experiences – Page 40 – goinggaijin.com

Perseverance

My life seems to have come to a complete standstill. I am not getting anywhere at the moment, or so it seems…

Business is very slow, to put it mildly. I keep applying left and right, but all I get are rejections, if I get any reply at all. No reply to a job application seems to be the modern version of “fuck off”, which I find extremely annoying. The job in Osaka I was talking about three weeks ago I did not get because the company was not willing to hire my company rather than myself. Well, I already had the impression that the interview did not go that well, so I was not overly flattened by this one.

Other jobs are perfect, but do just not exist in Kyoto. For the last one I applied – part-time translator of IT documents from English to German in Tokyo – I was told that they really, really needed somebody to show up in their office three times a week. Probably to hold hands with their developers or so? And others yet, people just cannot afford me. A friend of mine has been struggling for a long time putting together a webpage that I could do virtually effortlessly until the end of the month, but she is scared about the costs involved and doesn’t even want to talk about details… It’s frustrating.

And then there is soroban. I am still practising daily because I want to take the next exam for first kyu on March 20th. This will be my third try of taking the test on this level, which means that I have been training for more than six months already… Okay, the first try I knew I would fail. I did the test then because from this level on the tests are administered not in my soroban school anymore but in an external location, and I wanted to know the exact procedure. I did much better on the second try, but I was still too nervous and unprepared to pass. Let’s hope the third try will be the final one. The exercises are not getting any more exciting…

Well, perseverance is everything.

This is also what a friend of mine needs to do. He has been in the ICU of Kyoto University Hospital for a week now with unclear abdominal pains. He seems to be cheerful though – and is especially taken with all the young nurses fussing over him – but I still have the impression he’d rather be home. All the best for you!

Women’s Day

Did you know that today is the International Women’s Day? Yeah, me neither. I only know because a friend of mine told me this morning – when he presented me with flowers to celebrate the day.

So, guys, why don’t you buy something nice for the women in your life, like chocolates or flowers… (And while you’re at it, don’t forget your office wife aka secretary! They are greatly undervalued anyway.) Or even better: why not doing the dishes, tidy the livingroom or bring the kids to bed tonight? From my own experience I can tell you that women love men who do their bit in the household.

In any case, the whole flower thing reminded me of what one of my female friends told me: Flowers are not a good gift in Japan. Not just chrysanthemums, which are graveyard flowers even in Austria, but any type of flowers. I was quite surprised by this, and unfortunately she could not really explain why. The only reason I could come up with is that flowers – cut ones especially – will all die within a few days, so maybe this is the connotation the Japanese don’t like? However, other female Japanese friends seem to have no problems with flowers, but they have been living abroad for a long time, so this may be a Western view they have picked up.

My problems with the flowers today were more practical. The last time I received any was in the year I got my PhD, a decade ago. My grandmother had an enormous amount of vases, but except for a handful I gave them all away. And none of the vases I still have would have been fitting for the single tulip my friend gave me today. Oh well, I wasn’t a scientist for nothing; you can see my solution in the picture.

Enhancements

Some time ago, I complained about the amount of bulk mail I receive, especially those from real estate agents. But every now and then, something extremely hilarious finds its way into my mailbox. Here is one of those highlights I just had to share:

Those are only two of the … ahem … tasteful images on a flyer I received regarding breast enlargements. Mind you, the ad was not for a plastic surgeon, but for something far more esoteric. Another photo showed a young woman, towel clad, being massaged with a hand-held apparatus emitting bright light and looking suspiciously similar to the computer mouse I am using right now…

Anyway, the advertisement promised that within only 90 minutes of treatment your size will have increased and any potential sagging will have been eliminated. The procedure seems to be as follows: After an interview, where you are probably asked about your expertise regarding computer mice and other delicate questions, you first get a back and then a … umm … front massage with the device mentioned above, and in the end you are allowed to relax with your boobs covered in something … stimulating, I guess. That is all it takes for your bust size to increase by two cups! Except for 22.000 YEN, of course.

I cannot help wondering how plastic surgeons can still be in business after this amazing breakthrough. But maybe 2 cups up is all that’s possible, and the procedure cannot be repeated indefinitely. Then again, it’s a start.

Interesting also the target groups: Women in their 20s would want a size-up, those in their 30s want their boobs bigger and more perky, while women in their 40s just want them lifted off the ground. Anything older than that is not mentioned anymore; those women have obviously resigned and are keeping away from public view in order not to offend.

Anyway, I found this whole thing very enlightening. I am looking forward to receiving a similar advertisement – including pictures – for the enhancement of male appendages. Somehow I have the impression that massages will have a beneficial effect there too…

PS: If anybody is curious about details of the procedure, I am willing to go and sacrifice myself. Any sponsors, please come forward now!

Tunafish

In general, I don’t like going out in the weekends, even though here in Japan most shops, museums, and cafes are open. There are simply too many people around for my taste, and even those places that seem totally off the beaten tracks and are quiet during the week are crowded. Well, if you have ever been to an average Japanese home, you can imagine why people are fleeing them…

Anyway, I ran out of food on Sunday and decided to go shopping to the nearby supermarket. I happened to pass by the fish counter, and there was a tunafish on display, a whole Bluefin Tuna from an aquaculture, about 1 m long and weighing some 50 kg. And when I was told that they would start cutting it up and selling it in just a few minutes, I knew I had to stay and watch this.

At 11 am sharp the whole thing started; the fish was brought back behind the counter, and a young girl who seemed to weigh not much more than the fish started carving it up, under the noisy encouragements of her colleagues. First the head was removed, and then two relatively thin slices right behind the head were cut off the fish. A friend of mine called these parts kama, kind of the shoulders of the fish, and she said that these were the best parts of the animal, even though there is not much meat to them. It seemed to me that those three parts were sold whole and on the spot, but I am not sure.

Afterwards, a deep cut was made along the spine of the fish, and the skin was removed from the back in large stripes. The belly was removed next. It yields the fatty parts of chutoro and otoro, the latter being the most oily part of the fish from right under the skin and light pink in appearance. The last part to be cut from the fish was its back, called akami, there the meat is dark red and relatively dry; it is usually sold as maguro.

Both back and belly were further cut down by an assistant and then those pieces were packaged and offered to the onlookers. I bought a small piece of very expensive otoro. This little piece of 77 grams cost me almost 1000 YEN. I ate it as sashimi and yes, it was absolutely worth it!

It surprised me how much time it took to cut up the whole fish – about 45 minutes in total. The girl obviously did not do this the first time, and the knives were obviously big and sharp – and still you could see how hard she was working throughout. Every time she had finished cutting off one piece, she held it over her head like a trophy and thus presented it to the audience, and we were all clapping and cheering, which I found funny somehow. Altogether this was an interesting experience, and I wonder how this would be in the large fish market in Tokyo, at 4 am in the morning…

Preparations

When I came home the other night, I noticed strange marks all over the stairwell in my building. I wonder what they mean, since the gas, water, and electricity lines are running in a main utility shaft at the centre of the stairwell, and not in its corners, and the rain pipes run outside along the balconies. In any case, it does seem that my hope for quiet renovations has just been killed…

Interview

Yesterday, I had a job interview in Osaka, and I already have the impression it did not go well.

It started out not too well already: I answered an online job ad, and when I was invited to the interview and asked for my time preference, I said “Monday morning or early afternoon”, to which I received the reply: “Monday 16:30 is great for us!” So much for my plans for the evening.

Since I had to go to Osaka, I printed out the directions given to me by the company as well as a map from google. It is not good to be late to an interview, especially in Japan, so I factored in 30 minutes of grace period in order not to be late. Everything looked good – and then I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up nowhere near my destination. I asked somebody and this young woman was kind enough to accompany me to the building (I love Japan!); but even though I was just in time with 5 minutes to spare or so, I think this did not go down well.

I had to bring my passport and residence card to the interview, and my business manager visa was the next problem. The company usually deals only with individuals, and it is unclear if their standard procedures allow them to hire another company, which technically I am. Probably the paperwork has to be different. I promised to ask my lawyer about this, but I know that company policies are usually rather rigid here and people are not used to make exceptions.

The interview as such did not go that badly I think, but at the end I was ushered off the premises rather quickly. I am not sure whether this was because they were tired of me or whether there was somebody else waiting. My allotted time was up though, but in any case, it did not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling… I will hear from them within a couple of weeks, apparently.

Altogether, I don’t think I made it. Too many little details that did not quite click. Oh well, I guess I’d better chalk this off as learning experience. Two things I have already learned: First, to give precise times when I am available (Monday from 9:00 – 15:00) and second, that no map is 100% accurate; and when I’m lost the best idea and time saver is to simply take a taxi.

Cat Cafe

I am sure you have heard about the Japanese speciality of cat cafes. They are normal cafes housing a number of cats that are allowed to roam freely and interact with the guests. The idea is to provide people who are not allowed to keep pets, with some sort of outlet and the possibility to feel like a cat owner for a short time.

Well, since I am a wannabe cat owner, and since I am not allowed to keep a cat in this apartment, and since I am thus feeling rather cat deprived, I went to one of Kyoto’s cat cafes this afternoon.

The first thing I noticed when I entered was the warmth – this must have been the most overheated place in Japan – and the rather distinctive smell of kitty litter. There was an extra door at the entrance to prevent the cats escaping through the main entrance. I had to take off my shoes, wash my hands, and indicate how long I was planning to stay before I could get further inside. When seated, I was shown a “how to behave” list: No flash photography allowed, no harassing of the cats (or other guests), and a warning that the cats may scratch and that there may be cat hair in my tea. And then, finally, I was left to roam around freely and to interact with the cats. The place was well adapted to the cats’ needs: fluffy cushions and blankets, boxes of all sizes, high shelves to hide upon, plenty of cat toys, and sufficient litter boxes. The only weird thing was the aquarium with the single goldfish inside. Cat TV, I presume?

The cats were gorgeous. There were three young kittens in a little extra stall with extra charge and 15 adult cats in the main part of the cafe. The animals were of all colours and races – Russian Blue, Scottish Fold, Persian, and an amazing Norwegian Forest cat, among others. Unfortunately, I arrived at nap time, and all the cats were asleep. They were friendly and could be petted still, but I prefered to let them rest. Only when my hour was over, did they come to life again – and I felt a bit cheated, to be honest.

It seemed that the cats were well taken care of. Their coats were shiny and well-groomed in case of the long-haired cats, and although one was allowed to feed them, this was only possible with the food provided by the shop, a wise decision. Behind the counter there were some crates into which the cats would be placed at times to avoid overstimulation by the patrons. As for those, I expected the guests to be a bunch of elderly cat ladies like myself, but there were mostly young couples, which surprised me.

I spent a pleasant hour there, but next time I will go a bit later, after nap time. It is rather expensive – 1 hour there costs 1500 YEN, including one set of drinks and sweets – but if you’re really into cats, this is the place to go:
http://animalcafes.com/v/25475.html

Lottery

I am not sure if I mentioned it, but when you send nengajo New Year’s cards, most of the standard cards you can buy have a lottery number printed on the back. You then hold on to all the cards you received until mid January, when the winning numbers are drawn, and then you have half a year’s time to go a post office and claim any prizes you have won.

Prizes start from sheets with stamps (it is a post office lottery after all) for correct two-digit numbers, local specialities for the correct 4 digit number (this year you could choose among specialities from 38 of Japan’s provinces) and the first prize for 6 correct digits are a holiday trip, household appliances (TV, washing machines, etc), or 100.000 YEN.

These are the lucky numbers for this year. Unfortunately, I was only 75% lucky: I had the 648 of the middle prize, but no 9 in front of it… Of course, since I only received seven cards, this was to be expected. Friends told me that they send around 100 nengajo each year, which means they should receive just as many in return. In that case, it is easier to be lucky, no?

Finances

As a business owner, one of the things you have to keep on top of at all times is your finances. It’s always good to know how much is coming in, and even more so, how much is going out. Thankfully I have always been financially conservative, meaning that I prefer to earn more than I spend, so at least this is not an issue. Last month has proven especially fruitful.

For the first time, my company’s earnings have exceeded my personal spending. Not that those two numbers have anything to do with each other directly, since I have to pay myself a salary in any case, but it still nice to know that I can support myself with my earnings. The next step will be to earn more than my salary, but this is not that easy.

Unfortunately I must confess that business is very slow, and that I am far from making enough money to make this viable. I am now applying left and right as freelancer for all sorts of jobs that are within my expertise, but even though I now have a visa that allows me to work in Japan, my other major deficiencies have not gone away: Not being a native English person who knows perfect Japanese. That makes things just as difficult as they were before. I am trying to get some online freelance jobs from abroad now, and I am making some money there, but by far not enough. I still have a few more months to go before I need to start panicking though. And as we all know: Hope springs eternal.

And hope is not always betrayed: I told you about working on my German tax return just before Christmas, right? Well, I have already heard back from them, in fact I have received money back, a total of almost 3000 EUR. Well, bothering some of my old friends in Germany about this has certainly borne fruit. I am very happy about this windfall!

Happy Isle

Last week, especially in the weekend, large parts of Japan got covered in snow. Finally, it’s winter after all! Especially the northern and western parts of Japan bore the brunt of the snow and cold, but even on tropical Kagoshima island there was snowfall – the first in 115 years! Even the temperatures in Okinawa dropped perceptively, a friend of mine was there last week and said he expected something else.

Anyway, Kyoto seems to be a Happy Isle in all this snow. It snowed heavily last Wednesday morning, and I only took this quick picture from my balcony before I went along the river to one of my favourite cafes. I arrived there very happy indeed – and totally soaked by the fluffy snowflakes the Japanese call “peony flakes”. In the afternoon, everything was over, and most of the snow had melted already.

Last weekend was very cold, and there was a heavy storm over Kyoto on Sunday. I noticed to my alarm that even here my windows are not entirely tight after all; it’s not nice watching the curtains move with the wind when the windows are closed and securely fastened. Anyway, to my chagrin, there was no more snow, and it seems that, as the temperatures will go up again tomorrow, that there will be no further opportunity this year. This really doesn’t do – one or two days of snow per winter are simply not good enough for this mountain girl! Maybe I should consider moving to Hokkaido?