Gaba Certification Day Three

It's over! Three long, tiring days but it's over.

They were exhausting, but quite enjoyable. The trainer was from Birmingham too so that was nice. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. I was listening so intently that I made 20 pages of notes!

The last day comprised of learning more about the computer system Gaba uses and a lot of teaching practice!

In fact, we had two Japanese women come in to have lessons! The actual lesson length is 40 minutes but because we only had limited time, ours were 20. I thought mine went okay, but that I was a bit tense (I was nervous!) as we'd only practised with ourselves roleplaying as students before.

After the lesson, the students filled out a feedback form about each teacher, rating them on different aspects of their teaching from 1-5.

And apparently I made Gaba-history! I had all 5s in my feedback and my student asked where I would be working so she could come in and continue her lessons with me as her instructor! What a shock! According to the trainer, neither of those things had ever happened before.

She was a very nice woman and I look forward to being able to teach her again if she finds me!

Gaba uses a LOT of different textbooks, and we familiarised ourselves with the Business series in the afternoon, then did a 50-minute written multiple-choice test. You have to pass (at least 70% e.g. 35 out of 50) to finish the training but apparently only 2 people have failed, and 2 have got 100%.

The test was difficult at times - there's a section on grammar! There's 5 sections of 10 questions on the textbooks and the computer system and professionalism etc. A lot of the answers were just common sense, others had been drilled into us over the last three days, and some required a "What!?" The good thing was that we were allowed to use the textbooks, internet, Gaba system and our notes during the test, so if we were listening during the training, it should be easy. The only challenging bit was the grammar.

I got 94% (47/50) and I was pleased with that. Two of the questions I got wrong were in one particular section... I'll let you guess which it could have possibly been!

The other people on the training course were very nice and I enjoyed working with them, and being able to speak to them and learn about their countries (the usual mix of Australia, USA, Canada etc.) so it was an enjoyable three days!

I also chatted to a nice cleaning-lady who I met several times in the men's toilets. She brightened up the breaks for me!

I have a meeting at my school on Monday so I now have a Gaba-free weekend to sort other things out. It's been quite a busy week on the job-front, I'll let you know more tomorrow!

Gaba Certification Day Two

I don't know if there's much I can say really.

The bottom line is - it's hard work! I'm soooo tired now. The amount of different textbooks, methods, rules and practices is crazy! But the hope is that it will all be worth it when that first pay check comes in.

Incidentally, that pay check will be on March 25th, as they pay for the previous month's work on the 25th of every month and I will start sometime in February, probably next week.

Sorry this hasn't been the most informative of posts, my brain is more than slightly mushy. I will update properly on Friday I think.

Hope you're doing well! Let me know if want any questions answering or if you're interested in something I haven't really discussed, and maybe I can help you out.

Miles

Up-and-Coming Star

I have stumbled upon the music of Monica Wu, an up-and-coming rising star who has conquered Taiwan and will soon make it big in Tokyo. She has gigs coming up in March so if you want to check her out, then definitely do so! She's a great performer and a wonderful singer. Her album is also out now.

Gaba Certification Day One

I had my first day of three of Gaba training today. It was pretty intensive. It was meant to last from 10-7 but it finished early at 6.15.

There is a LOT of work to be done, and the pay isn't a huge amount per 40-minute lesson, but I need a job! The work comes from the fact that you have to type everything up after the lesson that you covered, and you only get a 5-minute break in between classes. You also have to make detailed notes on the vocabulary, grammar, phrases etc covered, so the student can take it home.

I am so tired now. But I did make myself a delicious and nutritious spaghetti bolognese when I got home - very welcome indeed.

Homesickness

I bet you were wondering how long it would be before I wrote a post with that title.

The good news is that it's not too bad at the moment. (I might regret saying that.)

I arrived in Japan three weeks ago today. That's the longest I've ever been away from home (and that was with my family). I wrote a post about how distorted time has been for me last week and it's no different for me now. It feels like I've been here a day, or a lifetime, depending on how I look at it.

Missing home strikes me worst at certain times; when I'm trying to get to sleep, in the shower and when I see a picture of something from home randomly. I haven't hit any walls and thought, "Right. That's it. Done Tokyo. I'm going home." or anything yet. I've heard three months is tough, but it strikes people at different times - people I've spoken to have said that Day Six or Week Two were hard for them.

There are things that I do to try to resist homesickness and so far, they've worked.

Watching an episode of Family Guy every night on Family Guy Now.com has been great. I know that whatever happens during the day, nothing will stop me from watching Family Guy before going to sleep. I tried to watch programmes on 4oD and the BBC's iPlayer but they are only available in the UK.

Bringing sentimental things from home e.g. a favourite mug, helps me feel connected.

MSN Messenger is great! It helps me keep in contact with friends and family, as does Facebook. But even better than them is Skype. I have been able to talk to my family, having live conversations with video and audio, for free since I downloaded it two weeks ago. Being able to see my house and family makes me feel like I never really left. I heartily recommend it if you go away anywhere.

Listening to radio online. I like the UK's Radio 1 which you can listen to online. I use the listen-again facility and find the show that would be on at the time I am at, even if it's 6am in the UK, I can listen to Edith Bowman, who would be on at 3pm. That does mean that I am a day behind so I get all the old news and all the wrong days and dates. But at least the time is right! That helped me get over my jetlag too.

It's easier said than done, but taking each day at a time works. Not thinking, right, I've been here two weeks, only 29 to go, but focussing on what I've got to do right now. Living in the moment. Which is hard to do if I'm nervous or stressed about something, but, if you can, it's a good way to look at things.

I know it sounds cheap and cliched, but songs mean more to me now. In particular, 'Change' by The Sugababes (I know), 'Oh My God' by Lily Allen and Mark Ronson (I don't like the original) and 'The Journey Continues' by Mark Brown feat. Sarah Cracknell (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - I'm not laughing, if you hear the song, you'll know what I mean).

I'm not sure when I'll hit my wall, or if I will, or what will come of it, but I do know that tomorrow is another day, and that's all I've got to think about.

Hanko Registration

Unless you know exactly where a place is, never, ever go anywhere without a map, and even then, take one anyway.

I went to collect the Hanko name stamp I bought on Friday this morning. It was just outside the train station, but I still got lost. It took me 15 minutes to find the place, but when I did it was very easy. He remembered me and produced my stamp, showing me the mark it made.

If you need to find out how to write your name in Japanese (it will probably be in katakana) then this site is quite good. Mine is just my surname in katakana, but you could have it in kanji similar to the sounds in your name too, but it's probably best to stick to simple to avoid any possible confusion.

Then I headed to Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank to change my official signature from 'sign' to Hanko stamp. It has a different name when you use it for official documents, an inkan. Easier to remember because it has the word 'ink' in it.

I asked one of the employees how to do it and she gave me a couple of forms to fill in my name and address on. Then I took a ticket from the machine and waited for half an hour to be called. It was then that I realised I hadn't brought the proof of Alien Registration with me. I thought I'd have to go back and get it but it turned out it wasn't a problem. I filled in some forms and stamped about a billion things. The whole process took about 45 minutes, but it would have been quicker if I could have understood everything she said to me.

That was done! This wasn't on my initial itinerary but I decided to go to Chuo-ku Ward Office to see if I had to register my inkan as my official signature.

I did have to! I asked one of the men standing near the door and he helped me through the form, then gave me a ticket from the machine and I waited. I was called up to the counter after about 10 minutes and they gave me another form to fill in, and I had to sign and stamp in several boxes. The whole process took about 45 minutes again. At one point, I saw a card with my face on it in a folder they were using and I wondered if it was my Gaikokujin Tourokusho (Alien Registration Card).

It wasn't a problem here either that I didn't have the receipt of my Alien Registration or the certificate. I did have my passport and that seemed to do.

They gave me the certificate that said that I had registered my inkan as my official signature and a card that I could put into any Ward Office in Chuo-ku to obtain a copy of this certificate. I had to choose a 4-digit PIN number for this. It cost me Y350 (£1.75ish).

And then they surprised me by giving me my Alien Registration Card! I was meant to collect it on Valentine's Day but it was ready early! So that was definitely a trip worth making.

Another successful morning! I can now cross a lot of things off my 'To-do List'!

Hamacho Park

Yesterday (Sunday) was my day off from doing things. I needed some time to sort stuff out, do laundry and some food shopping, that kind of thing.

I walked down to my local supermarket, Daimaru Peacock, and on the way, saw some archways leading down the centre of a road, with trees around it. I knew I'd be loaded down with heavy bags afterwards, so I decided to take a detour and see what it was before I shopped. I'd seen it before several times but never explored, so I wanted to take this opportunity.

Unfortunately I don't have photos because I thought I was just going shopping.

I walked under these white arches, covered in some kind of creeping plant, and entered into a long, narrow grove full of trees and bushes, with a cobbled path winding through them. I was immediately taken in by the place. I had to explore more.

Most of the trees were bare but they had little signs attached with their scientific names and photos of them in full bloom. The bushes were lovely, covered in leaves and small flowers.

I walked up, leaving the main intersection and into a quieter residential area. This day was beautifully bright and clear, not a cloud in the sky. When you found a spot of sunlight, it was lovely and warm, it could have been April or May, but one area near my guesthouse never sees sun as it sits behind such a huge building, and the pond there was covered in ice!

I crossed the road at a crossroads and then went back into a similar park-area in the centre of the next road. Here, there was a stream that ran the entire length of the area. There was only water at the bottom end of it, where there was a filter, and at the top, there was a dry fountain. So I guess they turn it on and fill the entire stream with water in the summer. There were rocks and an ornate Japanese bridge, and all of this was surrounded by birds, trees and bushes. Very nice.

I left that grove and began to turn back for the supermarket, but I saw a patch of trees a short walk up another road. So I explored some more.

This was Hamacho Park, which I'd seen on maps, but never been to. Small Japanese parks aren't usually grassy, they have a variety of flowerbeds and paved paths, but this one did have an area of grass. But, as it's Winter, it was brown and bare. I can't wait to return to this place in Spring, when things start to bloom and plants grow properly. Then I'll take some photos.

This park borders Sumida River, so I walked up onto a pavillion overlooking the river. The water was sparkling with the sun and everything had a fresh, clean look to it, despite the elevated highway over my head.

There were some teenage boys messing around nearby and I automatically assumed that they were grafittiing or vandalising something. They were practising t'ai chi.

I wandered along the river for a bit, then returned to the park and found a swimming pool in the Sports Centre there. Good to know, I might fancy a swim sometime.

Then I wandered through the children's playground, where families were playing baseball, basketball, see-saw and on the equipment. It brought out the inner-child within me. I wanted to skip or climb on something. Obviously I didn't, I attract enough stares without doing that kind of thing.

It was when I stopped next to the park's shrine and turned back to look at the trees over a pond beneath the blue sky that I felt truly happy to be here. I was glad that I was in Tokyo. Pleased that I'd put myself through a lot of work to get here, and was now finally really happy that I could be in Japan.

Then I spent £40 on food!!

Grand Sumo at the Ryogoku Kokugikan

I've been wanting to do something as a tourist for quite a while. And there was a leaflet advertising Sumo near the shoe-rack in my guesthouse. I finally read it and found that there are three tournaments in Tokyo a year, January, May and September. The January one ended today (Sunday 27th). All the reserve-able tickets were gone, and very expensive anyway. The alternative is turning up on the day when the box office opens (8.20am) and trying to get one of the 350 same-day unreserved tickets they sell.

So I got up at 7 yesterday and took the subway the three stops to Ryogoku. I'd been told you could see the arena from the JR Ryogoku station, and the subway station was right next to the train station. So I emerged, expecting to just walk and find it. But no such luck. What I headed for was the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which I'm sure would have been fascinating, but it wasn't what I was after.
I eventually found the place, doing that old trick of going the right way, then turning back, only to return there a few minutes later.

I joined the queue at 8.40 and was given a preliminary ticket numbered 306, so they really do sell out quickly. The ticket cost me Y2,100 (just over £10) so it's very reasonable for a whole day of Sumo.

The whole time I was queuing, there was a man beating drums on the top of this tower, which added a lot of atmosphere to the event. The street outside the stadium was adorned with colourful banners displaying names of wrestlers.
Even though I had to be there early to buy my ticket, the first preliminary bouts didn't start until 10.40 so I had time to burn. I saw on a map that Ryunosuke Akutagawa (one of my favourite Japanese authors, second only to Haruki Murakami) grew up in a house nearby, so I went to investigate. I passed a potted flower that looked suspiciously like a cauliflower, but took a photo of this statuette with wrestlers' handprints embedded instead.
It took me forever to find the place, and several trips back to look at the map, to find this plinth by the roadside. The kanji proclaims 'Ryunosuke Akutagawa lived here'.
And there's his address: Ryogoku, 3-choome, 22.
There's a note on the mailbox for his house: "A mailbox is the 'face' of your entrance. It greets happy messages with a lovely smile". I wonder what it does for bills...
Unfortunately, his old house has become a fast food restaurant. That's Westernisation for you!
Walking back, I saw this sign outside a cafe saying 'Happy Nuts Fair', advertising a type of coffee. That's the level of humour I'm used to.
I went into the grounds of the Ryogoku Kokugikan at about 10 to have a wander round before the first match of the day. Apparently the ticket gates are manned by past Sumo greats! Of course, I had no idea who I was served by! There's a shrine outside the main entrance.
As I had time to kill, I went up onto the rooftop plaza and had a look at the roof and the view.
In the main entrance hall, there is a display case at the back spanning the length of a wall. In the centre is the trophy that the winner of the tournament is presented with.


There is a Sumo museum attached to the stadium. Entrance is free and the items inside are very interesting, although it's a pretty small museum, just one room. But a very pretty room.
This is a loincloth worn by a previous yokozuna (grand champion). Who would win in a competition? A Sumo or Tarzan?

This corridor was lined with stalls selling bento boxes, unfortunately you have to pre-book them.
I queued for about half an hour to taste chanko, the traditional stew dish eaten by wrestlers. It was very nice, and only cost Y200 (£1)!
A wrestler makes his entrance through the South Gate. Most arrived on bikes - no limos here!
Once the preliminary bouts (between trainees yet to be ranked) began, I found my seat. My ticket didn't prescribe an exact seat, just a row. I was in Floor 2, Row 14, which turned out to be the highest row in the place, very far from the action! So I apologise if some of my photos and videos are a little hard to make out. I tried my best. These seats were, incidentally, the most uncomfortable. Below me there were soft red velvety ones, then on the first floor there were boxes with tables and chairs, rows of mats in little sections seating 2-4 people and then "courtside" mats, where people could actually see the wrestling up close. I wouldn't want to sit that close though, you'd get salt and Sumos thrown at you!
Around the top of the stadium (just above my head) were portraits of previous champions. They were made by adding oil paints to photographic images. Cheating if you ask me.
The stadium was very empty all morning, no one seemed very interested in the early bouts, they wanted to see the juryo and makuuchi bouts (the higher ranks).
The ring is made of mud and sand (and salt I'd imagine after all of it was thrown around!).
The preliminary bouts started.
The average match was about 10 seconds long. The shortest were about 2 seconds where one charged and the other moved, sending the charger flying into the audience. The longest one was one of the very first of the day - it lasted about 2 minutes!
The wrestlers had very specific routines they performed before the actual fight, as these two videos show.



The loser takes the walk of shame.
The next wrestlers queue up waiting for their turn.
They prepare by raising their legs and arms. They face each other and try to psych the other out by stamping and clapping.
Then they crouch and prepare to fight.
Action shot! The winner uses the old shove-and-win technique.
Two wrestlers struggle with each other. Several times it looked like they weren't even moving, just hugging each other. But I was quite far away. Even when he wasn't fighting, one Sumo was so still he looked like he was a cardboard cutout.
More and more people arrived as the day went on.
Sumo has direct links to Shinto and it retains this link by having the Shinto-style "roof" above the ring. There are four coloured tassles at each corner; red, green, black and white, representing the seasons.
The higher level wrestlers (juryo) arrive and make their entrance, standing in a circle.

The stadium started to fill up then.
A lot...
The announcer would sing the name of the team (either East (higashi) or West (nishi)) and then the name of the wrestler. They have specially trained high-pitched voices, and are ranked similarly to the Sumo wrestlers, the best last. But I still think the first one was the best.
At about 4pm, the yokozuna entered and drew spirited cheers from the crowd, stamping their feet and clapping their hands.



The flags then came down round the "roof", making it look very impressive.
The highest level wrestlers that wrestled that day were the makuuchi, who took a lot longer to actually fight! They would go through a ritual of stamping, staring at each other and throwing salt up to three times before charging. It was funny when one wrestler threw a huge handful of salt onto the ring and got a massive cheer, then lost in the first few seconds.
Salt is thrown to purify the ring before a fight. And the wrestlers stamp to scare away evil spirits, as well as each other.


They looked thrilled to be there. The score was kept using a board on either side of the stadium. Two red lights would appear on either side of two Sumo's names written in kanji, either East or West, when those two were fighting and then stay lit on the winning side afterwards. I am happy to say that my team won. Go higashi!
After the final match, a lower-ranked wrestler stepped into the ring and performed the bow-dance (yumitori-shiki).


I left at about 6pm. What a great day! It was so Japanese, and something I'd wanted to do for a long time. If you get the chance, definitely try to see a match or two, or seven hours worth, you know, whatever. There are other Grand Sumo tournaments in Osaka in March, Aichi in July, and Fukuoka in November.

We Have Heat!

Up til now, I haven't used the air conditioner in my room (all Sakura House rooms come with an air conditioner) but I was just so cold and tired of shivering in the mornings and evenings, that I've used the remote control and turned the heat up.

The air conditioner is controlled by the remote control, and it only has buttons with Japanese written on them so they gave me a sheet with the English translation on when I first checked-in. How useful!

And now it's blissfully warm in my room. For the first time since I arrived! It's always been lovely to step out into the kitchen and horrible to come back into my room!

I'm going to watch another episode of Family Guy (Family Guy Now.com is a lifesaver!) and go to bed for an early start tomorrow. I'm going to try to see Sumo! I'll let you know if I can get a ticket, and how it goes.

Miles

My Bank Account, Gaba Contract & Hanko

Big morning, not day, just morning.

I got up at 7am (the earliest I've been up the whole time) to get into my business clothes and get to Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank for their opening time at 9am.

Something I feel is very important for you to know, is that I had 'What Hurts The Most' by Cascada stuck in my head for the entire day. Which was very annoying, as it sucks!

I left my guesthouse at about 8.15 and walked to Ningyocho station on the Hibiya line. I was all psyched up for a Tokyo rush hour but I was very disappointed to find that there were about 2 people standing on the entire train and there were free seats! So I went the couple of stops to Kodenmacho and followed the map MUFJ Tsukiji branch gave me yesterday. I didn't actually need it, it was just round the corner from the exit. I waited outside the bank (it was 8.40), watching the world go by. It was another very clear, cloud-less morning so it was pleasant enough.

As soon as the metal gate came up inside at 9 sharp, I ducked under it and showed my documents and the letter from the Tsukiji branch to the first person I saw. She got me the first ticket of the day, 601, for me and asked me to sit and wait. I was there for 5 minutes, then I was called.

I didn't even have to speak that much. The letter and the documents spoke for themselves. The woman went through it, asked for some help from an older worker a couple of times, and filled in other forms. I was terrified the whole time, watching the clock behind her click past 9.30.

She asked me to wait on the chairs again, after getting me to sign about 500 pieces of paper, squeezing my signature into a Hanko stamp-sized circle. She needed me to fill in one document again because I'd written my name the Western way and it needed to Japanese-style i.e. surname followed by first and middle names.

She kept biting her lip and asking for help. I was eyeing her pleadingly, expecting her at any moment to say "Sorry. Is impossible".

But that moment never came! She gave me my bank book and paid Y10,000 (£50) into my account. I didn't really know what she wanted me to do. She pointed at a box on a form and said "Write money. Your money." I was thinking: All my money? What is this for?

But I had a Y10,000 note on me so I paid that in. She gave me my bank book, passport and proof of Alien Registration back. She said that my cash card would arrive in a week's time, which I already knew. I had to choose my PIN there and then. I just had to write it down on a form she gave me. Not very private really...

I left at just gone 10 with a smile. One down, two to go!

I got back on the Hibiya line (I don't really like the Hibiya line, it's old and there are no cool screens) and headed back to Ningyocho and onto Ebisu for the Gaba Recruitment Centre.

I stood for the beginning of the journey, then grabbed a seat when it opened up. Two middle-aged women got on and one sat next to me. The other stood and chatted. I felt bad so I stood and said "Douzo" (please), pointing to the seat. She smiled and sat down, thanking me. Then the other offered me a little chocolate liquer. I smiled broadly and thanked her very much, saying it was delicious. She said it was whisky. I said, "I KNOW!"

When I got off at Ebisu, they both smiled and waved as I thanked them again. How nice...

On the way to Gaba, I passed a shop with a board outside proclaiming 'Seruraito for Ladies', which sounds suspiciously like Cellulite for Ladies. Then I used a toilet that had a seat warmer, bottom cleaner (shockingly I didn't investigate that) and deoderant, all that could be controlled by a control panel built into the toilet's 'arm'.

I got to Gaba half an hour early, but that gave me a chance to read the contract thoroughly to make sure I wasn't selling them my soul or anything. We went through all the documents until about 12. Then came the embarrassing part! Students at Gaba choose their instructor through an online profile with a picture and video so we had to smile and say a bit about ourselves. How hideous...

I start my Gaba Certification (three days unpaid training) on Tuesday.

Then I walked back to the station with a woman who had to borrow my jacket for the photo. She thought I was Australian (probably the hair) and much older than I actually am (18 if you didn't know). She said I spoke very clearly and I said it was probably my British accent. She suggested that on top of that, I was used to speaking as clearly as possible for non-English speakers. She asked how long I'd been in Japan and was shocked when I said "two weeks", she thought I must have been here for much longer.

Went all the way back to Kodenmacho, this time for the Hanko shop there. I showed the man my letter from the bank and he asked me what type of Hanko I wanted. It looked like he was offering me half my name on one, or all of it on another. So I took the one with all of it! That cost me Y4,300 (about £20), and considering there were some there for Y70,000 (£350), I thought it was a pretty good deal!

The man there was very nice and helped me out with my Japanese. He asked me where I was from (he thought I was American) and explained that I could pick the Hanko up on Monday.

Then I headed back home for lunch at 14.00, a little tired but pleased.

Bank Accounts

What a day!

To quote 'Friends', could it have BEEN any more hectic?

It started off nicely enough. I woke up and lazed in bed for a bit, turned on my Softbank phone and started playing with it - then it rings! And it's Gaba, confirming that I've got the job, and need to have a bank account open before contract signing at 11am tomorrow.

So I hurriedly ring Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ (Gaba's recommended bank) to ask if the receipt of my Alien Registration card will be enough to open an account and if Gaba were right and, because I would be working with them, I could open an account despite being under 20. They said yes, that's fine.

So I hopped on the Hibiya line to Nihonbashi, prepared for another three hour search for the right bank, but I was sure I'd passed MUFJ several hundred times before, and I had! I found it on a map written entirely in kanji (go me) and it was a very short walk away.

I took a number from the ticket machine and waited for about 15 minutes. I went up to the counter when my number (75) was called and I asked if she spoke English. She didn't, so she got someone who did. She said to open an account, I had to go upstairs, so one of the workers showed me the way. I then spoke to a woman who supposedly (not supposably) spoke English and after about an hour of language negotiation, I understood that the receipt was not enough. I needed a more official document. So I left, and then returned, armed with the fact that I had rung Head Office and they had said the receipt was fine. Then I spoke to a Japanese-American woman (why couldn't I speak to her in the first place?) who said that unfortunately, the receipt was not enough, and she would ask her manager to ring Gaba and explain the situation. She wrote down the name of the document I needed in kanji for me.

So I hurried to Chuo-ku Ward Office, two subway trips away, where I applied for my Alien Registration card last week, and filled in one of the yellow forms labelled 'For Foreigners'. I think she called it a 'genpo' (pronounced 'gempo'). It was the right form! I wondered how long this document would take - days, weeks, months? It took about 10 minutes. Yay! I had to pay Y300 (£1.50).

By this time it was 14.30 and all MUFJ branches close at 15.00. So I ran back to Tsukiji station, where I'd seen an arrow on the station pointing to the nearest branch. So I went back, Pasmo'ed my way onto the platform, then found the right exit. And it wouldn't let me leave! I explained in extremely broken Japanese to the guard that I hadn't been on a train, I'd just come onto the platform. He used my Pasmo card to buy another ticket (grgh) and I left. The MUFJ bank was just around the corner and I arrived with 10 minutes til closing time.

I was sure they would send me away, saying it was too late to open a bank account, come back tomorrow, but they sat me down with some forms and helped me through them. I had to write my name, address, phone number and date of birth several times on different pieces of paper, but, at about 15.10, they told me to get a ticket from the machine, and wait for it to be called. Ten minutes later, 723 was called and I went up to the counter.

The woman didn't speak English and was desperately trying to tell me something. About 15 minutes later, she told me I'd have to come back another day with a Japanese-speaking friend. No!! I asked if there was anyone who spoke English at the bank. She went to have a look. And there was! A very nice woman who introduced herself as Nakamura, and spoke very good English, then took over.

Then came the real problems! First of all, they spent over 30 minutes pondering over my address, because what I had written on the forms was different to what the Ward Office had written. They checked Sakura House's website, used an interactive map to find my exact building, used online address finders etc etc. I suggested they rang Sakura House to confirm the address, but they said it would be an invasion of privacy. I didn't mind! Finally, it took me reciting my address, in Japanese, back to them. It turns out that I hadn't written the building name (because it was extremely long and didn't fit into the space on the form) on their document so they were confused.

Then there was a problem with me using my signature to open an account at this branch. The Nihonbashi branch said "Sign ok" but the Tsukiji branch needed a Hanko (name stamp) to open one. I said I didn't have one. She then printed me out a map and wrote me a note to the owner of the nearest Hanko shop to my home.

Then they said that I had to open an account at the branch nearest to my home - Oudenma-cho branch (right by my nearest Hanko shop, conveniently) and couldn't open one here for me. I asked if Oudenma-cho would allow me to open an account with my signature, not a stamp. They rang them up, and found out that it would be okay to open one with my signature, but I would need a Hanko later to transfer my official signature to the stamp.

Nakamura said that I could get my bank book immediately when I opened the account, but my bank card would be sent in the post using Special Delivery. If I missed the postman (very likely as he might not know where to go for my room) he'd leave a message, and I would have to take my passport, my Hanko and the message to a post office (not sure which one) and collect it from there. That would be 7-10 days after I opened my account.

Then they realised that I needed proof that I was working at Gaba (something Gaba had told me wasn't needed) so I produced my preliminary contract I'd been given. They said it was okay but tomorrow the Oudenma-cho branch would need to ring Gaba to confirm.

Then Gaba phoned me. It was one of those Phoebe moments (sorry, another 'Friends' quote, but I miss it) - "Ugh, who's phone is that? It's so annoying. Everywhere you go!"
And yes, it was mine. I explained the situation to them and they said that if I couldn't open an account by 11am tomorrow, we'd have to re-schedule the contract signing in February. No!! I can't put this off, I need money!

I explained to Nakamura the urgency of me opening this account before 11am tomorrow and she wrote a note to someone at Oudenma-cho explaining the situation. Then she stuck a note on the Gaba contract saying it was okay to ring Gaba to confirm that I was going to work there.

By this time, it was nearly 16.45 and I knew that they must be really frustrated with me. I kept apologising and they shook their heads and said it was fine. I was the last customer left in the bank, all of the workers were still there, but I felt bad using up their time.

They printed me out a map of the Oudenma-cho branch's location and labelled the nearest subway exit and the route for me. Then they wished me good luck and they hoped for the best for tomorrow.

I took the Hibiya line home, bought two ready meals (I hadn't eaten anything all day) and flopped down at 18.00 to get some nourishment.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to get up at 7am, get into my business clothes, go straight to the Oudenma-cho branch for its opening at 9am, hopefully there won't be any problems (ha!), I'll get my bank book, then go to the Gaba Recruitment Centre at Ebisu and sign my contract. After that, I can go back to the same area as Oudenma-cho and order my Hanko name stamp (it takes a day to make it). That's the plan! But I'd put money on something going wrong and there being SOME problem.

Many thanks to the people at Tsukiji's Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. They were the nicest customer service people I've ever met. They were very friendly, understanding, interested in my travels, eager to help, and went well beyond the call of duty (and their finishing time).

Big day tomorrow! Fingers crossed it all goes to plan...

Third (and Final) Interview at Gaba

The day started nicely. Tokyo had one of its two days of snow a year. Unfortunately, it wasn't heavy, or cold, enough for it to settle. But it was still nice to see some snow. It was very peaceful and relaxing to see.

I spent the afternoon preparing for my interview - showered, shaved, deoderised (I know it isn't a word), read the information Gaba gave me at my previous interviews...

Then the time came. It was raining so I hurried as quickly as I could to my second closest subway station on the Hibiya line. And then the sign said 'Not in Service'! And I was like "Nooo! I have 40 minutes to get all the way to Ebisu!". But the train arrived anyway, and I got on, terrified the whole way that it wouldn't stop at Ebisu for some reason. But it ran as normal... how odd.

I got to Gaba five minutes early and sat down in the lobby area. Ten minutes later, the man who took my first interview came out and said that the Senior Manager was going to do my interview and he'd be out in a few minutes.

So I waited nervously, and he came out to meet me. He seemed very nice, not as scary as I expected him to be!

He asked me similar questions as in the second interview, but there was much less pressure on it. Oddly, it seemed like I'd already got the job, just as long as no problems cropped up in this interview.

He asked why I'd come to Japan, how long I'd been here, how long I intended to stay, why did I want to teach English, did I anticipate any problems I could face? That sort of thing.

He said that my age could be an issue, and I should be prepared for that, but Gaba's clients are much more concerned with the quality of the instructing, rather than the instructor. He also told me that 12% of Gaba employees are under 2o, which surprised me.

And then closed by saying that they would contact me to arrange a contract signing date and the date I would start training. Looks like I got the job!

So I rang home from my new phone and spoke for about 3-4 minutes, which only cost me £2.50, which is cheaper than from a public payphone. Then took the Hibiya line back to my guesthouse.

At Ebisu station, I heard a bang very similar to the one I heard when someone collapsed on the train last week. And it turned out that that had happened again. In exactly the same part of the train. On the other platform, at the very front of the train, someone had fainted and people were crowding round, either trying to help or see what was happening. The driver came out and helped the person off the train, but the train blocked the rest of what happened. I assume the person was okay. Twice in one week! I wonder how common it is...

Then, I got on the most crowded train-ride yet. I was sitting, because I got on before Tsukiji and Ginza, but after that, it was very busy. Again, not shoulder-to-shoulder morning rush hour, but still very busy. I guess morning rush hours are worse because that's when the vast majority start work, but people finish at different times, and might not go straight home. That was about 18:30.

The girl sitting opposite me looked suspiciously like she was taking photos of me on her phone. I don't know if she was, but I wasn't too unhappy when the people started crowding in and I couldn't see her anymore!

So I'm very pleased with today's outcome. Tomorrow I think I will try to sort out the account at Gaba's recommended bank. Let's hope there isn't too much trouble there! Although, come on, this is me we're talking about... something has to go wrong!

Random Things

This is just a random little post. I just saw this video and liked it. And this, because it's just good. Very random I know!

Oooh, this is a good opportunity to say some random things I've noticed that haven't really fitted in with any other posts...

The trees in Tokyo are mummified!! I assume to restrict unwanted growth, but it's really weird to see every tree wrapped tightly in gauze. Maybe I'll try to take a picture.

Manhole covers aren't just a circle of metal in the pavement, they actually match the ground surface, whether it's concrete or patterned slabs.

In the corners of some stations you see a little whirlwind of dust and dirt dancing in the air conditioner's flow.

There are signs on the front of some buildings saying 'elevator is the back-side'.

The oddest shops are open all day. There's the usual McDonalds (shortened to Maku in Kanto, and Makudo in Kansai) but also 24-hour Jeans Mates.

Every day at 16.30, near my guesthouse, an electronic-sounding clock chimes 3 o'clock. That's the only time it ever does that. My question is... ... why?

Sometimes, they play Pokemon-style music before announcements on trains and stations. It brings a smile to my face. There's also a really annoying jingle advertising something that plays every 5 minutes or so in convenience stores.

Every day, at dusk, a man on a bike rides up and down my road ringing a bell and honking a horn. I assume he's letting people know that a certain shop is selling something, not doing it for the fun of it.

Occassionally, but always at 14.10, a car with a loudspeaker on the roof drives slowly up the road chanting something. I guess that it's a political slogan but I don't know.



When trucks reverse, they beep intermittently exactly the same as in the UK, but they also have a female voice warning people to watch out.

In the UK, you make and buy your Subway sandwiches from right to left, here it's left to right. Crazy!

All the pets, bar two dogs, I've seen are tiny! I assume it's because people don't have room in their homes for large animals, but I keep seeing people walking these minature dogs!

There are electronic road maps above major intersections that show traffic or roadblocks. How clever is that!

There are no roundabouts. All crossings or intersections have traffic lights.

All doors lock the wrong way. It's taken a lot of getting used to. I keep unlocking my unlocked door.

All the rumours are true... grown men read manga comics as they walk around, people become nodding dogs as soon as they get a seat on the subway, and ill people wear white surgical masks.

Every employee you meet in a shop has to cry 'Irasshaimaseeeeeeee' (welcome), no matter how long you've been in the shop.

If you ask someone if they speak English and they say no, they will speak to you in English anyway, even if you speak to them in Japanese.

Despite being told that it's very rude to blow your nose in public before I came, I have seen several people of all ages do it. But they all do it very carefully, there's no mess. They blow discreetly and then shove the tissue/ handkerchief into their nostrils slightly (sounds lovely I know) to make sure they are clean.

U-turns that would be very illegal in the UK seem perfectly commonplace here, it's really quite dangerous!

No one understands the concept of "crossing your fingers". I've had to explain to quite a few people that I'm hoping I'll get the job, not that I'm lying about getting the job.

Even the most unapproachable-looking people turn out to be very kind and helpful if you ask them something.

I've found that I do a double-take when I see foreigners on the street or on the subway. It's just such a rarity here! More so than I expected. Today was the most gaijin-rific day I've had. I must have seen 6 in the space of 20 minutes or so.

Even the shortest train/ subway ride can seem like it takes hours, and I don't know why. Maybe it's because they travel very fast but they have a lot of ground to cover between each station?

Despite the general rule being to walk on the left of the pavement, street or road, people deviate and I always seem to get in the way. Actually, there's a very interesting (at least I found it interesting) website about why people walk and drive on the left or right in different countries. I found it on Kayo's Osaka Life blog, which I've found very interesting.

Although I haven't seen a morning rush hour (I have seen the start of several evening ones), Tokyo is not as busy as I expected it to be. I spent hours worrying that I wouldn't be able to turn around without hitting someone here, but many places are very calm and quiet. Claustrophobia is not such an issue, having said that, my room is very spacious so maybe I'm a bit biased there.

You have to pay to get into some public parks. What's that all about!?

The fruit here is very expensive, and huge! I bought a pack of 4 apples for about Y400 (£2) and they are these massive red Braeburn-style apples, which are very juicy and succulent. Maybe they are so big because of all the chemicals sprayed onto them!

Noisy teenagers on bikes quieten down as you walk past them, rather than sucking their teeth and looking you up and down menacingly. For example, I was walking through my local park and I saw a group of boys messing around, but they were grafittiing or vandalising anything, they were practising t'ai chi!

It's so clean!! Not in terms of air quality, although I haven't noticed the pollution much, just the occassional Continental Europe sewer smell or a faceful of fumes. But the streets are almost completely free of litter, despite the fact that bins are few and far between.

In my guesthouse, you have to leave your shoes in a shelving unit by the heavy metal outer door and then step up into the kitchen. There is a sliding (and folding) paper door that covers the shower area (it's magnetic too), then a sliding plastic door that actually seals you into the shower-room. The whole room is waterproof, and airtight, so it gets quite stuffy in there! I also have to duck in almost all doorways, I've banged my head once too many times already! I even have to duck in some public areas, like tunnels connecting subway platforms, or in train doors.

Some things that are relatively simple and easy in the UK are very difficult in Japan, like buying a pre-paid mobile phone for example!

English is absolutely EVERYWHERE! Considering less than 1% of its population of over 127,000,000 is foreign, and most of those are Korean or Chinese, Japan caters for English-speakers like almost no other country (in the East, obviously). There are 'one-minute English lessons' on the screens in the subway that teach phrases like 'Face-to-face' or 'First thing in the morning'. It's rare to have a train station that doesn't have the names of the last, current and next stations in both Japanese (kanji and hiragana) and English. Most trains have announcements in English and Japanese. Maps are usually bilingual too, as are road-signs. Most people either speak English, or speak enough. There are English language newspapers, magazines, films, TV programmes... you name it. You could kid yourself into thinking you never left home - eat at McDonald's (I haven't succumbed so far!), live in a Western-style apartment, meet with English-speaking friends...

Well, if I think of other random things then I can add them, but that's quite enough random-ness for one night I think.

Second Interview at Gaba

Wow, that came around fast. I had my first interview five days ago, where did that time go??

I arrived at Gaba ten minutes early, but the woman who was interviewing me came out and got me just 15 seconds after I'd arrived. She took me into one of their booths and sat me down. She gave me a textbook and said that I had five minutes to prepare a five minute lesson based around one of the activities in the textbook. She then left me to it.

Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! The activity was on teaching the difference between 'want' and 'need'. She had given me a blank piece of paper so I tore it in half neatly and wrote 'NEED' on one half and 'WANT' on the other. I had a bottle of water in my bag and one of the examples given in the book was "I want to have some water" and "I need some water" so I got that out and hastily pieced together a quick lesson. I'm sure Felicity Huffman was teaching a lesson in a nearby room.

When she came back, she acted as a low-level student, and I introduced the words using my 'flashcards'. Then I acted being desperately thirsty for some water and pointing to 'NEED' and then drinking. Then I acted normal and calmly drank some water, pointing to 'WANT'. And my lesson went something like that. She seemed to think it went okay.

She then asked me to rate it out of 10. I gave it 6. She asked me how I'd improve it. I said that there should have been more student talking time (STT) than teacher talking time (TTT) as the student would be paying for as much exposure to English conversation as possible.

The questions that followed were things like:

Why do you want to work at Gaba?
Why did you come to Japan?
Why do you want to teach English?
What qualities do you possess that make you suitable for this position?
What are your strengths and weaknesses as a person?
If a student wanted to meet you outside of a lesson what would you say? (They didn't tell me before, but I assumed that they would operate a no-fraternising policy, which they do.)
If a student asked you what a word meant and you didn't know, what would you say? (I said I'd be honest and say I didn't know, then either go and find out, or find out for the next lesson.)
If a student brought in a work document written in English and asked you to help them with it, would you be able to?

I'm pretty sure the last two questions were aimed directly at me as I'm under 20, and are not standard interview questions.

She seemed to be pretty impressed with me, from what I gathered, and she asked me to come back for a third interview (which I have to have being under 20 to make sure I understand enough business English to teach there - which I'm not sure I do, but we will see) tomorrow evening. That one is with someone big at Gaba, a manager of some kind. Eeek!

She also said that one bank (Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank) would let me open an account if I said I'd be working at Gaba!

I got back and was racked with contrasting thoughts about whether to take the job or not if I was offered the position. But I think that I will take the position if offered it. But we will see what tomorrow brings.

Softbank phone!

At long last, I have a Softbank phone! It's been such a struggle, as my earlier post describes.

But, basically, I needed someone over 20 with me to fill in the form and buy it under their name. And I found that person! I asked one of my housemates, Hyunwoo, if he could help me out, and he suggested one of his friends.

So I met up with her at a station just three stops along the Hanzomon line, to a place I'd never been before, so it was nice to see a new area of Tokyo. We went to the nearest Softbank shop and waited our turn for about 20 minutes or so, and were then told that because Softbank was planning to discontinue the prepaid service (Pay-as-you-go in the UK), they no longer sold them!

But they suggested we try Yodobashi Akiba, where I bought my camera. So we walked there, and were told that they didn't stock them anymore, because they were being discontinued! We tried a couple of the other major phone companies, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI but they said the same.

We were stumped, until we bumped into a friend of hers. She suggested we try the Sunkus convenience store round the corner. And they had one! The handset cost Y4,800 (just less than £25), which one of my housemates said was very expensive (that's really cheap!), and then you can choose between Y3,000 (£15) and Y5,000 (£25) top-ups.

It was a bit of a phaff sorting out the registration form. Once we'd filled it in, we had to copy her ID and then fax that copy and the form to Softbank. We had a bit of trouble, but it was sorted in the end and the phone works great!

We changed it so it displays all instructions, contacts and menus in English and you can have recorded information for when you ring them in English too if you ring 1400 from the phone (it's free but has to be done before you do anything else with the phone) and then try to decipher the Japanese (she had to help me), you press 3 at one point, listen for a bit longer, then press 2. Then the # (hash) key and 9 to finish the call.

Then we topped up for the first time by calling 1400 and then following the instructions given, typing in the number on the top-up card/ receipt with two stars around it.

The instruction manuals came in both English and Japanese, and seem quite comprehensive, despite making that most famous of mistakes - "Engrish".

So I got my phone! Which I'm very pleased about. But it does mean that anybody wanting to do a similar thing to me won't be able to get the prepaid service in a year or so. Which is a shame because it's perfect for foreigners coming over for a few months, not needing a contract for a year at a time (which I think is the only option once the discontinuation comes into play). But I think the reason is to do with people using prepaid phones for crime. Shame though.

After writing this, I was informed that only some pre-paid phones were being discountinued, so it's probably still possible to do the same thing as I did. You can read the new information here.

So, thank you very much for all your help Kyoko! You were very helpful and it was great to meet you. I'll take good care of our phone!

Suitengu

Well, I said I'd take some photos, and I went slightly overboard just now! These shots are of my surrounding area in the daylight, and my local shrine - Suitengu Shrine, which is only a five minute walk up the road.

This is the Tokyo City Air Terminal (TCAT) which is just around the corner from my guesthouse. It seems to be Tokyo's answer to Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction.

It is a major transport hub. And here is one of the Friendly Airport Limousine Buses I took from Narita to Shinjuku on my first day.
This is my local Koban (police box).
A traditional Japanese house, complete with sliding front doors.
My road. One of the buildings on the right is my guesthouse.

The main event. Suitengu Shrine behind the torii gate, the sign of a Shinto shrine.
The shrine complex was filled with little stalls and other mini-shrines.
Ahh, the sacred tourist stand...

People queuing to pray at the shrine.

People pull on the bell rope, throw money into the box, clap three times to summon the resident kami (deity) and then pray silently.
The torii with the city behind it.

The following two boards were outside the shrine, at street-level, just to the left of the steps leading into the shrine complex.

Those boards were covered in people's names, written in kanji.
A post with 'Suitengu' written on it next to the road.
This little trough (I suppose you'd call it) was filled with water. People would wash their hands in it and then drink from it using the wooden ladles provided.

Back to the road now. Here are some of Japan's famous vending machines. I haven't seen any selling hot noodles or anything, but lots selling hot coffee, cold cans of drinks and chocolate.

Another traditional Japanese house opposite my guesthouse. This one complete with van in the garage.

This is a much smaller, but quieter shrine about 30 seconds up the road from me. I stumbled upon it when I was searching for the supermarket. I love how one minute you can be queuing to buy a KitKat in a 7-11, then crossing a busy, dirty road, then inside a peaceful den all to yourself. Only in Japan!