Yet another blog about Japan

はじめて

monika — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 01:14:00 GMT

はじめて (hajimete): for the first time

I've been in Japan now for almost 6 months, and still, this week was full of はじめて:

- This is the first blog entry in february. Hooray!

- According to my supervisor, on Sunday we had a summer day, defined by a temperature higher than 25°C. This was followed by the first snow [that I actually saw falling in Japan] on Monday. Is it April already? Anyway, now it's as usual, mostly sunny and (estimatedly) around 10°C.

- The weather says it's maybe summer, maybe winter - the calendar says, it's spring. To mark this occasion, my backpack decided it's time for spring-cleaning and opened the refill bag of shower gel all by itself - which I only noticed in the next morning, when I actually wanted to leave for work. Now my backpack is spick and span again and fortunately nothing was destroyed (also the Kindle survived!) by my disaster...

- Everyone knows the Japanese working hours. Early morning until late evening, right? For me, as an intern, these don't really apply. Actually nobody ever told me exactly, when I have to be here, and so I usually start at about 9am* (as most others in my working group do - so much for early morning), and leave between 5pm and 7pm, dependent on work load, motivation and other plans for the evening. This week happened, what I thought to be impossible - I stayed longer than my supervisor! And not only once, but even three times this week. Am I working to much or he too little?

- And while we are already taling about work: I was introduced to another measurement technique: XRD¹. Furthermore, after characterizing a whole bunch of different samples with different techniques, I finally could use every method I learned** my supervisor showed me so far on ONE sample. And yeah - the measurements are coherent. Even with literature. YAY!

- Yesterday I managed to attend the Japanese class for the first time. Huh? Ok, more precisely: I managed to attend the FREE Japanese class for the first time. It's a service from Japanese, who once a week teach Gaijins from all over the world - at no charge. While it's not on Naganuma level (not like I expected that), it's still a good opportunity to speak Japanese. I'm definitely going there as often as possible now. Together with the private classes I'm taking now once a week I might be able to at least keep my current level (上手ではありません！).

- On the way back from this Japanese class, we took a train. If you read my previous post, you might have noticed, that I already used Japanese trains on rare occasions during the language course. But this time, it was a red train. And to top it all off, it was a local train bound for Hakone. I didn't even know that existed...

- And to save the best for last *drum roll* I went swimming in a gym - which is less then 5 min by foot from the dormitory... It's a bit expensive, but that only means, that I have to go now as often as possible. Because I already paid the 6 months membership. Because I'm (half) Swabian. And because I love it.
The staff are super patient and friendly (or should I say: Japanese) and tried their best to understand my broken Japanese and even to answer in English, if I didn't understand their Japanese. It's probably needless to say, that everything is perfectly tidy and clean (because I'm in Japan). The 25m pool is not extremely, but sufficiently deep, with a convenient temperature and - most important - not crowded***. A bathing cap is compulsory in the pool, but it can be borrowed free of charge. After swimming, a sauna, a steam bath and a whirlpool are already waiting... Perfect. The only downside is my current shape - but I'm going to tackle this for sure :)

- And here is the chance for your own はじめて: Be the first one to answer my quiz (https://journals.worldnomads.com/monika/story/139961/Japan/The-Naganuma-School) to win your personal postcard (languages available: English, deutsch, 日本語)!
Hint: The answer for question a) can be found within this blog.

---

* Or later, if my backpack competes for attention
** For example, I wouldn't consider myself an expert in PL². On the other hand, I'm still waiting for the SEM³, which I've worked with a lot at various places.
*** Even if it was, I'm sure they'd swim in a very civilised way - always on the right side, giving space for faster swimmers, using a lane with appropriate speed, ... - because they are Japanese.

¹ X-ray diffraction
² Photoluminescence spectroscopy
³ Scanning electron microscope

Train training

monika — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 23:37:00 GMT

The companies, where we are doing our internships now, also provided accomodation for the time of the language course. Most people stay in the same place for the whole year, but some companies are too far away from the school in Shibuya. These people had to move between language course and internship.

From my dormitory it takes about 90 - 105 min to go to school (going back usually a little bit longer), which apparently is NOT too far away from the school.

Let's do a small calculation:

The language course had a duration of approximately 16 weeks. Each week I went to school on 5 days, spending, say, 3h in the train. This equals a total time of

16 weeks x 5 days/week x 3h/day = 240h.

Another calculation (because I'm a physicist):

The distance traveled to school is about 60 km. So again:

16 weeks x 5 days/week x 2 x 60km/day = 9600 km

This is roughly the distance from here to Germany.

So let's compare that to my flight to Tokyo:

	Train	Flight
Distance	9600 km	9600 km
Time spent	240 h	16 h
Time spent (including breaks)	16 weeks	24 h
Average velocity	40 km/h	600 km/h
Average velocity (including breaks)	3,6 km/h	400 km/h
Ticket fare	~580€	~360€

Whoops.

... anyway. Taking the train for ten full days may sound like a giant waste of time¹, but of course it was just another cultural experience (as my supervisor expressed it recently). How could anyone visit Tokyo without undergoing the rush-hour? Therefore, the first four months of my stay in Japan provided me with the intimate knowledge of not only the local railway system, but also of way too many Japanese businessmen.

Please imagine a train. Fill it with people. More people. More! No, it's not yet full. There's still plenty of space. Squeeze them in! More people! Ok, let's leave it there. But be sure: Japanese trains are even more crowded. If you can still move your little finger, the train is not full yet.

May I guess your next question? - Yes, there are staff who push in people, but it's not their intention to fill the train insanely. They only help those people, who voluntarily squeeze in, to fully fit behind the closing door, including their belongings (bags, umbrellas, ...). And no, I never got pushed in myself, but I saw it a few times.

Leaving the train is also easier than it sounds. There's a magical word in Japanese: "sumimasen". Say it, and the path to the door will open for you, now matter how crowded it is.

As you might figure now, I spent a significant amount of these 240 h standing. It's a pure matter of luck to catch a seat, and it's not rare to spend the whole way standing. But once you are sitting and close your eyes, you might think the train is empty, because it is completely silent. No phones are ringing, people usually aren't talking, and I'm not sure if I ever overheard someone's music from the earphones. The only noise is the train itself, and the announcements of the next station².

The majority of people in the train is sleeping. The rest is playing on the phone, reading a book or studying (I saw mainly English, on a surprisingly high level).

At the beginning I used the time for studying Japanese, then - when I felt more comfortable with Japanese - I spent more time reading (thanks for lending me the Kindle) or playing/texting on the phone, and in the last weeks of the language course: sleeping. I feel so Japanese now.

¹ It is.

² Too sad the announcement "本厚木の次は厚木です" (Hon-Atsugi no tsugi wa Atsugi desu - The station after Hon-Atsugi is Atsugi) doesn't exist, which wouldn't even be a lie in the local train...

The Naganuma School

monika — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 21:43:00 GMT

After my Abitur I said: "I'm never going back to school". Well, I did. But although we had compulsory attendance, homework and both written and oral tests, it was slightly different from my German school...

First of all, my class consisted of 6 (at the beginning 7) pupils. Therefore it was quite intensive and everyone had the chance to actually talk a lot in every lesson. The topics were from our daily life - what did we eat for lunch, what did we do on the weekend, what are our future plans, ... I guess my class mates know me very well now, because of all this talking.

Which leads me to point 2: The language of instruction obviously was - beginning from day one - Japanese. English (let alone German) wasn't used, unless it was really necessary. The teachers always found a way to "explain" the meaning of what they were saying by "acting". They always knew exactly which words and grammar we already had studied and somehow managed to explain everything using only sentences we could understand. On the other hand, they seemed to memorise every single detail we said during class, and after one small break all the other teachers knew these details as well.

Number 3: The timetable consisted of only one subject:

1.	9:00 - 9:45	Japanese
2.	9:55 - 10:40	Japanese
3.	10:50 - 11:35	Japanese
4.	11:45 - 12:30	Japanese
	12:30 - 13:30	Lunch break
5.	13:30 - 14:15	Japanese
6.	14:25 - 15:10	Japanese
7.	15:20 - 16:05	Japanese

But actually in every lesson the focus was different. For example, the first lesson was always used for recapitulation of the previous day, the fourth was usually a small dictation test, new Kanji and listening comprehension.

Usually school was over after the 5th or 6th lesson, but occasionally up to the 7th, followed by studying vocabulary and grammar and doing the homework. The speed was high - typically one lesson of the book per day - and after only about two weeks we had to write the first small essay (about one day of a (long) weekend):

After the first few days, which were pretty difficult for me, I really started enjoying to learn Japanese. It's an interesting language, and after a while I already invented wordplays, e.g.:

いろいろな　いろが　ある　おかしい　おかしが　ほしい　です。
Iroirona iro ga aru okashī okashi ga hoshī desu.

I'd like to have colorful, funny (strange) sweets.

Each day we learned new grammar, each day I realised, how much more I can express with the new grammar (usually without noticing, how much is still missing), and each day it became easier to understand and memorise the new grammar. Japanese isn't as difficult as you might think (except for Kanji...)!

Besides the classes we sometimes had other special activities. In the first weeks EU Japan Center organised seminars (about the Japanese history, culture, religion, economy, etc.) every now and then.

On one afternoon we could try書道 (Shodō = Calligraphy), which was surprisingly difficult, but at the same time relaxing and of course very interesting. Here you can see the results of my class, 風クラス (風 = kaze = wind, クラス = class):

Bonus: Who can answer the following questions?

a) Which one is mine?

b) What did I write?

The first person who can answer both questions correctly will get a postcard. Those who I already told, are excluded, sorry...

いじょう　です。

Photos: Naganuma School

monika — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 19:20:00 GMT

Back to school for 4 months... Learning Japanese at Naganuma School in Shibuya.

Sign of Life

monika — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 18:23:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

First of all: Merry Christmas and a happy new year! I hope you had nice holidays and lots of delicious Christmas cookies (and thanks again for the cookie delivery service).

Then: Yes - I'm still alive, just a little bit busy... I'm really sorry for the lack of communication. Just believe me, I didn't forget you!

Since my last entry a lot happened. I went to school again to learn Japanese, experienced the (in)famous Japanese rush-hour, "graduated" from school, enjoyed long holidays with lots of traveling and finally started working.
I'll write about these topics (starting NOW - I promise) in separate articles.

Photos: Yokohama Sankeien Garden

monika — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 20:32:00 GMT

Photos: Asakusa

monika — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 20:26:00 GMT

Sensoji Temple in Asakusa

Photos: Tsukiji Fish Market and Royal Imperial Palace (Kōkyo)

monika — Mon, 5 Oct 2015 00:04:00 GMT

Another sightseeing trip in Tokyo

Photos: Kamakura and Enoshima

monika — Sun, 4 Oct 2015 23:39:00 GMT

A day trip to Kamakura and Enoshima

Photos: Tokyo Tower

monika — Sun, 4 Oct 2015 23:10:00 GMT

A visit to Tokyo Tower (332.6 m high)

The first days

monika — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 15:32:00 GMT

All Vulcanusians spent their first night in a nice hotel in Tokyo. When I arrived in the evening my roommate Veronika was already there and almost sleeping. I took a quick shower (which felt like paradise), took the room key and met the others, who had arrived in Tokyo at the same time, again. Together we went to a ramen place closeby and enjoyed our first meal in Japan - delicious (and paradise again)! Then I could finally supply my greatest need: sleep.

The night wasn't exactly as refreshing as I thought. First, I couldn't sleep due jetlag, and when we had to get up after this short night I felt like it was midnight - thanks again, jetlag! During the breakfast I slowly managed to wake up. The hotel offered both western and Japanese food, and I ended up with a weird mix of western and Japanese, sweet and savoury. The highlight of the breakfast: Nattō (なっとう). Fermented soybeans with a slimy consistency and awful taste (I don't know what is worse - Nattō or Durian...). Everything else was tasty and fortunately I could get rid of the Nattō taste in my mouth again.

We proceeded to the Omote-sando Business Centre, where we had the first, though brief meeting. We got a few information about the course of events in the first few days, opening a bank account, registration at the city hall, the payments of the scholarship, ... Maybe the most important item of the agenda was the payout in cash of the first part of the scholarship.

In the end, we were picked up by our supervisors of the company. They brought us to the dormitory in Isehara - which is about 60km from Tokyo - and acted as interpretors when the dorm manager gave us all the information in Japanese... I was very releaved, when I saw that my suitcase had safely arrived in the dormitory.

After all formalities were done, we could go into our rooms and check if everything was ok. Of the five Vulcanusians in my dormitory I'm the only one who has an induction cooker. Apart from that, all rooms are almost the same. For some reason we are spread more or less in the whole building. Giacomo lives in the ground floor (which is called 1st floor here), Veronika and Carla stay in 4th floor, but at opposite ends of the building, and Dominika's and my rooms are in 7th floor, but also far apart from each other.

We didn't spend much time in our rooms, because we went (by car) to the company, NTT, where the very friendly, patient and helpful manager from the company, Mizuki Otani, took care of more formalities, e.g. paying the bedding/refrigerator/microwave, filling in the forms for the registration at the city hall, ... it took the whole afternoon and although it was a good atmosphere and not boring at all, I was happy when it was over and we could go "home" (the basically empty rooms of the dormitory didn't feel like home at all). Another intern (not Vulcanus though) showed us how to go home by bus and also a small supermarket close to our dorm.

In the evening it turned out, that the bedding provided by NTT didn't include any bedclothes. I spent the first nights on my sleeping bag, later I got a blanket from Carla. From then I sleept on the blanket and under my sleeping bag... Only after three weeks I could finally buy bedclothes - a huge improvement for my room!

In the next morning we met Mizuki again to register at the city hall. Besides enjoying the free wifi we didn't have much to do, but we met クルリン, the mascot of Isehara:

In the afternoon we went to the second part of the meeting, again in Omote-sando Business Centre. We got further, more detailed information about the whole programme. From there we were proceeded to another hotel, where the welcome reception took place. Besides the Vulcanusians and the staff of the EU-Japan Centre many ambassadors from participating countries and representatives of the host companies were invited to this very formal event.

My Japanese "family": Carla, Dominika, Giacomo, me and Veronika (from left to right)

The following days were as busy as the previous ones. We opened a bank account, went shopping in to Daiso (a 100¥ shop), and again, had an orientation in the language school, including a Hiragana and Katakana test (which was ok), ... Having internet only very sporadic complicated matters. But at least being busy as hell all the time prevented us of feeling homesick.

Photos: First impressions

monika — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:40:00 GMT

A random collection of photos from the first few days

Photos: The flight to Japan

monika — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:07:00 GMT

My trip to Japan: Zurich - Doha - Tokyo

The flight

monika — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 22:22:00 GMT

To keep some sort of chronology, I'll start with my flight to Japan. With it's duration of about 35h I consider it worth mentioning...

As you probably know, I tend to do things last minute. This held also true when I had to pack my bags for Japan. On the last day - Sunday, where all shops are closed - I started. In the late evening I had managed to put my whole life in a suitcase, a backpack and an handbag. After a short, almost sleepless night I got up at 6, ate my last German breakfast for the next year, said goodbye to my sister and got in the car. My parents brought me to the airport in Zurich - and then I was alone. And I actually realised - for the first time - that I was leaving everyone and everything behind. The grey theory became real.

Ok, now it was definitely too late to return. I got rid of my suitcase, with about 28kg far below the limit of 30kg. My hopes, that the hand luggage would be ignored as usual, weren't fulfilled and I had to put my backpack on the balance. With about 13kg it was only slightly overweight - 7kg were allowed... Whoops... But in the end it didn't matter and I didn't have to pay a fee. The security check and boarding kept me busy and helped me to ignore the sadness of leaving home.

In the airplane I had time to think again, but very soon I could enjoy the takeoff and a fantastic view over the Alps. All the way to Doha the sky was perfectly clear. As the middle seat in my row was free, I also had lots of space. Finally I left my sorrows behind and was looking forward to Japan (however, I still couldn't imagine it at all).

After this nice, calm flight I was looking forward to spending eight hours in my "favourite" airport... but I was surprised in a very positive way. I didn't have to choose between a chair and a socket, no, I could get both at the same time! And as a unexpected bonus, there was even a table. Unbelievable! The more time passed, the slower it went, and so I was glad, that Ferenc (from Hungary) joined me after a few hours. We tried to stay awake, which became more and more difficult... after a few more hours also David (from Germany) arrived in Doha and we spent the rest of the time together.

[If you feel tired by this endless story - I did as well!]

Tired to death we boarded the airplane, and right after the takeoff (which I would never ever miss - best part of the flight!) I fell asleep. Drinks, food, the sunrise (very beautiful!), a lack of drinks, turbulences, more food, ... woke me up every now and then. After an eternity we saw it. The land of the rising sun (although it was already in the evening). Japan. Our new home.

Now only through the security check, do the immigration - wohoo, more Vulcanusians -, send the suitcase to the dormitory, and buy a train ticket to the hotel. Only. It took a few more hours to do everything and it's a long way from Narita to Tokyo...

Happy end: I could take the shower I already wanted many, many hours earlier. We went to a Ramen place. And then: sleeeeeep...

About this trip

monika — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:05:00 GMT

Finally - a blog. After exactly three weeks in Japan I have time to write this. What kept me busy will be revealed in the (hopefully) near future.

In the last few months people kept asking the same questions over and over again, but unfortunately I never realised the print-out of these FAQ which I then could have hanged around my neck... But well, here you go:

What are you doing after your graduation?
- I'll move to Japan...
Whaaaat? Japan? How long will you be there?
- One year.
And why Japan? That is so far away!
- I wanted to spend about one year abroad, and as I couldn't afford that myself, I needed someone to give me money. This programme was one of the very few scholarships I was eligible for.
A scholarship? What kind of scholarship?
- It's from the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, which is a cooperation between the European Commission and the Japanese government. The Centre and the respective host company share the costs for the scholarship holders.
So there are also other scholarship holders? Are they all from Germany?
- Yes, we are 45 people from all over the EU. Three, including me, are from Germany.
Ok, that sounds great. But do you speak Japanese?
- No, not yet. I'm working on that now :) After the language course we are supposed to have an intermediate level - and by now I also believe that...
And what do you do there?
- First of all - learn Japanese in a 4 months intensive (!) language course. Then I'll do an 8 months internship in a company.
What kind of internship will it be?
- I'll be working for NTT Basic Research Laboratories. My topic is the characterisation of GaN surfaces.

I hope, the most important points are covered. In the future posts I will cover more aspects of my daily life, the scholarship, Japanese culture, ... Anyway, always feel free to ask any question :)