Matthew Toy

Thoughts, reflections and experiences

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Starting School / 学校が始まる

月曜日から、私は GenkiJACS 日本語学校でフルタイムの学生として勉強を始めました。大学を卒業して以来、フルタイムの勉強はしたことがなかったので、私のような甘やかされたサラリーマンにとってはかなり大きな変化です。私は、比較的快適な場所から、地球の反対側で、まったく異なる経験の真っ只中に飛び込み、すでにカリキュラムの半分が終わったクラスに参加しました。これは、そうでなければ難しい状況に、さらに挑戦の要素を加えています。

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.

First day at school

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.

Textbook

My pre-intermediate level textbook

I hope anyway.

Sakura / 桜

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

Fukuoka Canals and Sakura

Matthew Toy 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!

Fukuoka city street

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?

Samurai on Horseback

Just your everyday Samurai on a horse

Japan is always full of surprises 🙂

Preparations / 準備

準備 (junbi) – preparation; setup; arrangements; provision; reservations.

I’ve got most of the preparations for the trip already done.  It is difficult to determine what you might need for 6 months, but I figure that if I get the most important things sorted (flights, school, apartment) then I can blag the rest once I arrive.  Japan is a pretty advanced place after all, such that if I need a toothbrush I will likely be able to locate one without incurring undue stress.

One thing I needed to sort out ahead of time, are the gifts I needed to get for various people I’d like to make a good impression with. There is a strong culture of gift-giving in Japan, called お土産 (omiyage), whereby anyone going off for a holiday or trip is generally expected to bring back souvenirs for their close friends, colleagues, family, etc. It is somewhat more culturally embedded in Japan than most other countries, where you might get a present for people, instead you really should get something.

What to get though?  I did a bit of digging and it appears to be somewhat of a fine art, choosing something that is both representative of the place you visited, but not too tacky and not too expensive. With this in mind, I scoured Amazon for various British trinkets, before arriving on these delightful set of English teas.  It feels like they will tick all the boxes, however I will report back here with the results, positive or otherwise.

English Tea Shop

English Tea Shop Gift Sets

With these packed, I think I’m all set to go! Now there are just 4 days of work between myself and a Korean Air flight to Fukuoka.

Introductions

In exactly one week from now, I will be flying off to adventures new in Japan. I’ll be spending 6 months in Fukuoka, learning Japanese full time, exploring the city, making friends and exploring new boundaries. It will be something completely different from my daily life in the UK and I’ve very few preconceptions on how it will all go. Will I enjoy the thrill of constantly being exposed to new people, concepts and culture? I certainly hope so, but it is in the not knowing that a real adventure starts.

So as I start this new challenge, I would like to take the time to document the journey. Partly it is for myself, to reflect on later, and partly it is for you, someone who might be interested in what I discover in Japan. I’ll update as often as I have anything to share and I hope you enjoy following along!

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