Month: April 2018

Study Update / 勉強アップデート

On April 28, 2018

In GenkiJACS, Japan, Learning, Student Life, Study

Time for a quick study update! It has been 4 weeks since I arrived and how have things progressed thus far? Well, it’s complicated. As I expected, everything was all very challenging and a bit overwhelming at first. Coming into a new class that was half way through a course was difficult, but it was the lack of a solid foundation and effective study tools that really tripped me up.

When I was doing self study, I could do things at my own pace and skip through things that were uninteresting or too difficult at the time. However this leaves gaps in your knowledge and will come back to haunt you later, such as when that point you skipped becomes the basis of a more advanced point of grammar. So unless one has an iron discipline (that doesn’t sound like me) then you end up building a proverbial house with bricks missing in random places. As you can imagine, this past month has seen me making a lot of bricks!

In my work, I’ve found very few situations where wrote memorisation is very useful. With technology changing continuously, it is more efficient to get a grasp of the principles and fudge your way through with the knowledge that everything will be different in 2 years anyway. However while it might be possible to apply these ideas to language study, you can’t get away from the fact that the more words you know and more grammar you have internalised, the better you will be.

A study and no play makes Matt… a better student

So there is that aspect, where I’m playing catch-up on kanji, grammar or vocabulary that I didn’t memorise sufficiently, but there is also the process of efficient study as well.

As children, we get many years of repetition and immersion to study our first language. As adults we try to condense learning a new language into a shorter period, all while thinking/acting in a different modality. Since doing it as an adult is a different approach, you need different tools and support structures to get you to your goal. Which is what I’ve been going through, a process of discovery with over the past 4 weeks. A lot of this is from other students and the rest is through the necessity of keeping up with the relentless stream of new knowledge we are expected to learn.

This is very much a developing topic for me. I’ve got a handle on certain aspects and still struggling with others, but the overall trajectory is very much positive. I’m very curious how I’ll feel 2 months from now…

Movie Night! / 映画の夜

By Matthew

On April 21, 2018

In Canal City, Cinema, Entertainment, Fukuoka, Hakata, Japan

Not long after arriving in Fukuoka, I was lucky to make a new friend who not only shared a lot of similar interests to me, but speaks English very well. These are two essential ingredients to a friendship, liking some of the same stuff and actually being able to communicate effectively in at least one language. I know I want to practice my Japanese all the time, but the truth is it isn’t ready to sustain a full conversation yet. Give me a few more months and maybe that will change, but until then, I’m very happy I met someone I’m able to hang out and compare cultures with.

So this Friday we agreed to go see Ready Player One together at the cinema in the Canal City (it does have canals, and it is as complicated to navigate around as a city) shopping mega-complex. I have a weakness for sweets at the cinema and it doesn’t feel like I’m properly at the movies unless I have several thousand calories of popcorn and cola with me as I enter. Knowing that Japan tends to throw a few surprises at you in even the most mundane circumstances, I was ready for less-than-common popcorn choices and boy, I was *not* disappointed. It was so difficult to choose, that I went for a mix of matcha, salted and caramel flavoured popcorn. The picture below really doesn’t do the popcorn justice; it was both amazing to look at and delicious in equal measure.

Tastes a lot nicer than it looks…

The movie itself was great fun. I’d recommend it to anyone, but especially to those that wasted their precious childhoods playing games on consoles and PCs. There are so many easter eggs that it would take many, many viewings to catch them all. Although my favourite was the Gundam and Iron Giant cameos, those were super neat.

One thing that I found a little different from UK/US/Australia is that the house lights didn’t come on during the credits and everyone sat patiently as they scrolled through. I was expecting some sort of signal of “OK, you can go now” but instead I quietly watched the credits with everyone else. I even found a Quora entry about it, and frankly, they don’t know either. Ah Japan, always full of surprises.

Post movie smiles

After the movie, we had a bite to eat (OK, many bites) and before we finished up we swung by the shrine located right next to the shopping complex. It was mostly closed up at that time of night, but it looked cool, so here’s a photo anyway!

Neat!

In summary, I got to hang out with a friend, see a movie, eat too much food and see a shrine, all in the one super-fun-packed evening. That is Japanese efficiency for you!

The Axis of Evil (Beverages) / 悪の枢軸「飲み物」

By Matthew

On April 16, 2018

In Asahi, Japan, Reviews

Being the adventurous type, I recently grabbed a few very different types of drinks to try out. I wouldn’t want anyone to be bored just because I decided to stay safe and only pick drinks that I might actually enjoy.

Which brings me to the topic of today’s review, a collection of three different drinks that (spoiler alert) were not very good. They all share in the dubious honour of being equally horrid (to me, your mileage may vary) and not at all to be recommended. As I say, you might like them, but I *really* did not. If you read this and then go out to try them, then you have no one to blame but yourself and your morbid curiosity.

Oh and since I know my family is reading this blog, no I did not drink all of these at once. These were all drank responsibly over a number of nights and I ate all my greens and I’m honestly not turning into an alcoholic. Not yet anyway.

Ahem. Anyway, the first cab off the rank is Orion draft beer from Asahi. It is labelled at having 5% alcohol, so this should have something going for it. Turns out, no, no it doesn’t. This is the most insipid beer I’ve tasted in a good long time. More tasteless than even the most mainstream of lagers, this beer tasted like it had heard of the term flavour from a friend, but wasn’t about to get into such sordid business itself. If this is “widely loved as an Okinawan original” then I’m seriously concerned about that island’s population’s lager sensibilities.

Okinawa can do better than this, surely…

Next up we have an experiment of sorts. The hypothesis we are testing is: can sparkling rosé be any good when you put it in a bottle made out of aluminium? In short, “no”. The longer version is “maybe, but based on this sample, not really, no”. This Sparkling Wine – Rosé from Monde Wine is a sparkling wine with a mild flavour. I’m not normally a big fan of rosé wine, but since this was an after-dinner treat, it seemed appropriate to try it out. It has 12% alcohol, so it does have a little bit of kick to it, but not all that much. I was hoping for something like a sweet version of a Prosecco, but instead has a somewhat uninspired flavour. Overall, not recommended. There are perfectly good alternative wines in normal glass bottles that are only slightly more money and worth every yen in my opinion.

Finally, for a bit of fun, I bought a plum flavoured liqueur. Specifically, the Rakuen Umeshu Plum Liqueur. This one appealed to me on two levels: 1. It was 100 yen (70p) and 2. It comes in a god-damned sippy packet. You know, like the ones you drink juice out of at school. There was absolutely zero chance of me not trying this bad-boy out.

Sippy container!

Sippy straw!

Kind of wish I had given it a miss though. Apart from the (expected) sickly sweetness, the flavour is the most synthetic thing I’ve ever tried in a good long while. Unless you want your cherry flavoured liqueur that tastes like it was made out of actual decorative plastic cherries, I’d give this one a miss.

Running / 走っています

By Matthew

On April 13, 2018

In Fukuoka, Hakata, Japan, Running, Travel

I’ve been doing a fair bit of running since I arrived in Fukuoka. Since the weather has generally been good, it is too tempting to resist getting out to run without the need for 3 layers, gloves, beanie and a prayer to the god of frostbite. I haven’t done anything long distance yet, but I’ve given a 5km area south of Hakata station a good go.

Let’s go for a little virtual tour…

The first run is along one of the river/canals of Fukuoka city, specifically the Naka River. I quite like this one as it has nice paths to run along the river, meaning I don’t have to stop for traffic every 200 meters.

View along the canal path of the Naka River

The path is really nice and smooth (lowering, but not eliminating the chances of me falling on my face) but also inset from the road, meaning it is quiet and feels fairly detached from the city.

Next up are two photos on the same street at the end of the canal path section which are fairly illustrative of the type of off-main-street views:

Side street in South Hakata

So much concrete…

They certainly do like concrete here. Probably necessary for the whole earthquake thing, so you have to respect the choice of function over form.

The next stop is Sanno park, which is by far my favourite of the smaller parks in the area. It boasts a 1.2km running track (nice and soft), a few little hills to sprint up and a shrine. The shrine is especially nice, sitting in the middle of the park, but separated by sitting atop a small hill and surrounded by trees.

Hiyoshi Shrine in Sanno Park

Apart from the shrine, this park is quite different in that it has actual trees and grass. Most parks are mostly concrete/dirt areas with a small row of trees.

Sanno Park

I’m planning on ranging out more on my runs over the summer and I’ll be reporting back with what I find!

Review: 僕ビール、君ビール。(Beer for You & Me)

By Matthew

On April 10, 2018

In Japan, Reviews, Yahho Brewing

I’ve had exams this week. Yes, one week after starting my Japanese studies, I have tests to do. As such, I’ve been burning the midnight oil getting as much up to speed as possible. However there is only so much you can do before the old brain decides to check out, and I reached that point at around 10pm this evening.

Instead of doing something useful (like go to sleep), I decided to try one of the beers I’ve been keeping in the fridge for a (proverbial) rainy day. Today I bring you… 僕ビール、君ビール。(Beer for You & Me) from ヤッホーブルーイング (Yaho Brewing).

Upon a bit of investigation of their website, it seems this particular beer is a joint development with the Lawson convenience store chain. I didn’t know that when I bought it, instead I thought the frog on the front looked cute and I figured that anything with a cute frog on it can’t be that bad.

Japanese study and beer. The perfect companions?

Those who know me personally will know I generally enjoy fairly exotic beers, the more exotic the better. So I wasn’t sure what I’d get with a 5% alcohol session beer with a enticingly cute frog on it. Turns out, I’d get a thoroughly enjoyable experience. On drinking it immediately reminded me of an IPA due to the punchy flavour, but with a smoother than average finish. The full flavour is something that I personally find very tasty and quite moreish. Thankfully I have just the one available, as I do have exams tomorrow…

I’d highly recommend this one to anyone. I think it would go well in most circumstances: with a meal, watching TV or recovering from a insane study session.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from this brewery.

Close up and personal with the frog

Japanese Language School / 日本語学校

By Matthew

On April 10, 2018

In Fukuoka, GenkiJACS, Japan, Learning, Student Life, Study

I haven’t given much of an introduction to the language school I’m studying at and how the first week of classes have gone. It has all been a little overwhelming so far, making it difficult to put into words, but I think I have pulled enough of my thoughts together to make a reasonable stab at it.

The first question most people ask is “why go all the way to Japan to study?” which is valid, since there are a number of good schools in London I could go to for only a mildly outrageous London price.

The main reason is that while in London, everything is in English and you can’t get away from that. News, people, advertising, stores, all in English. So your chance to apply anything you learn in class is immediately limited to the things that you actively seek out in your target language. Even if you did a full time course in London, you aren’t going to apply that knowledge in very many places outside of the classroom. In Japan that issue is taken away – everything is in Japanese and straight after a class finishes, you see the kanji you just learnt or hear the grammar point you have been discussing. In the past week, I feel like my comprehension has gone up a lot (although speaking/writing is still lagging behind) and my appreciation for learning to read all the kanji has risen in proportion to my desire to actually know what is written on the packages of food I’m eating or on the menu I’m ordering from.

So much to study, so few brain resources…

So having established that studying in Japan is more suited to applying what you learn into real life, how’s school then? I choose to attend a school called Genki JACS (Japanese and Cultural Studies) as it had a good curriculum and excellent reviews on the web. They also focus on small class sizes (2-9 students, with my class being 6) and a highly interactive learning environment. They also arrange a lot of extra-curricular activities in conjunction with the local universities and the like. For example, last Wednesday I attended a casual Japanese calligraphy session with the local Women’s university and then an English language conversation meet-up for Japanese people studying English to speak with real-life English speakers. All these are excellent opportunities to learn new things and make new friends.

If you look closely, you can see one cheeky chap has written the kanji for haemorrhoids

My timetable for school is 4 hours of face to face study (morning or afternoon) and anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours homework. Repeat this for 5 days a week, with extra homework for the weekends. It sounded a lot easier when compared to my 9am to 6pm job, but I’m completely mentally exhausted at the end of each day and I literally could not cram any more into my head than I am right now.

A lot of this is because the classes themselves have been quite intense. That isn’t because the teachers are overly strict, but rather it is because in the 4 hours of lessons each day we are taught nearly 100% in Japanese and I’ve jumped into a class that is half-way through its course already. So I felt like I’m playing catch-up right from the start and as anyone who knows me would vouch for, I’m not overly fond of being bad at things.

So I need to catch up on the material I missed and try and stay ahead of the new information being taught. My final challenge for the classroom is that my brain has been on a learning vacation for 18 years and it really needs to whip itself into shape (neural plasticity anyone?) and get itself together. Seriously, my ability to memorise things is horrific!

Overall it is the massive learning experience I was looking for. I wasn’t engaged with my work and really felt the need for a challenge. Well, I’ve got my challenge now and it is a doozy! So all is well and I’m hoping that after a period of adjustment, it will be a manageable one.

Now, back to study…

Review: Suntory Strong Zero – Bitter Orange 9%

By Matthew

On April 7, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Reviews, Suntory

I spend a fair amount of time at convenience stores here in Japan. Those of you who have been to Japan will understand, and for those who haven’t, please allow me to explain. Convenience stores (or konbini/コンビニ) are everywhere in the city, and just about everywhere not in a city as well. There are at least 3 within 150 meters of my apartment, and I’m not even in a downtown area. Anyway, there are many of them and they are great for:

They have very tasty pre-made meals (more on this another time)
They have all the little knick knacks you could want (tweezers to noddles to pet food, etc)
They are open fairly late
They have a fun range of alcoholic beverages

There are many other good points, but that last one is the reason for this post. I’ve decided to to a semi-regular (i.e. when I feel like it) series on the myriad of various drinks available from these convenience stores, from the straightforward to the silly. All in the name of science! And also in the name of recovering from a whole day of Japanese study. But mostly it is about the science.

Anyway, first a disclaimer:

I make no pretence of having any real skill or knowledge of alcoholic beverages, above having drunk them and also being in possession of taste buds and a keyboard.

So please allow me to introduce the inagrual drink… The Strong Zero Bitter Orange 9% from Suntory.

Suntory Strong Zero Bitter Orange 9%

By the way, I’m not going to structure the reviews along any specific lines, mainly I just want to have a bit of fun, drink new drinks and maybe learn something new and interesting.

Anyway, moving swiftly on, the Suntory corporation helpfully provides some suggestions right on the can:

Those being:

A warning that it is a strong drink at 9% alcohol
It is not sweet and contains fruit peel
Have with a meal

Good advice/information to know.

So how does it taste? Well, as the can rightly says, while it has a strong citrus flavour, it isn’t a sweet drink. It has a strong, unmasked alcoholic flavour that would not appeal to those who enjoy a drink that is mild and understated. It is very fizzy and is kept very cold, which only sharpens the experience for me. Oh and I should point out, it is quite bitter. Like, “my face might collapse inwards” bitter. Which is great if you are into that, but if not… Well, you shouldn’t have bought a drink with “bitter” written on it and you really only have yourself to blame.

I’d say this drink is for those occasions when you want something a bit refreshing and surprising. It isn’t a session drink, where you could finish one after another, but on a warm evening after a long day at work/practising kanji, it is quite enjoyable and thoroughly intoxicating. I’m about three quarters done and I am already thankful for spell-check, if that’s any indication of strength.

So there you go, my first review done – I feel a warm glow of satisfaction/intoxication now.

Starting School / 学校に始めます

By Matthew

On April 3, 2018

In Japan, Learning, Student Life, Study

月曜日に日本語の学校を始めました。仕事より学校は全然違うだと思います。毎日新しいことを習うし、レッスンに100％注目する必要があります。でも、先生はフレンドリーで親切です。本当にいいです。これから一生懸命頑張らなければなりません。

Had to get a little bit of Japanese practice in there before continuing on with the rest of the blog! It will be interesting to look back at it in 6 months to see how cringe worthy the grammar is.

Hello fellow students, I too am a cool and hip student like yourself.

Here’s the longer-form version in English…

I started as a full time student at GenkiJACS Japanese language school on Monday. I’ve not done any full time study since finishing up at university, so it is quite a significant change for a spoilt office worker like myself. I’ve gone from a place of relative comfort and landed right in the middle of something completely different my experience, on the opposite side of the world, and I’ve joined a class that is already half way through its curriculum. Which adds an extra dash of challenge to an otherwise challenging situation 🙂

The biggest difference I’ve found so far is the amount of attention you have to give to your surroundings. You have to actively think and what you are being taught, digest it as best you can and recall it on demand. You don’t even get the luxury of Googling the answers to the tricky stuff, which is bordering on unreasonable! All this is tempered by having really nice and friendly teachers though. Each of them have very different teaching styles, but it is clear from the start they have giving the students a good education at the core of their values.

Looking back on this post, it feels a little whiny, so I hope you can indulge me a little. This really is a positive-problem sort of thing, in that I was specifically looking for something that will challenge me and test my boundaries. I’m pretty sure that in a few weeks, once I’ve filled in the larger missing blanks of knowledge and established a rhythm, I’ll be a lot more confident and feeling less awed by the gap between where I think I am and where I’m actually at.

My pre-intermediate level textbook

I hope anyway.

Sakura / 桜

By Matthew

On April 1, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Sakura, Travel

Today was spent exploring Fukuoka City’s various ins and outs. I am very lucky that I have arrived just as the cherry blossoms have started to bloom, and I was able to see lots of them on my walk around.

Fukuoka Canals and Sakura

Oh look, its a selfie!

When I wasn’t watching for the cherry blossoms, I meandered around the city, past most of the large shopping areas, through a few parks and along many streets. At first glance, Fukuoka is a fairly normal, medium sized city. However it feels a little different here and I’m not sure I can put my finger on why that is yet. Might take more than a few hours of strolling to get to the heart of this city!

Another street, another cluster of cherry blossoms

One thing I found today that isn’t your everyday occurrence (maybe it is in Fukuoka, that’s yet to be established), is I happened across a festival, or 祭り (matsuri), at one of the parks I visited. It had all the stalls you would expect, fried chicken, fried noddles, candy floss, samurai on horseback… wait, samurai what?

Just your everyday Samurai on a horse

Japan is always full of surprises 🙂