on my door. A strong odor was coming from someone's room and everyone in the surrounding buildings was forced to evacuate. I began talking to one of my neighbors and apparently many people who have turned to suicide have chosen to mix chemicals and inhale them.

Though I have no idea who the person is, I can't help but feel emotional about the event. To know that someone living so close chose to take their own life is unimaginable.

Today I finally updated my website and gave it a new look. I hope everyone likes it. The theme is a customized version of Foppe Hemminga's simple zen theme. I thought it would work well since I wanted a theme that where the header would expand no matter what resolution you view it at and wasn't a fixed pixel size. The fact that's it's a zen theme and I live in Japan just makes it all the better. There are still some rough edges to work out but they should be fixed within the week.

With this upgrade I finally updated to the latest version of b2evolution. I had been using an old version for far longer than was safe but I had a number of customizations made that made upgrading difficult. I made the somewhat silly decision a while back to implement my English and Japanese blogs as one blog and customize b2evo to display the posts that matched the user's language settings on the site and via the browser. I wanted a more uniform way of updating the site but this had the unfortunate effect of making it so that I couldn't upgrade without splitting my blogs up with a database script. In the end it works much better maintaining them as two blogs.

I know it doesn't look like much but it's the first snow since I came to Japan. I took the photo above on my way to work but it snowed more during the day. I guess it really is about once every two years or so you get a snowfall in Tokyo. It was also a first for my colleague from Okinawa and another from the Phillipines who have never seen snow in their whole lives. They were asking all kinds of questions like, do you use an umbrella when it's snowing? I never have but apparently Japanese people do.

Here are some new Japanese words I just stuck into Anki.

松ぼっくり	まつぼっくり	Pine Cone
副作用	ふくさよう	Side Effect
組	くみ	Class, Group
府県	ふけん	Prefectures
挙げる	あげる	Arrest, Capture, Perform, Give (e.g. a presentation), Hold (e.g. a wedding ceremony)
初雪	はつゆき	First snow of the season
求人	きゅうじん	A job offer
的	まと	Mark, Objective, Object
残高	ざんだか	Amount left (e.g. in your bank account after a withdrawl)
親類	しんるい	A relative (e.g. family)
序章	じょしょう	An introduction, A forward
ざっと		Simply, Estimating
気性	きしょう	Temperment, Nature

Vocab in tab separated values for importing into Anki: vocab1.tsv

A bit late but... Happy New Year!

Reiko and I celebrated a long X-mas weekend with a party at her parents house on Saturday, opening gifts at my place on Sunday, and going to the Christmas Eve service at her church and eating dinner with her family on Monday. The party on the Saturday the 22nd was fun. Reiko's aunt and uncle, cousin's family, and brother's family complimented Reiko, her parents and I. Her cousin Keigo had big news. We found out that her cousin passed the policeman's exam and will become a police officer. Also, he and his girlfriend have decided to get married. She has two sons from a previous marriage so she and her sons came as well and we got the chance to meet them.

Sunday Reiko came over to my place and we had a stereotypical Japanese X-mas dinner. Fried chicken and various side dishes like potato salad. KFC is very popular for X-mas, much to my bewilderment. After dinner we opened gifts. I got Reiko a calendar, a bag, a DS game, and a wireless mouse. She got me a scheduler, a DS game, some picture frames, and a clock.

On Monday we went to the X-mas Eve service at Reiko's church. That was good because we got to see her older brother Akira who wasn't able to come to the party on the previous Saturday. After the service we went to the same local Chinese restaraunt we went to last year. It's become sort of a tradition I guess.

New Years break started the following Friday (Dec. 28) and ended this past Sunday (Jan. 7). I spent the first day or two at home, and then headed over to Reiko's house on Monday the 31st. At midnight we went to the local shrine like we did last year. But this year we went a bit later so it wasn't as crowded and we got to ring the big bell.

I stayed at Reiko's house for the next couple of days and we had a new years party. Reiko's uncle made some Tai curry and plum wine, of both of which I am a big fan so he brought those by. After the new years party I stayed around and helped Reiko finish her paper for her Child Psychology class. She has problems sometimes with proper grammer and such when writing papers. But she did really well and I'm really proud of her.

After that I spend the rest of the vacation at home. Reiko came by on Friday and we watched a couple of movies and had dinner before she headed back to her house. So far the new years is starting out well. I have a couple friends coming to Tokyo the first month, so I can visit with them. I have potential prospects for a new job, and though nothing's concretely planned yet, I'm currently planning to make a trip back to the 'States around golden week so I'm looking forward to that.

This year I hope to find time, motivation, and energy to work more on open source software and improve my Japanese even further. I also feel some pressure to improve my skill set and advance my career so I hope to make advances in that area this year.

Hope everyone is having as good a beginning to the year as I am! Happy New Year!

Recently I read an article on gyaku that says that Japan is pushing forward with passing laws to regulate open communications. It seems to be targeted at protecting young people from public online sites and mobile content but the nature of the law means that the regulations will extend to blogging and to online sites such as 2channel. This looks like something me and my fellow bloggers in Japan will need to follow closely.

Starting two days ago, Japan will be fingerprinting any foreigner that enters Japan. You can check out some of the media response in my shared news items. Japan becomes the second nation in the world to start finger printing foreigners entering the country. However, unlike the U.S. even foreign residents, not just visitors, will be fingerprinted. Of course SOFA members are exempt, as they exempt from most other overreaching programs like Foreigner Registration Cards.

I hope that I could go home sometime soon but I'm not looking forward to a long line at immigration and a fingerprinting on the way back.

The pilot of the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Paul Tibbets, has died. He was a staunch defender of the plan to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, saying it saved lives when compared to the prospect of a full scale invasion of Japan. A point of view that is very controversial in Japan. Somewhat recently the Defence Minister of Japan, Fumio Kyuma, was forced to resign because of statements he made about the dropping of the atomic bomb being justified. During his life he was repeatedly criticized for his beliefs in the justification of dropping the bomb. But while his thoughts on the subject may be controversial in Japan, there is no doubting the bomb's, and his place in history. He says he can sleep well at night and I say, good for him.

I for one am tired of that debate. Whether the bomb was justified by the fact that in the end it ended the war sooner and saved lives that would be lost in a direct invasion of Japan, one could never know. Without trying to trivialized it, we're crying over 50 year old spilled milk. The point is what is done is done. However, I respect and identify with Japan's position on nuclear weapons, and the willingness of the Japanese people to continue under the, U.S. written, pacifist constitiution. I just don't think it's worth it to say that the bomb was justified or not.

Instead of trying to argue whether using nuclear weapons in that case was justifiable, I think we should examine why it was dropped, and attempt to prevent that situation from occurring again. This means reducing the number of nuclear weapons, creating a culture where using nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and avoiding war where using nuclear weapons would become an option.

So it's official, I'm taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (Level 2) on the second of December. This is the third time I've taken the test (I took Level 3 and 4 previously). However, this time I'm taking it in Japan. I just got my test voucher in the mail.

For those of you that don't know, the JLPT is the most popular test to measure Japanese language profiency. It is basically broken into three parts. Writing/Vocabulary, Listening, and Reading/Grammar. It has 4 levels. Four being the easiest, one being the hardest. Level 4 is very easy and proves basically that you can read hiragana and maybe read a few chinese characters. Level 3 is also easy and proves that you can understand Japanese on what would be considered a basic level to foreigners. Level 2 requires that you can read about 1000 chinese characters and proves that you can at least read and listen at what would be considered a basic level by natives. 1000 chinese characters is the minimum number to be considered literate in Japan. Level 1 requires about 2000 chinese characters and proves you can at least listen and read at a level that will enable you to live and work in Japan.

I say "proves" but in reality you can pass with a good deal less knowledge than is "required" and even without very much ability to speak Japanese at all (this is also true of other language standardized tests. TOEIC, I'm looking at you ). The requirements are probably the minimum to get a 100% score, while a 60% passes. So, though it's a bit risky, essentially you could technically pass level 2, knowing about 600-700 chinese characters. Also, it has a "writing" section but really the test is entirely multiple choice. So the closest you come to having to write chinese characters is sometimes having to choose which of 4 characters is written incorrectly.

There is also nothing anwhere close to a speaking portion. This is probably a big failing of almost every language standardized test. The inability to test speaking ability in a meaningful way. Testers cannot spend the time talking to each and every test taker because it would require 1 on 1 interviews. And even if they did do that, they have no objective way of measuring how well the person can converse. I don't blame the test makers, but it means that a lot of people can pass the test without even the slightest ability to speak or hold a conversation. This is even more pronounced in Japan where many people can pass TOEIC with a rather high score but would die of embarrasment if they had to actually hold a conversation in English.

So basically I have no real love or respect for sandardized tests especially language standardized tests. I don't like the idea of being considered on equal ground with a person who could pass JLPT2 without knowing how to speak at all, or with someone who obviously can converse better than me but simply doesn't know enough of the finer grammar rules to pass JLPT1. The test only gives a very rough basis with which to judge a person and their skill. Perhaps as part of a whole presentation on yourself it could hold some weight but without some other supporting info to lean on using it by itself is worthless.

However, As someone studying it as a second language I realize that people would like to see it, and that it may help focus my studies. I just wish that after studying hard and passing it the result could actually mean something to me.

It's been a little while but I'm back with the comings and goings of day 2 of our trip to Hakone. So without further ado lets get started!

	Reiko and I woke up early at our Ryokan, and went for an early morning walk down to Lake Ashi to see if we could see Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately that objective was doomed from the start but we had a nice walk, enjoying the crisp morning air, and brilliant sunshine. After the walk we had great breakfast at the hotel which from what I'm told is part of the charm of Japanese Ryokans. We were planning to take the tour boat across Lake Ashi that day so after that we planned to head to take the tour boat early so we could see Mt. Fuji easier so we checked out of the hotel about 8:30. But we realized when we got to the dock that the tour boat starts at 9:30 and we checked out of the hotel too early.
	So we wandered around for a bit and then found that the ropeway that we had ridden the previous day was open at 9:00. So we decided to take the ropeway up to Oowakudani, where we went the previous day, and back. The idea being that we could see Mt. Fuji from the Ropeway. That turned out to be a brilliant idea since, being early, we got our own private car and a gorgeous view of the mountain.
	Our timing was perfect because getting back from the trip on the ropeway we had just enough time before 9:30 to get on the tour boat. The boat was pirate ship themed and wasn't terribly interesting itself. It was pretty nice to take in the lake scenery in the morning sunshine though.
	After that we went to the Hakone military checkpoint which is a small tourist destination in Hakone City. It's kind of an outdoor museum of sorts and has clay statues so you can try to get an idea of how the Samurai and workers used the rooms and spaces in their daily lives.
	After the checkpoint we headed to the Hakone observation building which is in Hakone Park. From there we got a great view of Lake Ashi and Mt. Fuji. I imagine that area is a favorite for photographers. The building was a kind of western style building but inside they had some Nebuta. Nebuta are huge parade floats created for Nebuta festivals, the most famous being in Aomori prefecture in northern Japan.
	After the observation building we headed to Hakone shrine. The grounds are quite large and has several smaller strines. I tend to like shrines because they are oasises of quiet and often have lots of plants and architecture built out of stone. So you feel like you are in a much more natural environment than in normal life.

After Hakone shrine we took the bus back to Hakone Yumoto station and took the train back to Tokyo, ending our two day vacation. I have to say that Reiko scheduled the trip at a perfect time. Both she and I were getting tired from working hard and needed some time outside of the city. The weather also smiled on us during our two days and was also perfect timing since the remnants of a typhoon came through the next day. All in all, a satisfying vacation. I hope I can live in a quiet place outside the city sometime. The city is just too hectic.

Yesterday, Reiko and I got back from Hakone. Reiko planned a nice trip for my birthday. We left on Saturday and came back the next day. Hakone is about two hours away on the Odakyuu train line. We went to Hakone for the nature scenery, but most people go there for the Onsens (hot springs/hot baths), and health spas, since they are all over the place. It seems every other bus stop is named 'something something onsen'.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Here's the rundown of the first day,

After we arrived at Hakone Yumoto Station we changed to the Hakone Touzan (Mountain Climbing) Line and rode that to Goura. The line zig zags it's way up the mountains, often stopping and going back the other direction.

After we had lunch at Goura, we got on the Hokone Touzan Cable Car. There is only one cable "train" with two cars so it was quite crowded. Standing room only. The train itself is slanted and hard to keep footing. There also isn't much to see so, while the fact that it's a cable car that gets pulled up the mountain is interesting, it wasn't much fun to ride it.

After we arrived at Souunzan station, we changed to the Hakone Ropeway. The ropeway runs from Souunzan to Tougendai, where our hotel is. It's nice since you can see a lot of scenery from up high. It's also too dangerous to have a lot of people in one car so it was a lot more comfortable ride than the cable car.

Halfway to Togendai is one of our touristy destinations, Oowakudani (大(Big)涌(Boiling)谷(Valley)). Essentially, it's exactly as the name says. About three thousand years ago the mountain erupted in a big explosion leaving an empty valley or crater that continually vents sulfuric gas. You might wonder why you would ever want to go there but it's actually pretty interesting seeing the water boiling out of the and the gas jets. They also have a tradition of making black eggs which if you eat will lengthen your life by 7 years (or so they say). Though it must be kind of an Asian thing since there were TONS of foreigners around but all of them were Koreans, Chinese, and Indian. Very few westerners. I saw a Russian or Eastern European group of about 3 but that's about it.

I don't like eggs, and after not too long we couldn't stand all the people and the smell, so we continued on to Tougendai and checked into the hotel. The hotel is a nice Japanese style Ryokan. We had a tatami floored room and they set out a tea set so you can have green tea. We arrived a bit early, so after check in, we went for a walk in a nearby park next to Lake Ashi until dinner. Traditional breakfast and dinner are included per-usual for Ryokans.

Well that's it for now. I'll get to day two, when we take a sightseeing boat across Lake Ashi and check out Hakone Shrine, later.

I saw this story on the CNN website and apparently the "Crocs" brand of shoes get caught in escalators easily. Recently when Reiko and I went to Yokohama, I noticed a sign in Japanese on an escalator warning that incidents involving crocs on escalators are increasing and to be careful, but apparently it's a worldwide issue.

Crocs have recently become popular in Japan and there are escalators everywhere (malls, train stations, etc.) so the story on CNN caught my eye. Generally kids have the biggest problem but the shoes apparently get caught in the "teeth" at the top or bottom of the escalator.

Anywho, If you have a child that owns the sandals, be careful on escalators.

This past Saturday Reiko and I went to the Awaodori Festival in Kouenji with our friends at the Japanese-English Language and Culture Meetup. Awaodori is a type of dance that originated in the Shikoku island of Japan (One of Japan's four main islands) but has become a staple of summer festivals all around Japan.

It's kind of a silly kind of dance with lots of different variations but in it's basic form involves a kind of walking where you put your right arm forward when stepping with your right foot and the same with your left. The patters emerge from that, some involving somewhat elaborate dances with lanterns.

The dancers are followed by drummers, flautists, and small gong like bell ringers. Essentially the beat of the processing dancers is kept up by the percussionists that follow them. I uploaded some movies so you can get the idea.

Anyway, Reiko and I really enjoyed it. It seems to be a Japanese staple summer festival along with fireworks and Obon dancing. Though, being a staple event in the most populated metropolitan area in the world means that the event was horrendously crowded. There was a never ending line of people coming out of the station which gave the police the rather unforgiving task of crowd control and security (in this day and age a large crowd of people is a terrorist bullseye). There were so many people that they had to set up a route for which the people could walk as to not jam up while meeting friends. But there are always those who don't want to follow the rules and go wherever they please without obeying the wishes of festival organizers.

However, managed to keep at least a semblance of a complete group, and found ourselves a nice spot to watch the parading dancers. Japan in the summertime is humid, stuffy and hot, but fun you have drinking and hanging out with friends at the summer festivals makes up for it.

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.

Last week, I was watching Ainori which is a favorite TV show in Japan of Reiko and me. Ainori is a reality TV show where the members of the show travel to different countries together and try to find someone to fall in love and return to Japan with.

So this week and last Ainori was in Venezuela the home of the infamous Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chavez is known for socialism, not respecting free speech, and for his harsh criticism of the U.S. He gets particular disdain from the United States for his comments about G.W. Bush and his refusal to play ball on things like oil pricing.

However, they mentioned that as part of Chavez's domestic policies aimed at improving poverty, thousands of new medical clinics for the poor were constructed, and thousands of people have become literate via education programs.

When I heard this I thought to myself, "No way would this ever be broadcast on T.V. in the 'States". Indeed, I'd never heard anything good that Chavez had done in Venezuela before watching that episode of Ainori. I suppose it goes to show you that while the U.S. values free speech, no reputable broadcasters would dare publish something that radically goes against the government's agenda lest they not get invited to press conferences or something.

While it hasn't turned me into a Chavez supporter or anything, It's very interesting and refreshing to hear different views than those of the main U.S. media outlets on foreign leaders and countries that are traditionally opposing the United States and views on the foreign policies of the United States itself.

This weekend Reiko and I went to the Ueno Zoo since I had never been there before. And also because I wanted to take her to the Hard Rock cafe since there is one in Ueno and she likes it so much.

First we had lunch at the Hard Rock and Reiko bought me a hat at the gift shop After the Hard Rock we headed over to the Zoo. The Ueno zoo is broken into two parts which are connected by a small monorail system. In the first half we made the usual rounds of the animals there. Reiko particularly likes the Lions. I'm partial to Bats, Elephants, and other less agressive animals. Right after we arrived we were able to see the zoo keepers feeding the elephants fruit and other goodies attached to some bamboo and listen to information about elephants in Japanese.

In the second half there were Giraffes and Alligators but by that time they were starting to bring the animals indoors so our time in the second half of the park was muted.

After leaving the zoo it was hot so we stopped for a bit in a local cafe for some frozen drinks. I took that time to show Reiko the city I was building in the Sim City game on my DS. But, unfortunately, I apparently forgot to put it back in my bag leaving it at the cafe, and have yet to recover it. It's really disappointing that after so many years of forgetting important things that I would still forget something so expensive and important in a public place Given that I bought a matching DS along with Reiko and had many games and saved files inside it's really a physically and emotionally irreplaceable item, and thus puts a damper on the whole weekends activities.

This weekend I stayed over at Reiko's house and went with her and her Mom to church in the morning. That was pretty interesting, except that it's pretty much like services in the 'States, boring as hell. Not that it matters much since I can't really understand much of the language they use in church services. I found that the combination of boring material, plus long sermons, plus non-native-language makes one very very sleepy. It might be interesting to study how listening long speeches tires out the brain.

Yesterday we went to Book-off, which we affectionately call F*** off, and returned a bunch of books she had lying around her house, receiving the paltry sum of 340 yen and half of the books that we brought because they wouldn't take them at all, and quickly turning around and spending 3 times the amount received to buy a boxing game for our new PS2. (Reiko beats be every time. Not sure what I'm doing wrong in that game).

Today, after church we went to the new Burger King at "Sunshine" in Ikebukuro. One of only two Burger Kings in all of Japan (the other one is coincidently also in Tokyo). It's basically exactly like any other Burger King in the 'States, the burgers are American Size, which is probably why we had to wait in line for about 10-15 minutes to order. As an aside, I think the other Burger King, which opened first, had huge lines when it first opened.

Anyway, this weekend was pretty fun but also fairly ordinary.

One thing that is a bit annoying about Japan is that it has it's own system for counting years. Many observers note that the Christian year is widely used in Japan but this is a bit short-sighted. Most Japanese don't internalize Christian years but rather convert Japanese years into Christian years when necessary. A bit like how you would translate a word into a foreign language if you weren't terribly fluent. Also, most systems that aren't developed by western companies or people, use Japanese dates. Filling out my birthday on a form to apply for a commuter pass for the train is an example.

The system includes separating time into eras which represent an Emperer's reign. They start at the first year that a new Emperor comes to the throne, and ends with the year that he dies. The year that he dies, is also consequently, the first year of the next Emperor's reign so there is 1 year of overlap.

For example, this year is the year Heisei 19. It is the 19th year of the Emperor Akihito's reign. The previous Emperor Hirohito's (we should all know who he is), era was called Showa. The Showa era lasted from 1926–1989. 1989 was the year that Hirohito died, and Akihito became Emperor. Thus 1989 is the year Showa 64 but also Heisei 1.

This is particularly hard when calculating years in software. Since most software uses western dates you have to convert these somehow. Also, whenever an Emperor dies you have to change the software to reflect the change in era. Software will, of course, continue to work in spite of the Emperor's death, but it will not reflect Japanese dates accurately until it is updated.

Things also get complicated when you are born in the year of an Emperor's death, as technically, the new Emperor's era starts after he ascends to the throne. So if you were born in 1989 but before the Akihito ascended to the throne, technically you were born in Showa 64 and not Heisei 1. So you would need to know the exact date of ascention and not just the year to accurately reflect a particular date, however most software doesn't go that far to accurately present Japenese dates.

Reiko and I got back from Kyoto a couple days ago and man what a beautiful place. The city itself doesn't look like much at first because there are laws against building tall buildings but you soon find that this adds to Kyoto's charm. Kyoto is surrounded by mountains which are visible from within the city. Coming from Tokyo where you're lucky to see more than a few blocks away because of the buildings and even if you did there wouldn't be much to see, this adds a lot to your view in daily life.

The city also has a long history with some buildings dating back to the 1400s. When seeing imagery of Japanese culture on TV and in movies, you don't really get a sense of where it came from.

Day one

The first day we arrived we went to the Kyoto Imperial Park which is located in the center of the city. The Park used to contain the Imperial Palace but also contains some small shrines. After that we went by bus to Ginkakuji. The shrine was supposed to be covered in silver but it was never actually done.

Day two

Day two Reiko and I traveled to Osaka and visited Osaka Castle. The castle is huge with a large park around it. The castle is largely not the original structure as the original structure has burned down or been destroyed several times. The original was finished in 1598 but lightning destroyed the original castle in 1665. It was rebuilt but much of it was destroyed during conflits of the Meiji Restoration. Rebuilt again, the castle was damaged during bombing raids in WWII. It wasn't until 1995 that the city was able to fund a project to restore the castle, and finished the restoration in 1997.

After visiting Osaka Castle we headed to the famous shopping district Nanba. Nanba has many famous shops and restaraunts like Katsu kani.

After Nanba, we rounded out the day with a dance festival event at Matsuo Shrine. It was pretty interesting since I think they have some connection with a local college as there were lots of college age kids around. It's pretty neat to see the creativity and energy that college-age kids have before having to enter the "real world".

Day three

On day three we met our friend Kyoko who we know from meetup in the 'States. Kyoko guided us to Fushimi Inari Shrine which has a path into the mountains that is lined with red tori gates. The gates are engraved with the names of companies that have donated to the shrine as it's known to bring good fortune. The size of the gate reflects the size of the donation. We didn't find any big recognizable companies though.

After that we went to Kiyomizudera. Kiyomizudera is known for it's views and greenery so we got some really nice pictures. The air is so fresh there also that the atmosphere is quite different from normal life in Tokyo.

After Kiyomizudera we walked around the Ginza area and had a late lunch before Kyoko headed home.

Day Four

On the last day Reiko and I went to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, and Nijyou Castle. Kinkakuji is a shrine with a pavilion that encased in gold leaf. It's amazing in that it's really clean. It looks immaculate even up close. The also say that the sunset is especially beautiful at Kinkakuji. I suppose that the sunset reflects well off of the cold structure and the surrounding water.

Ryoanji is the quintessential Zen garden complete with stones and sand. It's really beautiful for it's simplicity. The idea is that the rocks are islands and the sand is raked to look like water. It creates a calm relaxing atmosphere. From wikipedia, "The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder." I didn't notice that there was any specific layout but it's interesting to note.

After Ryoanji, we left for Nijyou castle. I believe the palace was used for the shogun to meet with regional leaders from various areas of Japan. Unfortunately it's prohibited to take photos on the inside of the castle, but it's really beautiful. The artwork is very Japanese in style and has a real feeling of royalty yet calm and relaxing. You can also notice that the floors in the hallways are made to chirp like a bird when you step on them. A security measure to avoid sneak attacks or assassinations.

Summary

All in all a very refreshing and exciting trip. Concerning practical matters, many of the shrines and temples in Kyoto close early (Nijyou Castle closed at 4 o'clock!!) so be prepared to call it a day early, or find something that you can do after hours. Also, I found the subway to be rather inadequate in Kyoto (I originally planned to use only subway. In Tokyo it's super good) so in order to get to the shrines easily you will need to use a combination of bus and train. This can be a pain since you will need to use two maps, bus and rail. And it can be difficult to see where the closest train station is relative to a bus station. But in order to get to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, or Ginkakuji efficiently, you'll need to use the bus. So do your homework!!

Hey everyone!
Reiko and I just got back from Kyoto yesterday. What an amazing trip. Kyoto is a city steeped in a huge amount of history and beauty. Just stepping of the train you can feel that it's a totally different city and atmosphere from Tokyo. The air is fresher, the the buildings are smaller, and there is an tradition of keeping the city one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I'll have to write more about it later, as I'd like to get busy enjoying the rest of my Golden Week, but you can check out some of the photos I took here. I haven't finished labeling and adjusting all the photos but you should be able to check that link for new photos as I put them up which I hope should be over the next week.

So things are all set for us to go to Kyoto! We'll be there starting the 29th of April to the 2nd of May. We plan to go lots of places and take lots of pictures. I'm still not sure exactly what day we will be going to each place on our list but I think that our time will be quite full.

For all of those interested I'll be sure to post the pictures after we get back. I'm really looking forward to having a long break.

So Goldenweek is approaching. It's a week in Japan with no less than 5 national holidays. They don't all fall on the weekdays but essentially you got a full week off from work.

Since I'll have a good time off from work I was wondering what I should do and I'm thinking of taking a trip with Reiko to Kyoto and Osaka. Currently I'm putting together a list of possible tourist destinations in the Osaka/Kyoto area. You can see the Map here.

So if anyone has any suggestions about a place in the Osaka/Kyoto area that I don't have listed on the Map , let me know.

It's springtime in Japan!! The weather was gorgeous this weekend and was perfect timing for going to see cherry blossoms, as they are in full bloom now. Yesterday, Reiko and I went to Yoyogi Park to see the cherry blossoms and they were beautiful. You can check out more pictures of cherry blossoms here. Cherry blossom viewing is pretty popular here and a LOT of people were out at Yoyogi to picnic with friends, drink alcohol, and look at the beautiful flowers.

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.

Recently I have found that while I am studying Japanese language, as I have not studied Japanese formally, I lack a good degree of knowlege of historic and cultural context.

So I'm playing a bit of catch-up reading some articles in Wikipedia. I'm already familiar with some of the large events such as the Boshin War and Meiji Restoration and the general idea of the events. But I'm missing details that are important to learning more about Japanese culture and society.

Maybe I'll look into picking up some books about Japanese history in order to get a more in depth knowledge of Japanese historic events.

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

On Monday this week I went on a one day business trip to Osaka. I met with some coworkers at the head office and talked about my next project at work. Though it was pretty short it was a good experience for me.

I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka. It was my first time taking the bullet train so I was pretty excited. You don't think it's so fast at first but once you get to full speed you feel like you're in a jet plane. Looking at the scenery would make you dizzy. It's SUPER FAST.

I've used Gmail for my personal mail for almost 2 years now. But I had never had a phone where I could access the internet from the cell phone until I came to Japan. So I was delighted to know that Gmail has a mobile feature that allows me to read e-mails from the cell phone.

However, it's not all Samurai's and Green Tea here in Japan because Gmail doesn't work on Japanese mobiles. In fact almost none of Google's services work on the cell phone. Google has a news reader that you can access from your mobile phone as well. But that doesn't work either. The simple search seems to work ok but any service where you need to log in fails and Google doesn't support Japanese phones.

Each service complains that you need cookies enabled in your browser in order log in. Though cookies are enabled in the browser and other Japanese sites like Mixi have no problems logging you in.

I tried searching the internet for possible causes and solutions to the problem and I came across a few websites but nothing seemed to work. This site seems to suggest that at first there is a possibility that it would fail but if you login again it would work. But nothing seemed to work for me and gmail seems to spend you to a page that isn't for mobiles.

I suppose all of this could be my phone's lousy browser implementation but lots of phones in Japan seem to have the same problem. I suppose the lack of resources in Japanese, not supporting Japanese phones and not having services useful to Japanese (like train schedules etc.) is why people in Japan tend to use Yahoo and not Google. Yahoo just serves Japanese people better. And besides the messenger has cuter smilies

I recently bought a Nintendo DS and though I've had it only about a couple weeks or so it's already become one of my favorite game systems, handheld or otherwise. The touch screen, and level of innovation in the games adds greatly to it's appeal.

So far I've picked up 3 games. One is Kanji Kentei which is a practice and learning game/software for learning Japanese characters. It follows the Kanji Kentei standarized test and includes a testing mode and practice mode. The practice mode has separate modes for testing how to write kanji, reading kanji, and stroke number/order. As you practice it saves the data on which you got right and wrong for each level and mode. The testing mode combines all three of these modes into a test which it grades and gives you a pass/fail score.

I also picked up the Kirby DS game. Somehow I really like Kirby and how you can suck in enemies and use their powers. It also has really nicely designed levels. It's a refreshing game that doesn't require a lot of time . More recently I've had less and less time I've been able and willing to give to playing games. It also has some simple but fun mini games which yo u can play with friends. One of the nice things about the DS is that you can play with others who have a DS without both of you owning the game. The person without the game can connect and temporarily download the part of the game they need to play along.

I also picked up Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin which like Dawn of Sorrow borrows a lot of gameplay aspects from the PS Symphony of the Night. Which is one of the cooler Castlevania games. So far it hasn't disappointed. I especially like the dual character aspect. And as an added bonus the game has a coop mode so you can play two player! So far I don't have anyone to play with but it seems like it would be fun.

Anyway, if you don't have a DS I strongly encourage you to get one. They are relatively cheap but are a lot of bang for the buck with all the features.

I recently got a reader for the computer to read photos from my cell phone's SD card. I just published a bunch of new photos from this Fall in Japan. You can check them out here!

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.

Update! You can see pictures of me eating canned Oden on Chris and Lisa's blog. It was pretty gross but it was an experience. No one wanted to try it so I had to

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

Well I've been in Japan almost a week and I'm trying to get settled. It's pretty hard with such a small apartment but I'm doing my best. So I've been working on getting things for the apartment like some furniture and appliances.

I can live in a pretty small space but the kitchen is very basic. So it'll be hard to cook at the apartment. Though the kitchen is basic Reiko and I bought some kitchen stuff, pots and pans mostly, when we went out yesterday. Also the company bought be a microwave, washing machine, and refrigerator but the refrigerator hasn't come yet so that makes things a bit complicated since I can't keep food for longer than the day I bought it.

All in all things have worked out ok, and I haven't had too many problems. Though, the washing machine that came at first didn't work, it was quickly replaced by the company where it was bought.

I'm using an internet cafe so the clock is ticking. I should have internet in my apartment in the next week or two. More later...

I'm leaving for Japan at 12:30pm on Sunday, so today I'm in the middle of a late night packing session. The downstairs living room at my parent's house is still a complete disaster area. They'll be thrilled in the morning.

I learned a few new tidbits that will be useful from my friend Doug, who just arrived in Japan last month as a JET. Like, it takes 2 weeks to get the foreigner registration card (ID), so you need to get a special form in order to get a mobile phone and get a bank account, and some other things.

I'm pretty excited and nervous at the same time. Life will be quite a bit different. Right now though, concentration is on packing and how I'll get the baggage from the airport, to Tokyo station to pick up the key from the contact at my new company, and then to the apartment. It'll be a pretty crazy day on Monday.

Yesterday, I found out the date that I'll be leaving for Japan. My apartment will be in Edogawa-ku and will be ready on the 25th. So I'll be leaving the 'States on the 24th. I'll start work on Oct. 2nd. I've got a lot of stuff to do to prepare before I leave, not the least of which is packing, so I'll be pretty busy between now and then. I'll probably be going to the Japanese Embassy tomorrow to apply for my Visa.

My Certificate of Eligibility came in the mail today. When immigrating to Japan this document certifies that you meet the requirements to get a Visa in Japan. So it makes getting a Visa much easier. So I'll be taking this to the Japanese embassy soon. I read the Visa shouldn't take too long to get but I'm still not sure when I'll be leaving since I haven't heard any info about my apartment.

So I've been home at my parent's house for the last couple weeks. I sold my car right after I finished work so I lost my ability to have transportation in Virginia. It was a pretty uneventful move though my parent's house is veritable temporary housing for family members. My cousin Persie lived with my parent's for a year following the unfortunate death of my aunt (My parents were her guardians). My other cousin Jennifer lived here for a few months while looking for a place closer to her work in Rockville (previously she was commuting from West Virginia). And of course both my sisters are in and out with their friends and boyfriends making here a hive of activity.

Just after getting home though I was given the news that I'll be working out of the Thought-s' Tokyo branch office rather than the home office in Osaka as I was previously told. Though I was looking forward to being in Osaka I think that Tokyo will work out fine. I know it better than Osaka having been there, and my girlfriend lives close, in Saitama, as well. I should find out more about the VISA and when I'll be going in the next few weeks. The process just takes time, though it's allowing me to tie things up here and spend some time with my family.

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.

Today Reiko and I are going into DC to go to Washington DC Japanese Meetup. Reiko seems excited about it so I'm looking forward to it. She seems to like meeting new people and making new friends. She seems to get along really well with my friends from the Northern Virginia Japanese Meetup group.

The last couple days Reiko seems to be happier than she was last week so I'm feeling up as well. She said the reason is that she feels like she knows me better now. We have talked a lot about just various things recently so I guess I can understand

Anyway, I hope to get the pics of Sunday's trip to DC with Wes and Kelly up on the website sometime tonight or tomorrow.

日本語能力試験を合格した！！　やった！