Ritsumeikan University Life

Hello, thought I'd give a bit of  an update of where I'm at. I'm currently in my 3rd week of classes. Monday's class was cancelled due to a typhoon warning as was last week's Monday class.

Here's a break down on what we're expected to do as a student of the Study in Kyoto Program (SKP) in the Intensive Japanese Language Track (IJL). We have classes everyday from Monday to Friday. Our Japanese language studies are divided into 3 courses. Each class goes for 1 and a half hours.

IJL Courses Explained

Comprehensive Japanese Class

The first course is called 'comprehensive Japanese' which teachers us new vocab and grammar functions. We have one class of this everyday, Monday to Friday. We have 2 vocab tests each week, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. We also have homework sheets each week, due on Wednesday and Monday.

Speaking and Listening Class

The Second course is called 'speaking and listening' which teachers us exactly what you'd expect. We have two classes of this a week.

Kanji Class

Finally, the third class is Kanji class. Depending on your level, you may have to learn more or less Kanji per week. We have a Kanji quiz each week where I must memorise 15 Kanji including the compound words they provide us with. Although, we don't have to remember the other Kanji found in those compound words, we just need to be able to recognise the word.

Traditional Arts Classes

I also signed up for the Traditional Arts course, Calligraphy. I have one class of Calligraphy each week on Mondays. Traditional Arts courses are courses that students can voluntarily sign up for and if there are too many students who sign up for a course, the names go into a lottery. So you may not get the course you signed up for even if you tried signing up for all 4 courses. Other people I know got accepted into the course but their Japanese Language classes clash with the timing so they had to drop out and give their position to someone else. Luckily, I was chosen to get into Calligraphy and it didn't clash with my courses. Calligraphy is pretty laid back and it doesn't matter if we 'pass or fail' it. I don't believe we even get marked on anything. We just walk in and start painting/writing away and the teacher demonstrates how to write certain things.

Timetables

Depending on what level class you are placed into, your classes will be at different times. It seems as though everyone in IJL have at least one class each day of the week from Monday to Friday. All my days but Monday start at 1 O'clock in the afternoon or later. My latest finish is at 6 O'clock which is one day. You may have to start as early as 9 AM. Also, the traditional arts courses besides Calligraphy are held off campus, and one is even on a Saturday morning!

Japan Tokyo: Day 4 & 5 Disney Sealand and Visiting Akihabara (again) and Harajuku

Tokyo Disney Sealand

We went to Tokyo Disney Sealand today and it was wonderful. My friends and I are divided on which is better, Disneyland or Disney Sealand? I thought Sealand was better, at least as far as the scenery goes. There was this huge harbour there with boats going around (including those old style sailing ships which you could walk onto. There was a whole area for Aladdin and another for The Little Mermaid. I think there were more themed areas in Disneyland but they were smaller, like one building or so. There were less themes here but each one was MUCH more extensive which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, there was no Disney castle at this one although you could see it in the distance. We didn't go on any rides again (friends couldn't be bothered waiting in the huge lines). The whole day it was overcast and sometimes it rained ever so slightly, so most of my photos were taken on my Olympus TG-3 cause it was safer and easier. Overall, we had a lot of fun and I'd definitely recommend it to people.

Akihabara

We went to the Gundam Cafe for lunch and it was awesome! They were playing Gundam Seed songs (which is my favourite Gundam series, also one of my favourite animes and the first anime I ever watched so you could say it's the reason I'm in Japan today, 10 years after I began watching it!) I had some kind of pizza which had potato on it which was weird but tasted fine. There were themed meals there which were in the shapes of Gundam heads etc. Also, the plates and spoons etc had pictures or were shaped in the form of a mobile suit. I bought a ton of stuff from the souvenir shop including, a Gundam Mug, Zaku chop sticks, coasters, a pink Haro which has chocolates inside it among other things.

Harajuku

We went down this street in Harajuku which was PACKED (apparently it gets way worse according to my friend which had been before). At the beginning, it starts off on a bit of a hill and slopes down so it's a great chance to get a photo of everyone down there. I also got a cool video of it. It was a pretty cool line of shops but I didn't get much. It's definitely worth checking out! The street is right near the train station, you literally cross the road and head left and it's just on your right. The station there was really pretty as well, lots of green around.

All my photos are on facebook but I'll be sure to upload them here soon! The upload speed here is ridiculous, it's such a breeze.

Japan: Tokyo Day 2/3 Shopping and Tokyo Disneyland

Well we met up with Japanese girl my friend met on her year abroad and headed to this shopping center. I don't know what your's is like back home, this shopping center was massive compared to Australian shopping centers. It was even bigger than our larger ones like Southland and Chermside. It was kind of split into 3 complexes with each being a few floors high at least. There was this shop called Village Vanguard (which I later learned, they have a number of stores throughout the country) which had a section of Studio Ghibli merchandise. Was very tempting to buy it all but we're planning to visit the Ghibli Museum so I might hold off until then and see what they offer in their gift shop. I think I ended up getting a couple of little souvenirs for family. Including these chopsticks for my sister which have Mei pictured on them.

We also looked at some other shops, there was a store dedicated to all things anime but there was a lot of new stuff there so I didn't recognise a lot of it. There was also a store which sold gundam models which was fun to look at. I was in a big shop with tons of CDs and DVDs etc. I couldn't quite work out the order in which the organise CDs in Japan which made it hard to find the artists I was looking for.

The Japanese girl we were with offered to drive us back to our hostel which was very kind of her as it was a pretty long drive. I'm not sure where she lives. I hope it was in our direction. The drive home was quite interesting and I took a lot of video throughout. It was dark by the time we arrived back at our hostel. We had a firetruck push through the traffic at one point with all it's lights flashing. I need to upload the video of that because I think my brother would enjoy it. Well we've got Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that as I've never been.

Tokyo Disneyland

We took the train to Tokyo Disneyland. First we took a normal train but then had to get off as Disneyland has it's very own train line dedicated towards transporting passengers to the various Disneyland resorts, Disneyland itself and Disney Sealand. We got a 2 day train pass as we were going back the next day to Disney Sealand. The resorts looked magnificent and the trains were really cute with windows in the shape of Mickey's head and the hand holders also bearing the same shape. Disneyland itself was quite fun with all the different themed places for all your favourite characters.

I had a burger for lunch which had a bun in the shape of mickey as well! Food was more expensive here but I guess that's normal for theme parks regardless of what country you're in. Strangely enough, we didn't go on any rides which is something I never thought I'd do. That is, go to a theme park and not go there for the rides. The lines were massive compared to what I'm used to back on the Gold Coast and would have taken ages to get on. I took tons of photos and it was just fun seeing everything. The Disney castle look incredible and I couldn't resist taking photos every time I saw it. There's tons of stores to buy merchandise from and stock does vary to some degree between stores but a lot of it is rehashed. I ended up buying a lot of things for my family back home. Overall, I really enjoyed my time there and look forward to Disney Sealand.

Japan: Tokyo Trip Day 1

Hello everyone. I thought I'd make a blog of my goings on in Japan. As you may or may not know, I'm on exchange for one semester in Japan at Ritsumeikan University. I'm in the Study In Kyoto Program on the IJL (Intensive Japanese Language) track. I'm currently at my dorms but, I thought I'd start back at my first day in Japan. Before going to Kyoto, my friends and I spent almost two weeks in Tokyo before hand. Here's what I typed up on the first night.

The Last Supper (the night before the flight)

My parents and I spend our last night together packing and watching Frasier to make us smile. Dad makes peter bread pizzas for us. Turns out, we're out of champignons...!!! It still ends up tasting fantastic. A year ago, I felt extremely excited for Japan. It all seemed like this amazing dream. Now that it's the day before I leave, I don't really feel anything except concern for everything going alright and sometimes feeling sad that I'm going to be leaving family behind for such a long time.

D Day

I don't fall asleep until past midnight, cuddling my first two Rumple Bears. I've decided not to take them as I'd freak out about losing them in Japan. It's a little sad but, I think I'll be okay. We're supposed to leave home for the airport by 4:30am. Luckily my parents are great at getting up early. 4am rolls around and it's surprisingly easy to get up. I guess, when you have important things to do, besides study and work, it makes it a little easier. We head out at 5am, a little later than planned but there's still plenty of time. The drive over was mostly quiet. Eyes watered a couple of times. Just trying to hang in there. I end up being the first of the 4 of us to fly out, to arrive at the airport. We look around the airport for some food but it turns out the main food court is past the security check point so we end up waiting for the others and for the check in to open. We get some yummy breakfast. I got a small cheese burger meal with a BBQ cheese burger from Hungry Jacks. Dad doesn't eat much, probably because he's sad. It's hard to look him in the eyes because you can tell he's just about ready to cry. Turns out we have to go through international security a little earlier than we thought. This is where we have to say goodbye. Well, I finally lose it. Mum and dad give me big hugs each a couple of times. I try to compose myself and make my way to the line. We say I love you one last time. Standing in line, I don't look back because it would just make me cry again.

The Plane

Saying goodbye to Australia.

We get through security and wait to head on. Most of the people that appear to be waiting for this plane are Japanese. Who would have guessed. A lot of them are wearing the same clothes, like a uniform. (Later when I'm walking out of the plane, there's a number professional photographers waiting for them, I end up in one of the pictures, so maybe I'll find myself out there!) Anyway, we head onto the plain and to our seats. The flight would leave the Gold Coast at 11AM Australia time and arrive in Tokyo 7PM Japan time. I learnt a valuable lesson on this flight, Go Business Class if you can. Two of my friends went Business while me and another went economy. I paid to choose a seat because I wanted to be next to the window. My other friend didn't pay, so she ended up having to sit a fair way away. So here I am, sitting by myself next to a Japanese kid and his mother. The seats were cramped and on a 9 hour flight, they were pretty bad. The most I'd been on was 2 hour flights before so it wasn't too bad. The kid was well behaved which was good but I felt awkward asking to climb out over them. I managed to hold on for about 4 hours before conceding and headed to the toilet. Upon returning to my seat I forgot to get my bag down. The meal I paid for came pretty soon into the flight. I wasn't sure if I got one or two meals either. Hours went by and finally when I thought I would starve to death, they gave me dinner. Phew. Oh and right from the beginning, I had put my bag up in the overhead luggage space so all I had on me was my phone and the earphones Jet Stay provided. Fortunately, I had some Frasier on there and watched that for a while. I tried sleeping but would wake up straight away as my head fell. I mostly sat there in silence or watching Frasier.
That show is seriously a life saver. I was a little worried getting through security and customs at the airport as I wasn't sure how much of a rigmarole it would be. I kept thinking, "What if I get turned back?". FINALLY, the kid needs to get up for a pee and his mother takes him (this is a good 5 hours in...). I quickly get my bag down and put it under the seat. I should have done it to begin with. Oh well. I manage to hold on for the rest of the flight. We all meet up shortly after getting off the plane.

The Airport

The first thing that happens, after walking for ages, is we go through immigration and receive our residency cards (As we're students. Tourists don't get one). There were quite a number of people lined up but it went through fast enough. Everything happened smoothly. Except when I misheard what he said. He asked me if I had a part time job application, I though he was offering a form for me... Then he says something about ID. I thought he wanted an ID card but turns out, he's saying he's making my residency card (Oh, did I mention I'm a Japanese major and I can barely understand him speaking in English?). Oh well, the fact they can speak english is a miracle to begin with, although, something I would soon come to expect in Tokyo. Everything signed in the airport and trains has english. It's amazing. It makes it super easy for people who only know English and I who still has a long way to go with Kanji. It also helps that my friend knows pretty well what she's doing and the rest of us are just following her lead. I end up buying a drink of water from a vending machine for a $1.45AU. So cheap! It was amazing. (It'd probably be 3-4$ in Australia...)

Getting to the Hostel

We're on the first train. Everything is dark outside which means that most of what I see out the window is the inside reflecting off of it. I made out some signs like Mitsubishi and McDonald's. I could see tons of apartments with lights on. It was pretty easy to see into them. It still hasn't registered that I'm in Tokyo or even Japan yet.

Between the express train and final train, we stop at a convenience store (a Family Mart which I and you will if you come to Japan, would soon find out are everywhere and extremely convenient. Suggesting Family Mart is aptly categorised as a convenience store) to buy some food. I purchased a roll and 500ml coke extremely cheaply compared to Australia. on the way to the convenience store, walking out of the station and onto the street, I start to feel for the first time that I'm in Japan and I start to feel a little excited.

I'm more tired from the long day of getting here. When leaving the final station, one of my friends lost her ticket on the train and spoke to the station attendant about it. He was kind enough to let her through. At this point, we're all completely exhausted and sweaty climbing all those stairs in the stations. I manage to snap a few photos.

The Tokyo Skytree

The Asakusa Station near our hostel.

Us walking down the street to our hostel.

The Hostel

Finally arrived at the Hostel after lugging 47kg around Tokyo with me. Turns out our room is on the top (3rd) floor. The whole place is tiny. Well time to drag my luggage up the narrow stair way, camera swinging away. The manager helps out and takes one of my bags up. We all get up there and I'm so sweaty and ready to die. So is everybody else. We put our luggage anywhere we can and head for the showers. These showers are tiny. Apparently I got the good one as there was a window for ventilation. The window looks straight out onto the front of the place and anyone can see straight in. Two other people manage to shower before I can even get dressed. The whole floor of the room gets wet so it's a struggle to get your pants on without your feet getting water all over them. In the end it turned out pretty successful. I leave the window open to vent out the room as per the instructions. There's a sink in the middle of the third floor hallway where I can brush my teeth. I get back to our little room. One of my friends goes to use the same shower as me. He comes back to tell us that he ended up looking out onto someone ringing the front doorbell. We all have a laugh and decide it's time to go to sleep. This is my first night in Japan. We all were feeling awful after the long flight and lugging our baggage around but are all feeling a little refreshed now after the shower. Well goodnight Japan. Let's see what you have in store for us tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more stories of my adventure in Japan.

Not Japan

Mount Isa Rodeo