So, today is a Health and Sports Day, otherwise known as 体育の日 (taiiku no hi) and is a national holiday. I ended up going shopping to Shibuya this afternoon to see if there was anything worth buying – I really wanted a new pair of jeans as I have a habit of wearing one pair until they wear out. Anyway, despite the bad economy and not being paid yet, I decided to spend some money. The result? I ended up making a credit card and buying a hell of a lot more than I planned!

Anyway, the good news is that I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything I don’t like wearing, and also the fact that a Japanese credit card will probably be quite useful. The bad news, as with all forms of credit, there is the added danger of controlling the risk of over spending!

I also received a business card from one of the assistants as we had a lengthy conversation whilst I tried on some items. It was a very casual chat about stuff but yeah, I was thinking the entire time, why does the assistant have to be a guy! I talked to the girl at the other place for a while and all I got from her was a receipt and the Winter catalogue!! ….haha, I need to get out more!

The Return
So, two things crossed my mind on the way back from Shibuya. The first was, I seem to be gradually turning into one of my team-mates. Obviously, without going in to too much detail, there was the internship, the return after graduation, the nationality, the overseas upbringing… and now the shopping…. aaaahh! I mean, it’s not that big a deal but maybe I’m gradually turning more Japanese! Hmm..

Anyway, the other thing was on the train, I encountered two real-live transvestites. It really took me by surprise that these hairy-legged and bearded young men would wear what they were wearing. I know Japan is known for it’s open culture and acceptance of individuality but it just surprised me how ugly they were! I guess I need to turn a little more Japanese to be able to start accepting such strange behaviour!

It’s October. Well, it’s been October for a few days, meaning I’ve now been living in Tokyo for over a month and a half now – working for a month.

I’ve realised that I haven’t really tackled any of the things in my “to do” list; stuff I’ve put off day after day, year after year, ever since I can remember. I have a knack of wanting to do something but never really doing anything about it. Some of the things on my list include:

- Learning the guitar
- Learning to drive
- Brushing up my Japanese
- Expanding my social circle
- Playing football
- Gym

I guess some of these have become more prevalent with the move to Japan but I think most of them have been stuck there for quite a while!

Anyway, I think after so many weeks of wasting away at the office I’ve finally found that motivation to tackle that list. Japanese will be my first stop – my brain needs to be trained!

In other news, things I’ve been hooked on recently are – 姿勢 (posture) I’m trying to sit and walk properly, although it’s harder to break habit easily. Secondly, road safety. After having watched this tv program about traffic accidents, I’m now fully aware of how one careless moment can lead to death or major damage. Look both ways!

Oh, my younger bro was in town for the week. I realised after he left that I probably wouldn’t see him for a good few months. Ah well, fun times ahead?

I wrote this whole blog entry last night on my phone lying in bed just before falling asleep but it doesn’t seem to have actually saved it.

Anyway, I was pretty low last night; after having had a few drinks with friends and surviving another manic week at work, there really was not much silver in that lining.

I can’t remember exactly what I drivelled on about but I think it went something like this:

I really do need someone who I can talk about everything to without having to worry about their opinions or standings – someone I can totally trust without worrying about confidentiality etc. Even with the “good” news earlier this week, the stress levels just keep on rising. My problems may not be as great or serious as others but they are my problems and to me they are the biggest issues in my life.

I think after I ranted on about how tough life is out here with the lack of social life and people to talk to I then went on to say that I didn’t regret moving out here. I also believe I mentioned that I would probably not change anything even with all the events that have happened. I did wonder though, what the hell I was doing in Tokyo and what I’d achieved over the last month.

Stress sucks!

Having just watched the closing ceremony of the olympic games I feel slightly let down. I was just not as blown away by the whole thing as the opening ceremony and it felt slightly less well rehearsed. Also, I feel live music never works in such a large stadium, with problems of acoustics and coordination with the sound system. It just felt really echoy and stuttery.

I was also disappointed by the idiocy of Boris Johnson with his stupid mock saluting instead of limiting himself to a standard wave. He also decided to stick his hands in his suit pockets which made him look like a prat. Following the handover the London PR show was slightly better, although we coulda not done with Beckham or Leonna. The whole singing in the rain-esque thing was ok and the red bus was a good representation of London but I feel it didn’t quite sell the city!

The camera work was all over the place too. I don’t know whether each broadcasting association has control over which camera to use but it jumped around far too much. The opening ceremony had much better shots of the whole of the Bird’s Nest floor but this time it kept cutting to the outside view and strange close ups with “artistic” views. I couldn’t quite get the feel of the whole show.

Anyway, with all the asian artists ranging from Jackie Chan, Rain, Andy Lau, why were there no Japanese singers? The Koreans, Mongolians, Chinese, Hong Kong, all seemed to have representatives… at least include the likes of BoA who can speak Japanese! …. then again, the genetic make up of the entire Japanese population in terms of looks loses out to the tall, slightly built koreans and the mainland asians. Oh well, we couldn’t even beat them in the medals table *sigh* What’s becoming of this great land of the rising sun? is it setting?

I had a whole train of thought for what to write as a blog earlier but it has totally escaped me. It’s officially Day 9 of my move to Japan and the feeling of permanence is gradually starting to sink in. Earlier this week I looked around a few apartments in Tokyo and ended up asking the Agent to hold a place. The contract details and arrangements of rent have yet to ironed out but if all goes smoothly I should be moving in before I start work. However as there’s only a week to sort out all the paperwork I will most likely commute from my brother’s current apartment for at least the first part of next month.

My mum is returning back to London this weekend; I don’t really know how to take that fact. I have to figure out when to move to Tokyo next week.

I had a long talk with my grandfather today – well, it was more a listening session on my half than a two-way conversation. He spoke of his time during the war and his experiences. He showed me a pocket watch he received from the Emperor at the time. I mean, he didn’t actually go out on to the battlefield but I was still amazed by his stories. His intelligence continues to impress me with talk of mathematics and topping school rankings at every level. Anyway, I suppose it was nice for him too to have someone to talk to.

Anyway, I had my first earthquake since arriving this evening. I just thought it was a bit windy outside and didn’t feel the ground shake at all but the TV confirmed that there was one. I think I probably mentioned this before but I find the slow rocking motion of earthquakes quite soothing. Obviously it would be a totally different story if it were destructive or violent, but fortunately I have yet to experience one of such calibre.

So, what to expect over the next few days? I have realised that there is so much yet to learn about Japan – the culture, the people, the traditions, the rules, regulations, laws and how to do things. From the simple to the complex, it is all very unfamiliar and the slight barrier caused by my poor reading abilities of the Japanese language will make the next few days, weeks and months an interesting challenge!

My first blog entry since arriving in Japan has taken longer than expected. As I mentioned in my previous entry I’ve ended up twittering more and more often rather than posting a long-winded blog entry. However, there are some things that can’t be expressed in 140 characters.

The fact that I am not here just for a holiday or a temporary basis has yet to sink in. I suppose staying at my grandparents place away from Tokyo does give the whole thing a non-permanent feel and still not quite feeling “at home” in Japan probably does not help. Having said that, I’ve invested in a new mobile phone, which if you’ve been following my twitter updates you’ll know took a bit of effort! Other than that, I haven’t really done much.

The jet lag is still quite significant with my 4am/5am wake up and mid-afternoon drowsiness still prevalent. My theory of it taking half the number of days as the time difference to get over jet lag will hopefully hold true over the next day or so as I really would like a good nights sleep for a change!

Weather

As you may have guessed, the weather in Japan is hot! Having said that the weather dipped below 30C yesterday with the typhoon offshore providing a bit of gloomy feel. Apart from that, the weather has been over 35C, known as a 「猛暑日」 (moushobi – an extremely hot day) – apparently for the past few months. There’s also a term for over 40C but I can’t remember what that is off the top of my head. Anyway, the weather is probably going to gradually drop off as we head into September.

Wow, I still have the English knack of talking about the weather at length!

Olympics

Anyway, in other news? I’ve pretty much lost touch with the outside world with news coverage in Japan pretty much overrun with the Olympics. Japanese news has always been thin on international stories but it’s pretty much dominated by Japanese exploits at the Games and other irrelevant stories such as the Obon U-turn rush, the blip in the hot weather, etc. The Olympics coverage is extensive over here with 3 or 4 channels covering the Games. However, most of it is just the events which Japan have representatives or the finals, semi-finals, etc. I suppose that would be the same with any other country.

I’m sure I had a few other things to talk about…? anyway, hope all is well back in London!

Having switched to the Calendar view in Thunderbird for the first time this week, I realised that the multi-week view now menacingly shows the final week of April. You all know what that means? There’s less than 3 weeks left – the first exam is looming.

I know I said I did not like to talk about this stuff at all but my life is, and will be for the next month, consumed by it so I don’t really have much else to talk about. Also, I have been known to be slightly hypercritical! Skip to after the break if you want to read about other stuff ^^

Student Life

So, I originally intended to only have two phases in my revision. The first phase being just a quick glance through everything to refresh my memory as to what I needed to learn, and the second phase being to actually learn it. Phase two has ended up becoming the “refresh”as the first phase contained a lot of stuff I hadn’t seen before!

I was thinking of doing a revision blog post a day on a random topic that I’d looked at during the day. I have no idea what I’d write about but maybe it’ll be a nice way to recap what I “learnt”. Actually, it probably won’t be helpful at all…

Anyway, so, despite the extensive hours I’ve put in so far I have actually yet to learn anything at all. Well, apart from what every student learns at this stage – there’s a Himalayan mountain range of stuff to learn and I’ve only worn a t-shirt.

I’m in Japan at my grandparents house; it feels like I was here yesterday, though I told my mum it felt a cross between “last week and 10 years ago”. Now, having spent a few hours here, it really does feel like the other day that I was here, except now all the electric fans have been replaced by electric heaters and we’re all trying to wrap up warm rather than stay cool.

It is an odd feeling though. Having been awake a hell of a long time. It’s 2pm GMT, 11pm JST on 29th December 2007. I’ve been awake since 9am GMT on the 28th.  It’s also an odd feeling that it feels like I was here the other day but also I was actually in London the other day. Very strange.

I wrote that pathetic excuse of a blog entry a couple of days ago. I feel a little more energetic today in terms of writing an awesome one but thinking about it now, I’m not entirely sure what to write about.

I’ve been hit by the sore throat, muggyness and general symptoms of being ill since yesterday. It’s been coming for a long time, ever since my housemates both caught it and then Eri’s visit with her deadly version of the disease! Despite my best attempts to stave it off by eating fruit and taking lots of medication, keeping away from the infected, etc, it just wasn’t going to be. For one, I live with my housemates (funnily enough), and second, I spent the entire weekend with Eri. O, our houseparty and the houseparty I went to yesterday probably has not helped things either.

Now, I’m drinking cold lemsip as I forgot I had made some. My temples slightly ache, and my eyes are sore, along with my throat and the general feeling of being exhausted. I guess it was bound to hit me at this time of year; being the end of term, all that stress, tension and what not kinda lifts a little and as soon as I feel like chilling out for a bit… *bang*, I’m ill!

This is likely to be my last post from my long stay here in Japan. I have mentioned time and again the wonderful memories I have made during the last six months and it is with a heavy heart that I will be returning back to London. I cannot begin to put into words how I feel and what I will take away from the time I spent here but I feel that I may have changed and grown; that I suppose I cannot judge for myself and I will let others see for themselves.