celebrations

I didn't expect that returning to Japan would open up new opportunities for me. 

I'm already a 1/3 of my way through the holiday and time as usual, time will go by too quickly when one is abroad and never fast enough when one's back home doing exams and assignments. With the time remaining, I figured that I would not have much time to even sort out an internship interview, but after several emails and Skype conversations later, I was offered an internship in Japan!

I was very much comforted by the window display...

Yesterday, I took an hour long train ride to East Ginza for my first ever job interview. This company specializes in property investment abroad for Japanese retirees who want to escape the everyday stress of gyoza making, all you can eat sushi, and noodle slurping. 

I was quite stressed out about not being able to properly converse in Japanese, or making mistakes with my "keigo" and/or addressing Sato-san (my boss) incorrectly. My 10-month exchange back in 2010 taught me a lot, but it certainly did not teach me how to converse with potential employers. I haven't ever prepared for an interview in the conventional sense in English because it's not exactly hard to answer questions that concern your own goals and aspirations. 

Sato-san occasionally tested my knowledge of the company, but nothing's too hard to deduce from "Global Property", so understanding the content of the interview was not my main challenge. I'm already aware that they have branches all around the world (including New Zealand), so it wasn't difficult to link up what areas of the world Japanese people would be likely to invest in, and what kind of property they would like to invest in for the short term/long term. My internship would require me to converse with lawyers abroad and explain legal procedures to the native Japanese regarding the ins and outs of buying property in a certain country. Granted its not your conventional summer clerkship, but to be honest I'm much happier doing something away from New Zealand for the summer. 

Although Sato-san could speak English, I don't feel very comfortable speaking English to a Japanese person in Japan. It's completely different speaking Japanese to somebody in New Zealand. Obviously one has made the effort to go on exchange/internship to further develop their linguistic skills. And hey, if I can contribute to that? I'll be happy to babble on in my native tongue for an hour or so. But otherwise, I've always thought it slightly disrespectful if I don't at least try and converse in Japanese with the minimal proficiency I acquired over my exchange in Japan. I surprised myself though! I could actually sit in a professional environment and speak in somewhat "polite" Japanese (the lazy way of course; all I did was change the verb form to ます), and he just grew more and more impressed with my "skill set". Did not realise I had one of those.  

The internship will start around January till about mid-March, so I might have to skip the first week of university to finish up my internship in Japan. I'm sure missing orientation would not put a huge dent in my academic progress for 2013. There are still a TON of paperwork and application processes to go through. Facebook used to be my most visited website (how sad is that), but it's quickly been replaced with Gmail in the recent months and will continue to hold its place at the top for the rest of the year. 

After I went for the interview, I decided to go do some window shopping. I headed off to Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara and stopped off in Ikebukuro for a few hours. This experience was nostalgic to say the least. All I ended up doing was spotting all the things that have changed, and the things that have remained constant. I kept on reliving memories I had with friends. After school karaoke, after school shopping, eating, and just spending ridiculous amounts of money on things that were unnecessary. Life was grand. 

I was also reminded of silly things like how "First Kitchen" is pretty much "f*cking" abbreviated in Japanese! It was a massive effort to keep a straight face when I took this photo. The locals were not impressed with me, to say the least. After all, why would you travel 11 hours away from home just to take a photo of a local chain store? But the inner ryugakusei in me had to do it. I just had to. 

nooooooo..... whhhhyyyyy.... 

It was unpleasant to discover that the Taiyaki/Takoyaki store has now been replaced with a 'rent-a-dog-for-the-day' pet store. The poor dogs look so exhausted and sleepy in their little glass cages. I'm sure it didn't help that I hoped they'd turn into Taiyaki instead. Yum. 

I ended up buying a cake for Maki's 18th birthday from a cute little bakery hidden in Shinjuku. Apparently this bakery is famous all around Japan, but the fact that this cheesecake was baked and not 'raw' was the only reason I bought it. Raw cheesecake? Biggest blunder in baking history. Ever. Maki hasn't celebrated her birthday in six years because of exams and school work. Poor girl. In New Zealand and many other parts of the world, turning 18 is a huge deal because you can vote, drink, buy your own ciggies (although I do not know why you would want to), and do 'adult' things, 20 is the official age one becomes an 'adult' in Japan. She wants to take purikura (sticker photos) with me today, so later I'll be heading out to Ueno. Maybe take a nice walk in the park before hand? Apparently the panda's are back in Ueno Zoo, but they won't let visitors see them because the mummy panda is pregnant. If I stay till late Feb/March, I'll be able to see the cute baby panda cub! Can't wait.  

I swear two of the best things in life are baby animals and brunch. 

All my love always,

April 

Back in Japan!

I'm back in Japan for a three week holiday!
Can't believe my last blog entry was in April. 
To be fair though, I had nothing to report other than "uni is so hard, I hate uni and my degree."

I haven't quite stepped foot in Tokyo since I've been back in Japan but over the weekend I went to go see Ralph in Sano-shi. 
I've never really seen rural Japan before nor have I considered traveling there on my own, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so!

Most pimped out bento box I've ever seen. It's got a drawer for tempura and tofu.

Seeing the transformation of Japan from Tokyo in a train is simply spectacular beyond words. 
I wish I could have taken some decent photos of the beautiful rice paddy fields, mountains and the setting sun but taking photos in moving vehicles is not exactly a skill set I've yet to acquire. 

Being outside of Tokyo has definitely opened my eyes to a different side of Japan. 
The trains are still prompt and run quite frequently contrary to my expectations. Public transport in rural Japan still manages to trump the bus system in Auckland, that's for sure. 
I'll probably return to Sano to visit Ralph again some time and when I do, I'll try and take one of those cool panoramic photos of the rice paddy fields and mountains.

Coming back to Japan is an entirely different experience altogether. Nothing has really changed with my Japanese friends or my host family, so perhaps that is why it feels that I never left.
It truly goes to show how much the people around you shape your experience in a foreign country.

melon then...

melon again, two years later. 

I still remember how to top up my Suica. I still remember how much everything costs.
I still remember how much I love Japanese food, and my fascination with taking photos of food.
I also remember why I loved Japan so much- it changed my life two years ago and its certainly doing that again today.  

Being back in Japan has made me reminiscent of my exchange days. I loved meeting new people everyday, facing new challenges and being exposed to endless entertainment possibilities.
I miss my exchange friends quite a bit- Japan is undoubtedly different without them.
It will be quite weird when I visit school again.

As a welcome present, Maki's mum bought me a ton of Japanese books for me to read. Might start blogging about each book as I attempt to finish one a month. I'm painfully aware how much my proficiency has slipped. It's a disappointing yet much needed wake up call to start setting aside time each day for Japanese revision.  


I finished Kafka by the Sea in two months (it was a two part novel), so this goal is not exactly impossible to attain. It's feasible if I just leave the internet for a good half and hour or so and immerse myself in Kanji and confusing grammar structures.

Lunch with Maki's mum   

So far, I'm halfway through 秘密, a novel which explores a man's struggle to live with his wife and daughter who both conveniently have switched souls after a tragic bus accident. Yeah... my experience with Japanese literature so far has been quite ...interesting. 

Despite the long hours in tea ceremony classes at school in Japan, I still mix up the rotation scheme when drinking tea. Turn the bowl away from you when you drink? Or turn it towards you three times at the end? 

I had planned to revise Law everyday while I'm here. That plan's going well isn't it?  
The only progress I've made with Law is opening Cecil (the uni student database) and checking for announcements on the upcoming moot assignment. Progress.

But of course, Law can wait. Japan can't.

All my love always,

April