She moved away yesterday!

And I woke up today with this song in my head.

More Ganbanyoku in Japan

Because of the situation with Yukiko, I also caught my first cold in two years. It is probably because of a mix of stress and sleeping at other people’s houses every night, because I can’t sleep at home but I caught a cold.

Yesterday I went to Ganbanyoku and felt so much better afterwards. I told you before that I usually don't sweat much at Ganbanyoku (my friend said it's because I don't eat meat or smoke and I rarely drink alcohol or eat food that isn't organically grown, so I don't have many toxins to expel and that's why I don't sweat at Ganbanyoku...?)

I'm not sure about that, but yesterday was crazy and my skin feels better than anything. I have never looked this shiny fresh while having a gross cold. My headache is gone and so is my runny nose. I recommend Ganbanyoku to any sick person who is healthy looking enough not to sniffle in the silence of the room.

Question for non-Japanese people planning to live in Japan forever

Today I went to the convenience store in the morning to buy something to eat for breakfast***. I bought a package of Inari Sushi and took it to work. When I opened the bag at work, I was shocked to discover that instead of a pair of chopsticks, the convenience store person had given me a plastic fork and knife. Come on. Nobody in any country eats sushi with a fork.

My home country has thousands of Asian people and thousands of Asians who were born and raised there. Most people understand the concept that a “Canadian” person doesn’t have a particular look and can come from any country in the world. Japan doesn’t have loads of Japan-born foreign people and it’s not easy to become a Japanese citizen, so they have more of an us/them view of non-Japanese people. That's what I had to keep reminding myself this morning.

At first, I felt insulted when I saw the fork, but then I drank a coffee and started to smile about it. In Canada, if an Asian person went to a steakhouse or a hamburger restaurant and was given a pair of chopsticks to eat it with, you could say it was insulting and even racist. Japan isn’t the same, though. In fact, the convenience store guy was probably just trying to be thoughtful. (It was stupid, but it was a gesture that was meant to be helpful)

I’m not Japanese and I don’t look Japanese. That’s obvious. I also don’t have a Japanese passport and wasn’t born in Japan. I’m not Japanese and don’t want to be Japanese. But I never expected that someone would ever hand me a fork to eat sushi with. I guess the point of this post is that I want to know what you “Japan lifers” think about this. (“This” being the fact that no matter how long you live in Japan, you’ll never be considered Japanese by the majority of Japanese people)

I would think it would be tiring to be a “Japanese lifer”. You live in Japan for 30 years, barely have an accent when speaking Japanese, are fully literate in Japanese, have maybe a Japanese wife/husband and children and still have to deal with the occasional person assuming you can’t use chopsticks. I don’t know because as far as I know, I’m not here for life. Please let me know what you think about this.

***The reason I was eating convenience store food for breakfast instead of making my own food at home is because I have had to stay at my friend’s houses for the past week. My roommate Yukiko is officially crazy and has been evicted by the landlady. Yukiko has until the end of the month to live in the apartment and my landlady suggested that I stay somewhere else in the week before she goes.

I’m lucky that my landlady recognized the craziness and I’m glad I don’t have to move to get away from Yukiko. Thanks to all the people who wished me good luck with this roommate situation. In 3 days, it will finally be finished and Yukiko will be gone.

Look at Hansel. He’s so hot right now.

I hadn’t seen my friend Saori in a long time. We finally met for coffee last week for the first time in months. Saori had been very busy. She joked that she was in her “Moteki” and that’s why she never had any time for me or any of her girlfriends. I had no idea what she meant, so I made her explain and she taught me a new expression.

Some of you might know what "Moteki" means, but a lot of you probably won’t know about it since I tried looking it up on the internet and couldn’t find anything in English. In Japan, there’s a popular belief that all people go through three times in their lives where they are extremely popular and attractive to others. Those three time periods are called the “Moteki” and it comes from the Japanese expression, もてる, which just means “popular with the opposite sex” or “people are physically attracted to you”. Anyway, Saori jokingly said she’s in her Moteki right now.

Most Japanese people don’t seriously believe in “Moteki” but it’s often mentioned in manga and in TV dramas or Japanese movies. Saori is newly single and goes out every weekend. She goes to parties and is always the most popular girl there. She wasn’t like that a few months ago when she had a boyfriend. In the past few months, she has lost weight and has started to wear nicer clothing. She puts fake eyelashes on now, and she never used to. She looks like she’s enjoying her life a lot.

I don’t necessarily believe in the only 3 times part of “Moteki” but I do believe that people tend to be very popular with a lot of people all of a sudden. For instance, Saori is popular right now and that probably causes her to act more confident and relaxed, which makes her even more attractive to even more people. I think it makes sense.

Have you heard of this Japanese “Moteki”?

Do you believe in “Moteki”? (AKA Do you believe that there are three times in a person’s life where they are significantly more popular than they normally are?)

If you don’t believe in it, why don’t you?

If you do believe in it, do you think you’ve already had one or two of your “Moteki” times?

Two Albino Japanese people like me!

I can’t remember ever seeing an Albino person in my own country, but I see quite a few Albino people when I travel. Sometimes, I can’t tell Caucasian albinos apart from non-Albino Caucasians. Caucasian Albinos often just look like pale, Scandinavian people. Maybe that’s why when I notice more Albino people in Africa and Asia even though I’m sure there are also Albinos back home. (if you can enlarge this picture, it is really beautiful. I wish I could take the cheezy header off. It's a cute girl on a trampoline.)

In Japan, I have two Albino acquaintances. We met because we live in the same neighborhood and would always see each other walking on the road. These Japanese Albinos both became my acquaintances because they started giving me The Nod.

(You know what Nod I mean. It is that certain nod that people sometimes give each other as a greeting, even when they don’t know each other. In my country, The Nod is most common among African-Canadians who live in a part of the country that doesn’t have a high population of black people. My friends Meck and Anna used to get The Nod from all sorts of people, and at first I just thought they were super popular but then I realized The Nod usually comes from total strangers.)

I was shocked, flattered and extremely happy to have the Albinos in my neighborhood acknowledge me every time I’d see them. Obviously! I decided to up The Nod to a greeting with one girl I see especially often, and now we greet each other whenever we see each other. Once, we talked and found out each other’s names. She asked where I was from. I found out where she was from. She giggled nervously and remarked on our similar hairstyle.

It was a nice but awkward conversation because we don’t know each other, but I really want to become her friend. I really want to talk to her and become close enough to ask her so many questions, though I know I’ll probably be able to do that. I am really interested in what it’s like to stand out so obviously in a country like Japan. I also want to know what Japanese people think about albinos. I am really interested in Albinos.

Now Here's a Serious Post Unrelated To Japan...

I don’t know if you know about this, but it’s all over the African news. In rural areas of Tanzania, Albino people are being hunted. They are being brutally murdered and mutilated with machetes because traditional healers (local doctors / witch doctors) tell people that potions made from the legs, hair, hands and blood of an albino can make a person rich or healthy.

I usually don’t like to write about negative stories like the Albino murders because I hate sensational stories that reinforce negative (or just overdone) stereotypes of different countries. (That’s why you don’t read about underwear vending machines, Enjo Kosai, the NOVA teacher murder, Chikans, “weird” or nerdy fetishes, Akihabara/Otaku, maid cafes, cosplay, high school murders on this site. That stuff is 0.0001% of Japan, but 80% of what makes the foreign news)


Let me start by saying that Tanzania has had 30 years of peace (the war with Uganda ended in 1979), crime rates are low (one of the lowest rates in Africa) primary school is free, and the government has created successful literacy campaigns aimed at teaching adults to read. National healthcare is available for everyone, one third of the country is devoted to national parks and Tanzania has some of the finest greenery and natural beauty in Africa. Tanzanian people were wonderful and many friends kept me safe and healthy during my time there.


This case of the Albinos being hunted in Tanzania is different because I actually worked at an orphanage in Tanzania with an abnormally high number of Albinos. I actually met some Albino people who fled to the cities because they feared for their lives in their villages. 53 Albino people have been murdered in Tanzania in the past two years.

Other Albino children at the orphanage I worked at were abandoned by their parents because of superstition or because they need special care. Albino people usually have poor eyesight and are very vulnerable to the sun, so it’s hard for them to work outside for long hours or help the family on a farm. For some reason, the presence of Albinos is unusually high in Tanzania. It’s estimated that 173,000 Albinos live in the country. But 53 Albino people have been murdered in Tanzania in the past two years. It’s a very serious problem.

The Japanese Working Holiday Visa - Let's Help The Angie!

My friend Angie is thinking of spending a year abroad on a working holiday. She's a 21 year old Japanese girl from Wakayama. Her nickname is Angie and that's what everyone calls her. (She's in the blue shirt) Lately, Angie’s life in Japan has gotten a bit bleak. A close family member just passed away and she just had some other unfortunate things happen, so she is looking to start life fresh. Angie asked me to recommend a good place for her to go on her working holiday visa. I really have no idea, so I’m asking you for some advice.

Japanese people can spend a year on a working holiday visa in the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore and some strange one from the UK called Tier 5 (Youth Mobility). Angie really wants to learn English, so that narrows her countries down to only Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

- Angie speaks very limited English
Her main problem is that she doesn’t actually speak English at all. She tries hard, immerses herself in English movies/music and studies with a dictionary, but I think a lot of people who don’t understand Japanese would find her English hard to understand. When we hang out, we speak in Japanese but sometimes she sends me English text messages as practice. For example, the text she sent me this morning was this:

“Good Day Mate!!! You have the birthday present in future meet. It warms it. And!! The very amusing movie was bought. Please, your free time is taught.”

When what she meant to say was this:

“Hey Julie. I still have your bday present that I’ll give you next time we meet. I hope it makes you really happy! Also, I bought a good movie last week and I want to watch it with you. Let me know when you have some free time and we’ll watch it together.”

It’s not that hard for me to understand, but I’m not sure if that’s because I’m used to it. Either way, I know it’s not at the level it would have to be to get a service-related job in an English-speaking country.

-What kind of job could Angie do abroad?
Can you give me some ideas about what kind of job she could do? My old (international student) students and friends from back home used to work in flowers shops and sushi restaurants. One girl worked as a dishwasher in a Thai place.

-Angie has peculiar interests and specific tastes.
She’s really, really into early 1950s music and fashion. She’s a really good dancer and is able to do every dance from The Charleston to early 60s jive. She loves music from the 1940s-1970s, especially rock N roll but also old country and rockabilly. She loves Elvis and pinup models and movies like Cry Baby, Grease and David Lynch stuff. Angie knows a lot of obscure things related to fashion, like Bakelite pins and big E jeans and things. She sews her own clothes. She’s good at doing strange hairstyles. She has visible tattoos and piercings and hopes this won’t interfere with her getting a job.

She’s very open and has few secrets, which is a good thing for traveling abroad. She has also invited me to sleep at her house many times, which is rare in Japanese girls. (Japanese girls usually don’t invite friends to stay overnight) She’s a sweet and good-natured girl and I feel very protective of Angie because she reminds me of my own little sister Suzie (but how Suzie was seven years ago) almost like she is my adopted little sister.

I think that she would make friends easily if she moved to a place where a lot of people into her subculture live. For example, if she moved to a place where she could go to rock and roll dance events, she wouldn’t have to worry about her English ability because she is a good dancer.

Please help me help Angie find a good place.
1. Is there a place in Australia/NZ/Canada/Ireland where a lot of rock n roll /retro / rockabilly kids live? Can you tell me where it is so that I can recommend it to her?

2. Are you a Japanese person who has worked abroad with a working holiday visa? Do you know any Japanese people who are working / have worked abroad? Please write any advice you have for Angie.

3. I’m sorry if this is just a stereotype, but I read horrible things about the racism and violence against Japanese people in Australia all the time. Is this actually something a Japanese person should be worried about, or is it blown up by the media? I have never / will never go to Australia, so I really have no idea about how bad their problems with racism actually are. If any of you know more than I do about this, could you let me know if I should recommend Australia to Angie?

4. If any of you are into rockabilly or know anything about that sort of scene, do you want to be Angie’s English penpal? She wants one. Leave your email address here and I’ll send it to her.

Why does Japan smell like raspberry Kool Aid?

Last week, I was walking home from work when I noticed a very strange smell. It smelled like something very fake like kids fruit drink or fruit scented air freshener that old people keep in their cars. It smelled kind of like a Strawberry Shortcake doll or a very strong scratch N sniff sticker. I thought that someone must have been cleaning something in an apartment along the road and the smell was still in the air. Then, the next day, in the same place, I smelled at again.Yesterday, I met my friend Atchan in Kyoto after work and we walked around. We walked in a park and I smelled the weird smell again. I asked him if he noticed it, and he said that the weird, fake-fruity smell comes from a tree that blooms every fall in Japan. Mystery solved. The tree is called Kinmokusei and it's got a very sickly-sweet smell. Now that I know it comes from a tree and not from chemicals, the smell doesn't bother me anymore.The tree has an easy name to remember. 金木犀 Kinmokusei is easy to spell.
金 Kin is the same Kanji as "kinyoubi" which means "Friday" in Japanese.
木 Moku is the same Kanji as "mokuyobi" which means "Thursday" in Japanese.
犀 Sei is the only part that you just have to remember. The Kanji is common in Japanese names. Enjoy the raspberry Kool-aid scented air in Japan this Autumn, everyone. Here's a picture of the gates to a shrine in Kyoto called Shimogamojinja. Also, here's a gratuitous picture of Atchan for Jared, who said he was "adorable".
The 2nd, smiling picture of Atchan above is so funny. I love to do this to guys. If you make a guy take a picture posed pretending to smell flowers, he will inevitably feel silly and burst out laughing. Then you can take a real picture with a real smile. Too many people in Japan do the posed, forced-grin-peace-sign thing in photographs, so if you ever want to take a nice, normal picture of a smile, get a guy to pose with flowers. This doesn't work on girls because girls don't feel cheezy posing with flowers. If you want a real smile on a girl, get the girl to pose with an animal. I should work in a portrait studio. I think I am pretty good at getting natural reactions on camera.

I don't hate anyone.

So, I have gotten a few people asking about why I don't really have any foreign friends in Japan and I just wanted to address that. I am not one of those weird people who hate other foreign people in Japan for making them less special. (Those people do exist) Just like high school students hating people who copy their “unique look” or indie kids hating Zak Braff introducing everyone to The Shins and their life changing powers, there are tons of foreign people in Japan who hate other foreign people for just being in Japan at the same time as they are. I’m not one of those people. The reason why I don’t have any non-Japanese friends is simple. When I lived in Tokyo with my best friend (who is Vietnamese-Danish), I only spoke English and never studied Japanese. I don’t want to speak English at the expense of learning Japanese. That’s it. There’s no hate involved in why I don’t have Non-Japanese friends in Japan.

Obama ruined Japanese bars.

No, I’m joking. Well, mostly. I like Obama a lot. But Japanese people picked up on his “yes we can” phrase and won’t let go of it.

An “Izakaya” is a Japanese-style bar/restaurant. They’re popular because people in Japan don’t usually have house parties and prefer going to these places in large groups. Izakaya usually have closed rooms where you can sit with your friends and nobody else in the building can see you. I think Izakaya are fun. I like Izakaya, but I don't go to bars or Irish pubs in Japan. (Actually, I don’t like going to Irish pubs in any country. Ha. You can probably already guess that.) Now I’m going to tell you why I don’t like regular bars / pubs in Japan.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was nineteen year old, I stayed at a YMCA youth hostel in Italy with some friends for three nights. On the first night, when we were walking around the hostel, we heard some guy with a guitar playing the YMCA song (you know what song I mean) and everyone around him was singing it and sort of laughing. My friends and I were laughing, too. We did the YMCA actions with our hands. It was funny. The second night, though, a new group of people came to the YMCA and they thought it was funny to keep singing the YMCA song, too. On the second night, it wasn’t so funny and was getting old fast. On the third night, the same thing happened and we were almost ready to murder the drunken fools who kept singing the stupid YMCA song again and again. Ha.

I guess that’s the same way most foreign people living in Japan feel about having "yes we can!” yelled at them by strangers and I’m sure the feeling multiplies itself by 100 for foreign people who aren’t even American. If a non-Japanese person goes to a pub-style bar in Japan, There is 99% chance that they are going to hear, “yes we can!!” at least once. It's always just yelled out by drunk men who think it's funny. If a black foreign person goes to a bar in Japan (especially if he’s African-American, but it happens to anyone, even Indian people) he’s going to get his “yes we can!!” accompanied by a lot of high fives and even some hugs from the really drunk people. I've seen it. Again, this isn’t meant to be rude or annoying. In some cases, it’s probably even meant to be welcoming. But nothing kills the night for me than meeting my Japanese friends and speaking in Japanese and then having some drunken stranger see me, come over and yell, “yes we can!!” followed by, “you come from?” That’s one reason why I don’t like going to bars.

I like my friends and I know my friends, so I know I’ll like my friends when they drink alcohol, even if they make stupid jokes, turn as red as a beet, ask to feel my hair or suddenly decide to start practicing random English words on me. They’re my friends. But I don’t want to deal with drunken strangers doing the same.

Japan has perfect weather.

This is basically a post just to show you what kind of weather we have here in Japan. These pictures were taken at Fruits and Flowers Park about a week and a half ago. It's October and I just started wearing a sweater. I put a light coat on at night, but it's still sunny every day. The great, mild weather is one of my favorite things about this country.Another thing about Japan is that a lot of (Most? What do you think?) Japanese guys love shopping just as much as girls do. My friend Atchan invited me to go to shopping at this outlet mall in Sanda, sort of near Himeji. Normally I can't stand outlet malls, but this one had a Tsumori Chisato store so I wanted to go. I didn'tbuy anything, but it was nice to see a friend I hadn't seen in a while. Atchan is the most relaxed guy on the face of the earth. This was kiddie land. Atchan ate a popsicle here. We played frisbee in the park. I'm good at catching but terrible at throwing.Atchan relaxes in a teacup.
Sunny October.

Indian cooking lessons in Osaka

I'm finally taking Indian cooking lessons! I have wanted to learn how to cook Indian curries well since I was sixteen years old, and I'm finally learning. My teacher is this really great guy who moved from India to Japan two years ago. He's tall, really, fastidiously clean and married to an awesome Japanese woman. He's also kind of handsome. (!!) He's from the North of India, and I recognized that he was Punjabi by his last name because a lot of Punjabi families lived in my neighborhood when I was a teenager. My teacher was happy that I knew what the Khanda symbols in his house meant. My teacher met his wife in India. She's Japanese, but she speaks fluent English and Punjabi and makes great chai. I think they're a perfect couple, and their house is gorgeous. The first thing I learned to make was Palak Paneer (a spinach and cheese curry dish) and my teacher taught me how to make it with a perfect consistency and very little oil. It was easier than I thought it would be. The paneer (Indian cheese) was extremely easy. I am very proud to be able to say that I can make my own cheese. I didn't know that paneer was so easy to make, and also that it contains hardly any fat at all. Paneer is actually super healthy. (I'm not vegan in Japan, so I can eat it.) Here is what the Paneer looks like in the cheesecloth. You have to hang it and let the water come out of it overnight. In the morning, it will look like this. A beautiful lump of Indian cheese. Paneer actually tastes like almost nothing. That's why it's perfect in curry. It absorbs the curry taste and doesn't add anything to the delicious, pure taste of the spices. Paneer is just there for texture. I could eat Palak Paneer every day.My teacher taught me that Indian people don't usually eat naan bread with their meals. That's usually only for restaurants or special occasions. He said that every day, Indian people eat chapati bread. Then, taught me how to make chapati bread. When I was in East Africa, I'd often eat at Indian places because there were so many good ones. East African chapati was oilier than this kind of chapati. This was drier and more like pita bread. It was so good and fun to make! Watch the video at the end of my teacher showing me how to make chapati.I made all these chapati! I am so happy and proud.
My teacher teaches groups and one-on-one in his house.
He can make anything. You just tell him what you want to learn, and he'll do it. He used to be a chef. He went to India last month and brought me back Gulab Jamun as a present! You can't get it in Japan!

If you want to take lessons with my Indian cooking teacher, leave your email here and I will send it to him so that you can arrange to meet for a lesson. I highly recommend his classes!!

Best teacher ever!

My Japanese Mahjong Circle

I play Mahjong with my friend Mrs Takemura twice a month. She is a Japanese grandmother who is the relative of one of my friends. He introduced me to her because she loves Mahjong and really wanted to study English. I can speak English and had always wanted to learn Mahjong, so we were a perfect match. Plus, I love elderly people. No matter where I live, I always seek out elderly friends. I tend to get along well with people in their late 60s, 70s and 80s. The ladies in my Mahjong circle...Mrs Takemura is in the green.

I arrive at Mrs Takemura's house at noon and she makes me a lovely vegetarian lunch that we eat together while she tries to tell me about her life in English. She's learning English because her hobby is traveling the world. She's the most interesting lady and has been all over Europe and Asia. Her husband is a retired university arts professor and now sells oil paint and studies French has a hobby. Mrs Takemura reminds me of me (or rather, I hope to have a similar life when I get older) because she has a million different interests and is always busy. She golfs, she knits on a massive wooden loom she keeps in her house, she plays Mahjong, she is learning English, she takes her daughters all over the world. The vegetarian lunch

Mrs Takemura and her friends get together at her house and we play Mahjong from 1:00-4:00 PM. Only one of her friends speaks English, so we speak in Japanese. Except that Mahjong is played in Chinese because the ladies are sticklers and insist that I should play Mahjong the proper way, using the Chinese words for everything. So now, along with "she-she" and "Leh yao mo gao cho!!" I can now count from 1-9 in Chinese and I know the names of the four winds and the other Mahjong tiles in Chinese. Not useful for anything but playing Mahong, but that's OK. I love Mahjong. Check out my winning hand. I am really lucky. This wasn't my highest win, but it was my fastest.

I met Mrs Takemura's daughter Chinatsu once. Chinatsu looks like she's 25 but she must be older because Mrs Takemura is also older. She's an artist and photographer and she's always being featured in art magazines. Chinatsu's haircut is part Mia Farrow from Rosemary's Baby, part half Vidal Sasson 1960s mod and part Chinese child's bowl cut. (AKA Chinatsu has the best hair ever) She's gorgeous and very stylish and looks like she probably has great taste in music, knows exactly where the best places are to shop and can take you to the most interesting places at night. Sometimes, you just get that feeling of, "this person knows what is going on." Chinatsu is that kind of girl. Mrs Takemura was probably the same way when she was younger. I love her. This weekend, I won against the ladies for the first time ever. It was also the first time I played Mahjong without any help from Mrs Takemura. Look at the score card. I got the highest score. I was shocked. I love Mahjong. I love that it's an old game with a long history behind it. I love the sound of the clicking ivory tiles. I love the look of the Mahjong pieces and I love saying the names in Chinese. I love the speed of it and how you can only improve with age. I love the precise rules and the superstitions involved with Mahjong. I love that it's 1/3rd luck and 2/3rds skill. I loved watching the old men play it in the parks in Hong Kong.

Here is a video of the ladies mixing up the tiles at the start of the game.

Have a nice day.

I found these things while I was taking a walk today. My favorite graffiti ever and a butterfly gathering whatever they gather from a flower. Neat.

There's a crazy lady in my house.

I live with a crazy lady. I used to live with two Japanese girls who were perfect. They are still my friends and I love them. I have only good memories of the year we lived together. My current roommates are not like my old roommates. I have one friendly and kind roommate named Masae, but I never see her because her job has strange hours, she has a busy social calendar and she often goes to stay at her father’s house (nearby) for weeks at a time. We have been roommates for over six months but we went out together for the first time last week and I still don’t know her last name. No problems with her, though.The other roommate, Yukiko, is a big problem. She smells disgusting and she’s an immature brat, but if that were all, I wouldn’t care. She’s 36 years old. She has no real job (just a part-time job at a bakery). She has no husband/boyfriend and no children. She cut off contact from her parents because of a fight years ago. She has no close friends. She has no ambition in her life. Not only has she never been outside of Japan, but she has also never even been to Tokyo or Okinawa. She writes YUKIKO USE ONLY DO NOT TOUCH in English (for my benefit? I don't want to use her things. I have my own. And I'm the only one who can speak English in the house) on absolutely everything she owns, including her soap dish in the shower, her laundry detergent, the edges of her towels and the laundry line outside.She has no hobbies besides playing pachinko, shopping at brand stores and playing video games. She can’t cook. She can’t use a computer. She cries late at night all the time and it makes me think she’s going to kill herself. She probably used to be very beautiful when she was young, so she lives her life like she’s some weird princess or flower just buying expensive clothes, doing and re-doing her tacky makeup and moaning and sighing around the house all the time.She used to send me annoying text messages in all katakana (why?) nagging me about things I already do (マドヲシメテクダサイネ) She’s also disgusting. She absolutely stinks like cheap perfume and sprays the nauseating stuff all over her clothes, her room, her shoes, the hall outside her room, her body in the shower and probably everything else she owns or touches. It reeks. The other thing that reeks is her food. She doesn’t cook and only eats food from the convenience store. Her favorite breakfast is eel from 7-11 or Lawson’s Convenience, which she microwaves for too long so that when I wake up in the morning, the kitchen smells like cheap, rotten, burned, low quality fish.

The other thing that reeks is that she’s a chain smoker and chooses to smoke right outside my window. It’s disgusting because my room fills up with her smoke / perfume mix and makes me want to gag. That’s not the only thing, though. She keeps the weirdest hours ever. She smokes at 3 or 4 AM and then again at 6:30 AM. If I leave my window open even a crack while I sleep, I get woken up by her disgusting smoke. Her voice sounds exactly like a cross between Mickey Mouse and Patty & Selma from The Simpsons. There are a million other things I could tell you about my gross roommate Yukiko. Last week, I had a meeting with her about whether we could agree on some smoking hours. For example, I asked her to consider smoking from 8 AM to midnight when I am awake and can close the window. If she does it at 3 AM when I’m sleeping, I can’t fall back asleep because my whole room smells like a bar. I asked really politely if she could consider that, but I found out afterwards that she had been drinking before the meeting. She called me selfish and told me that because she pays rent, she can smoke wherever she pleases. (This kind of confrontational, aggressive attitude isn’t normal for Japanese people…usually they always try their best to find a peaceful solution. That is part of the reason why I love having Japanese roommates.) She has never had roommates before, so she doesn’t understand that sometimes you have to make compromises for others.

Then she started getting weird and I realized that she was crazy. She said, “People smoke cigarettes in Japan. Get over it. Get used to it. We don’t want your rules about when we can smoke and when we cannot!” And then she picked up my Japanese textbooks and threw them at me, screaming, “This is Japan! Learn more Japanese! Why do you make mistakes when you speak? Study more Japanese and study more culture! Don’t tell a Japanese not to smoke!” Crazy.

Luckily, my other roommate came out of her room to see what was going on and witnessed the insane behavior. Masae started asking her what was wrong, and she started a huge rant about how much she has always hated me and then she started crying and ran to her room. Then she came back out to kick the bathroom door dramatically before slamming the door to her room again. Crazy lady. Masae and I were both shocked. We’re meeting with the ladylady next week to discuss things. I think she knows we think she’s nuts now. I keep my toothbrush and photos in my locked room now. I am actually a bit scared of her because there was so much hate in her eyes. It is the first time this kind of thing has ever happened to me in Japan. I want you guys to know that this is in no way normal behavior for Japanese women. It is the isolated story of one crazy lady who I unfortunately happen to live with. I don’t hate her, but she obviously hates me and I don’t want to live with her anymore.

I have become a pretty easy-going person in the past 5 years. I used to let little things bother me and get annoyed easily, but in the past 5 years I can’t think of a situation that made me angry enough to remember it. I also don’t hate anyone. Sorry if this sounds like some flakey self-help book, but I think that an extreme emotion like hate is a waste of energy. I’d rather spend that energy loving someone I care about. I think that the most insulting thing you can do to a person is completely forget them. That’s why I choose not to associate with people I don’t like and why, if people hurt me or upset me, I generally cut them out of my life and never spend my time thinking about them again. Hating people is boring.

Do you ever want to go home?

My friend Yuko’s parents both died when she was a teenager. Her mother passed away when Yuko was 18 years old. Her father passed away a year after that. She doesn’t talk about it very often, but we went out this weekend and met one of her friends, Yuichi. Yuichi is a twin. His parents were killed in a car accident when he was only ten years old and he remembers them mainly through photographs. Because Yuko and Yuichi have that in common, they talked about their parents a lot over the night.

The conversation was intense and we missed the last train, so we decided to stay up super late and Yuko invited me to stay at her house in the morning. At about 3 AM, I suddenly got a text message from my dad wishing me a happy Thanksgiving and saying that he missed me. The message was just a normal, sweet message about how the puppy is doing back home and about a hockey game in Toronto and how it feels weird not to have to make a special vegetarian dish for me for Thanksgiving. After I read that message, at 3 AM in Kyoto with Yuko and Yuichi having the conversation they were having, I started to feel really serious.

I do not want to leave at all, but I keep having these memories of my parents all the time. My uncle passed away last month (my cousins are all in their very early 20s) and since then, I have been thinking about moving back even though I really don’t want to move back. I love living in Japan. I am the healthiest I have ever been. Physically, emotionally and in every other aspect of my life, living in Japan is a great thing for me. I feel motivated, engaged and interested every single day. I feel really alive here and I feel like I am doing something worthwhile. I love my friends, my house, my neighborhood, the trains, my job, everything.

I love my life in Japan. I’m running a marathon. I take Japanese lessons, Indian cooking lessons, 1950s twist dance lessons. I am part of a weekly mahjong circle with a bunch of elderly ladies. The weather is so good and I finally got a bicycle. All of my friends are Japanese and I am able to speak, listen and text in Japanese well enough to communicate and maintain friendships with a variety of people. I am studying for the JLPT in December and I think I’ll pass it. I am finally able to keep my house clean and I cook my own food every night. I love it here. I love my life in Japan. I love my life.

But I love my mother and father more than any of these things. I don’t know what to do. I feel split. On one hand, I feel like my mother and father are healthy and happy right now, so I should be close to them so that I can learn from them and make memories with them. It scares me a bit that I have absolutely no desire or plan to leave Japan in the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, part of me thinks I should stay here for a longer time because when my parents get a lot older, I know myself well enough to know that I’ll have to move closer to them to take are of them and make sure they have everything they need (that they are not lonely and that they’re physically able to manage their things, clean their homes, drive, run errands, etc). I feel like I should stay in Japan while I am young and single and childless because this is where I want to be most, even though it’s not my home country.

I know that a lot of you people who regularly read this have been living in Japan for a long time. A few of you are married and have moved here somewhat permanently. How do you deal with these feelings? Do you miss your parents as much as I miss mine? How often do you get to see your parents? Have you ever thought about moving back just to be closer to your parents?

Typhoon Party!

Decimated umbrella! Yesterday was supposed to have been the biggest typhoon to hit mainland Japan in ten years. Typhoons are very exciting for me. The wind is crazy and it uproots trees, floods rivers and blows all sorts of random things into my yard. Today I found a pair of pink underwear in the tree in front of my apartment. Last night, Masae (my roommate is a girl I barely know, but that's OK. We have lived together for six months and hung out for the first time last night) and I went out for dinner and when we came back, we decided to stay outside and have fun in the wind.This garbage lid blew off the bottom part of the garbage can and became lodged into a bicycle. My bicycle was inside the bike storage area, so it was safe. The spots in the picture are hail and rain mixed.
Leaves blew in everywhere and everything got messy. Okinawa and all of the other small islands in Japan are the only places that really ever get hit hard by a typhoon. For the rest of Japan, it's just a huge windstorm with a lot of cleanup the next day. The rivers get flooded, though, and every year somewhere in Japan, a child drowns in the rivers. The current moves so fast. Please watch out for your kids today. Don't let them play near the unsafe areas.

Goodbye Money!

If you pay key money in Japan, I think that there is something wrong with you. Key money is something that you often have to do in Japan. It means giving two to six months rent to your landlord as a present. It’s not a safety deposit. I have no idea why people pay key money. I have never paid it, probably because I always have roommates. I suppose that if you have money to burn, want to live alone and want to have a nice apartment, you’ll choose to pay key money. It is easy to find places without it. I didn’t even have to pay a damage deposit on my current apartment.

Tips for job interviews in Japan

Japan is a pretty conservative place when it comes to outward appearance at the workplace. Things like having your hair dyed a natural shade, having no visible piercings or tattoos, shaving off your beard or moustache, not wearing a hat or sunglasses, not wearing jeans, short skirts, sandals to an interview and smelling fresh / unperfumed and general guidelines.These people look like total douches, but if you dress like them for the job interview, you'll probably get the job.

When you go to an interview in Japan, treat it like you would treat a corporate interview in any country. Don’t be stupid, basically. Japan is a pretty conservative place when it comes to outward appearance at the workplace. If you don’t like a job that stifles your amazing creativity, you should think about developing your personality and interests so that you can express yourself through something other than your fashion sense.

If you feel the need to dress like a shining, sexy, creative moonbeam even for job interviews, I wish you luck finding a job in Japan. If you actually want to get hired, here are some style tips.

-Have your hair dyed a natural shade.
-Don’t have visible piercings or tattoos. Tattoos in Japan have major, major stigma attached to them, especially if you’re a guy, because the Japanese mafia (yakuza) are the only Japanese people who are well known for their tattoos. Cover them until you’re hired, and if you’re teaching children, it’s a good idea to keep them covered at all times.
-Be a gentleman and shave off your beard or moustache. If you have a ponytail and you’re a guy, cut it. (If you’re over 30 and you have a ponytail and you’re a guy, that goes for LIFE advice, not just Japan job interview advice. Cut that thing off. Don’t be that guy.)
-Don’t wear a hat or sunglasses.
-Don’t wear jeans, short skirts, or sandals to an interview.
-Be a lady and cover your cleavage.

One strange point that applies specifically to job interviews in Japan is this one.
Wear clean, matching socks without holes when you go to the interview. In Japan, you will usually have to remove your shoes when you enter the building and change into slippers. Stinky feet, dirty or unmatched socks and unsightly holes can create the wrong kind of impression.

In Japan, you can buy nice socks. Japan probably has the best socks in the world. If you want to make a really nice, subtle good impression, buy some brand new special socks for the interview. New socks look and feel great. I always notice everyone’s socks, though, so maybe it’s just me. If I were hiring, socks would be part of my first impression.

A huge, cluttery bag or backpack would not make a good impression on me. All you need to bring to a job interview are these.
1. A small, clean, simple bag
2. A clean notebook with a pen
3. An extra resume in a small, plastic folder

How to search for an English teaching job in Japan: TIPS!

If you’re trying to find a job teaching English in Japan, now is not the best time to be doing that. I’m sure you can figure out that with the recession, many people are looking to teach abroad and make more money than they could make at home. That, combined with the end of NOVA and all of the unemployed teachers in Japan, makes it a pretty competitive job search.

1. Have Contacts. In Japan, just like in almost any country, your resume matters far less than your contacts. All of my favorite jobs, in Japan and elsewhere, were found through my connections.
-Tell everyone you know that you’re looking for a job.
-Describe your ideal job situation. Write about it on internet networking sites like Facebook.
-Go out all the time. Meet foreign people who teach English. Meet Japanese people who know lots of foreign people who teach English. Ask them if their employers are hiring. Ask them to put in a good word for you. I am so lucky that I never had to do this, (My cousin has lived in Japan for the past fourteen years and found me a job in Japan that I love.) but if I were looking for a job in Japan, I would certainly want to make my network circle as wide as possible.
-Search websites like Gaijinpot for advertisements. If possible, go hand in your resume in person.
-If possible, have a Japanese resume. Ask your good friend to help you write one, or make a conversation partner who you can trade favors with ( = you correct her English essay and help her make an English website profile and she’ll help translate your resume into Japanese) A Japanese resume will get you noticed far more than anything else will. It will make your resume stand out more than anything else.
Picture by Rikki Kasso

Build your ESL teaching resume by volunteering

If you want to teach English in Japan but have no teaching experience listed on your resume, you’re not the brightest. Getting teaching experience for a resume is the easiest thing in the world. All you have to do is volunteer your time.

If you live in a city, it’s easy to find a support group or centre for new immigrants / international students. These places are constantly looking for volunteers. Even if they aren’t looking, they will usually let you put and ad up on the wall advertising your free help. If you teach as a volunteer for a few months, there is nothing wrong with putting that on your resume. The ideal situation would be to teach Japanese people, because you can learn about Japan while you gain resume-building experience.

I think Becky ベッキー looks like Gala Darling.

I think that Gala Darling looks like Becky (ベッキー). Or Becky looks like Gala Darling. Becky is the half-Japanese-half-British girl known by only her first name in Japan. She is a Japanese "idol" which means that she's famous mainly for being famous on TV, in her own books and in magazines. Becky is her own mini empire. She is one of the top 5 celebrities most used in advertising in Japan. I think that Gala and Becky have similar eyes, noses and facial expressions. They are also the same age. I write this blog because it's sort of a hobby. I read about Japan and I live here, so sometimes I just want to share the things I find out about. I also write this for my family and friends, so that they can keep in touch with me and see what I am doing without having to receive mass emails from me. I also write this blog for money. It is helping to pay off my student loans.

According to my Adsense account, Gala Darling's website is the personal website that sends me the most traffic. I am so lucky that she likes my site! A lot of you people probably found me from her, too. She and I don't have much in common in terms of hobbies or aesthetics, but I really like her because her site is always positive and beautiful. Gala posts lovely pictures and never has anything bad to say. It's sweet. I don't know her personally, but I have a great impression of her and think she seems like a sweet person with beautiful eyes.Dear Gala,
If you're reading this, Gala, I hope you ignore all the rotten things people are writing about you. I like you and I am very grateful that you've given me this $traffic$ and introduced people to my site. You're constantly positive and I think that a lot of people love to read your site for that reason. Thanks Gala. You are great. And I think you look like Becky.
Love,

Julie (in Japan)

Becky!!

ベッキーの目が本当にきれいですね。
（　でもやっぱり日本で、一番可愛い女の子は蒼井優です。）