円

Before I start, I just want to thank the world for its terrible economy resulting in a yen to dollar conversion rate of 99 to 1 halfway through my last semester, and I thinks its about that bad now too, just check! It was 118 to the dollar when I first arrived in the great Nihon. I hope it changes before I go back!

Being this close to graduation is making me think about money. Ideally I will find a sugar momma (nihonjin of course) before graduation, but I'm not holding my breath.

One problem I have with Japanese money, however, is that yen is too easy to spend. This is for 3 reasons. Reason 1: The coins go up to 500円(about $5). You are just spending coins so you don't think anything of it. Who knew a handful of change could actually be 30 bucks??

Reason 2, and perhaps the most obvious: everything is so darn expensive. I found myself shocked at how cheap a can of coke (pocari sweat is more like it) was when it was 'just' 100 yen.

Reason 3: You can spend ANY bill ANYWHERE. Yes, 10,000 yen at the McDonalds is okay. Of course, McDonalds is evil so I wouldn't recommend spending 10 yen there, but I digress....

The second reason is likely due to convenience. If you want a Calpis, カルピス ,at 4am and you don't feel like walking more than 10 feet to get it, its okay, there is a vending machine in arms reach. So I guess paying 100 yen for that kind of convenience really isn't so bad. If they just kept the beer/chu-hai vending machines open past midnight then we'd be in good shape.

Moral of the story, take pictures of your yen, you won't be seeing it for very long.

Work

Work sucks, everyone knows that, unless you are the great Cromartie Taro. But if its going to suck, you might as well work in an awesome location. I think, for me, that location is Japan.

No, I'm not talking about becoming a 'salaryman', cause thats insane. Waking up at 5am to get on a packed train (packed enough to require people with paddles and whistles to push and cram people in) then work for 14 hours, only 8 of which are paid, and then doing that over and over 6 days a week sound fun to you?? Didn't think so.

There are quite a few international companies with locations in Japan (and if you know of any good companies, let me know!) so there are many options for working in Japan. When I say Japan, I usually mean Tokyo. Unfortunately, if you do want to work for a Japanese company, you should know about 10 bazillion Kanji first.

As for the picture, this is a pretty common site, and a humorous one.

Benss

Hey,
I just wanted to bring up the various dialects today, or benss. There is an extra 'S' because there are too many friggin dialects. This is actually kinda hard to explain. Japan has a lot of mountains, so in the old days, not much travel was done between the various cities that set up in the little space between all these mountains. As a result, many different dialects formed in the various areas. This is just what I've been told.

Anyways, Kansai, Kyushu, Tokyo, you name it, all have little quirks that make their way of speaking Japanese different. Many people don't even consider Okinawan as Japanese. This is, for lack of a better term, freaking annoying. Once you think you've learned some Japanese you gotta learn 20 other ways of speaking.

Its not as bad as I'm making it out to be. And there is a "standard" Japanese that everyone pretty much knows. Just think of the dialects as a way to spice up your Japanese. FYI, Kansai-ben is probably one of the spiciest of the bens.

If you take nothing else from this post, remember this - A foreigner who speaks a ben is more popular (and well rounded I guess) than one that speaks that boring old standard Japanese.

Peace

Kyoto Summer

Q and A

When I returned from Japan recently (don't worry, I'm going back!) I was immediately asked a bunch of questions....many of which were ridiculous.

But I would just like to address some of these questions.

Q: Was it crowded?? A: Yeah, duh. Crowded isn't the word I would use though. There were many more people than I was used to, however they weren't pushing and stabbing each other as much as I was used to...

Q: Was it expensive? A: I would say so. The cost of living is a little higher, but you can eat relatively cheap (if you cook or go to Yoshinoya) and you don't have to worry about a car payment, so thats good. However, an apartment in Tokyo is like 700 dollars a month average and is probably the size of your kitchen.

Q: Did you drink a lot of Sake (Sock-E)?? A: Not really. Who needs osake when you got chu-hai and beer in every other convenience store and vending machine??

Q: Did you get homesick? A: Hell No

There will probably be more of these, these are just the ones I was asked the most.

does this look gay to you???

Yeah...um, Japanese fashion is a little gay. But for some reason, I love it. I think I might just be attracted to the fact that Japanese clothes actually fit me. Or maybe its that the guys wearing the ridiculous clothes have gorgeous women with equally ridiculous clothes with them. Whatever the case may be, the clothes are stylish/fruity and will probably result in me getting beat up in the USA.

Check out this website for some examples.

Some Japanese male fashion, Gyaruo in particular, takes metro-sexual to a whole new level. All I'm saying is don't knock it till you try it.

Jpop

Hey all,

To keep my sanity, I have been listening to some catchy J-pop music. Here are a few links to some stuff I have been listening to.
Be prepared, some of these artists look a bit gay, but they aren't....as far as I know.


キマグレンLife
羞恥心総集編
金魚花火-大塚爱

And just remember, when life gets you down - Donmai (don't mind)