goinggaijin.com – Page 103 – A European's move towards Japan

3rd Kyu!

Last Saturday was my 3rd kyu soroban test. For the second and third levels, the test ist not during normal classes anymore, but in a special meeting only for those who take the test. It is still in the normal soroban school; from first kyu on and throughout the dan levels, the test will be administered somewhere else with even more official feeling.

Well, yes, I have passed this test, and now I am a third kyu level in soroban. I did quite well, in fact, I passed every one of the six parts of the test. Besides the usual multiplication, division, and addition/subtraction – all three must be passed – there are three more tests on mental calculation, word problems, and denpyou, where you may fail one of the three and still get an overall passing grade. I usually have problems with the mental calculations – I am too slow – but as I used a slightly different method in the test than the recommended one, I even managed to pass this part of the test.

I think I did quite well, passing four exams in only one year, but I did homework every day, and I believe that from now on the tests will be more difficult. The word problems especially become more difficult, for example on third kyu level all of them boil down to very basic arithmethic, but for second kyu there are now exercises involving percentages and rounding, and more than one simple operation. The other problems stay essentially the same, only the numbers are getting larger. Still, that means a considerable speed up to be able to finish enough exercises in the allotted time.

The next exam will be in two months. I don’t know whether I will become fast enough to try the next level then. We’ll see.

Curtain Call

Wouldn’t you believe it? After all I have been through (by proxy through my friend) to get internet, one would think that everything was finally sorted and done, finished, file closed. Well, not really… My internet problems got a final curtain call:

Last week I received my first internet bill, and I wanted to set up automatic payment as I did for my other utilities. I was already familiar with the necessary form and I knew that there was an extra space for NTT. So, I took the bill to my bank, filled in the standard form and – that’s where the problems started.

NTT is traditionally a telephone provider, and the form for automatic payment is simple; all you have to fill in is the phone number of your landline. However, strictly speaking, I don’t have a landline. I have a VoIP internet telephone as part of my internet package that I bought through NTT. So, while I could give the phone number on the form, said number is never mentioned on the bill, interestingly. All the bill mentions is my NTT customer ID, but there is no space for that on the form, obviously.

Panic ensued among the clerks, but, this being Japan, I was asked to sit down and wait as usual. From my spot on the couch I could watch the clerk who was serving me repeatedly scratch her head, look unhappily from the bill to the form and back, ask for advice from other clerks… Finally she gave up and with a face of resignation sat down on a desk and made a phone call – presumably to NTT.

Banking in Japan – unless you do it online – is never a speedy business, even if you do not have to wait in line. For that reason, all Japanese banks provide seats and sometimes even newspapers and other reading material. However, with almost an hour for such a simple transaction I must have set a new record.

When I finally received all my paperwork back – with the assurance that everything had turned out alright – the clerk explained to me that the problem was the combined internet/phone bill, but apparently they have found a way to deal with this. Well, I will see next month if it indeed worked…

Eruption

Today, at 9:59 in the morning, another one of the many volcanos in Japan erupted and spewed ash as high as 9000 metres. Mount Shindake is located on a little island about 100 km south of Kyushu, where about 140 people live. All residents have been brought to safety by now.

Check out the article in the Asahi Shimbun, which has a stunning photo taken from a nearby island and a short video that shows the eruption. Scientists are worried that this might only be the start of a prolonged series of eruptions of Mount Shindake.

Meanwhile, Mount Hakone, centre of a very popular hot spring destination south of Tokyo, has also started rumbling. The ground there has risen 15 cm within two weeks by sulfurous steam emitted from the flanks of the mountain. The Japan Meteorological Agency has raised its warning level to two in the beginning of May, urging people to stay clear of the crater of the volcano. Although another scientist places the probability of an eruption of Mount Hakone at 4%, I think I will not go there any time soon.

Expired

Today is the last day my current visa is valid. And the new one is nowhere in sight… There is no reason to panic just yet, because I am allowed to stay however long the visa application process will take. So, there should be no problems for now.

However, being at the mercy of some random person somewhere in the centre of bureaucracy is not a good feeling… Let’s hope the wheels will turn fast – and smoothly.

Exhibition

As I had to go to town on Saturday, I took the opportunity to go to an art exhibition at the Takashimaya Department Store.Yes, that’s right: at a department store. Takashimaya is one of the largest chains in Japan with stores in every large city. They are selling upscale goods and all of the international luxury brands, but not everything is prohibitively expensive. They also have a range of Japanese goods like kimono, futons, furniture, and of course, souvenirs. In the basement, there is usually a large food court, where all sorts of prepared foods can be bought, starting from onigiri to tempura, raw and fried fish, Japanese sweets and French style cakes, chocolate… On the top floor are restaurants, they are usually very good, but also rather expensive.

And on that top floor in the Takashimaya in Kyoto was the 44th Japanese Traditional Arts Exhibition. The arts ranged from woodcarving, lacquerware, to glassware and pottery. There were also little sculptures, mainly the little dolls the Japanese love so much. Of course, three walls of the grand hall displayed kimono. Although all the pieces were made in the traditional fashion, they were very modern looking.

When I entered, I was a little shocked at the amount of people. That was because somebody – probably the artist himself – gave a lengthy explanation of one of the exhibits. Once I could pass that bottleneck, the rest of the exhibition was not overly crowded.

At the exit of the grand hall was a little separate room where numerous sake cups were on display. Sake cups are interesting, they come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, and materials. I think that at least some of them were made by the artists exhibiting, and one could even buy them. A staff member came up to me and invited me to a sake tasting. At first I did not want to – it was barely noon – but I then asked whether she could explain a little about the sake and when she said she would try, I bought a ticket after all. It is not easy to find an opportunity to taste different types of sake, and this one was quite amazing.

After I had chosen three of the cups on display, I sat down on a little bar to drink. All three sake offered at the tasting were from Kyoto city itself, from Fushimi, where allegedly Kyoto’s best water can be found. Although the taste of sake is not very strong – remember that rice itself has hardly any taste at all – and I found all three of them very mild and pleasant, there was still a quite distinct difference to them. Although the taste was pretty much the same, one of them felt very heavy on my tongue, another very light – for lack of a better word, forgive me, I am not an expert. Interestingly, both of them had the same alcohol percentage, so that cannot have been the reason. I am glad I took the opportunity to do this, it is always nice to try something new.

Tired

Wow, today was a busy day. I had three different appointments in different parts of the city, something I don’t really enjoy doing, partly because I don’t like to see so many people in one day, and partly because I don’t like rushing from one place to another.

In the morning, I had my German-Japanese tandem meeting. It still goes well after more than a year, but I think my Japanese friend is a better student than I am. Today I had a list of things I wanted to ask him – about an advertisement for a sports club nearby and some very specialised vocabulary for my upcoming shopping trip – and we had an interesting misunderstanding about the German word “zu” which often has the meaning of “to” in English (zu tun means to do), but sometimes is also used as a prefix (as in zuhoeren – listen or zusehen – watch). I’m glad we could clear that up in the end.

Afterwards I took the subway to Kyoto station, where Yodobashi Camera is located. I needed a case for the hard drive I had removed from my old laptop, and although I thought I had chosen the correct one (a SATA) there seems to be a tiny variation in the pins that I could not account for. Thus the disk cannot be connected to the case, which means I will have to go back to Yodobashi tomorrow and try to find another one.

Then, I had a very quick lunch with sandwiches from a convenience store and after I had finished, I went to an appointment with another friend of mine. She is a very nice Japanese lady, and although long retired, she has the energy of a teenager. Talking with her – both in English and Japanese – is lots of fun, even if the topic does not centre around men…

Breakdown

It seems that my old trusty laptop, who was with me for the last eight years (pretty much on the day) has finally completely given up the ghost. Apparently the graphics card is bust, now the external monitor does not get a signal any longer, after the laptop screen broke down some time in March.

Of course, I made a backup of all the files then, and most of them are now safe on my new laptop, but I have used the old one still for a few things here and there, so hopefully I can access those new files I have made over the last month or two. Serves me well not to do a decent backup more often…

Rest in Peace, my dear old HP Pavillion Entertainment PC. I’ll miss you!

Debugging

Summer is slowly coming and with it all sorts of insects… I have already stated that I am neither fond of spiders nor happy with moths eating my sweaters, so it is time to make sure that should they find their way up to myapartment, they will not make their home here.

There are mosquito screens at all my windows which help already. Also, my apartment is almost empty so far and thus easy to clean, with one exception: the tatami. Those are all real tatami made of rice straw and other natural fibres, and they can harbour enormous amounts of insects. Obviously, this is more of an issue on the ground floor of a traditional Japanese house – where said floor is more a lattice of rough planks on which the tatami are laid directly – than in the 5th floor of a modern building of reinforced concrete. Still, I have squished a moth or two in my bedroom already, and there is no need to make them welcome at all.

Hence, I went out – armed with detailed instructions of a friend of mine – to buy anti bug spray, specially made to be used in tatami. Yes, you have read correctly: in the tatami. The spray, which allegedly kills a variety of bugs, has a needle attached to the can with a tiny tube. The idea is to push the needle into the tatami at regular intervals (six spots per tatami) and then spray as usual, for three seconds. It is very easy and straightforward, and I finished my bedroom in less than five minutes.

So far, this is the only room I have thus treated, because I am not fond of spending time steeped in poisonous fumes. For that reason I will sleep for at least one night in that part of the living room that is designated as the guest room. I wanted to know anyway how noisy this part of the apartment is during the night. The rest of the rooms will be treated in the next few days. My friend suggests doing this both in the beginning and the end of summer. Isn’t it interesting how different climates beget different routines?

Deja vu

Today was the Aoi matsuri, the hollyhock festival that takes place at the Imperial Palace, Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine. When I came to Japan two years ago, this was the first festival I went to, and I have written about it then at length. Today, I had the opportunity – thanks to a friend – to see the parade again, this time from the special seats in Shimogamo Shrine.

It was just as I remembered, almost a deja-vu, but now the beautifully dressed men and gorgeous women on foot or on horses were passing underneath the large trees of Shimogamo Shrine instead of the open space of the Palace, which gave the parade a whole different feeling. I also think that it was a bit more compact than the first time I saw it – whether this was due to the different location or because of different timing, I cannot tell. The weather was nice and warm, but not really sunny, so I still have to wait for my first sunburn this year.

After the parade had passed the long sandy road up to the main buildings of Shimogamo Shrine, my friend and I had lunch at the few food stalls that were permitted at the shrine. We had yakisoba – grilled noodles with bacon and cabbage – and as dessert kasutera – a sort of small sweet buns made of pancake batter – and ichigo daifuku – sweet rice cakes with a strawberry on top.

This year, I did not stay for the horse race as I had promised another friend to see her, but it was nice to go to the Aoi festival again. There is still a part I have not seen yet, the one from Shimogamo to Kamogamo Shrine, so there is something left to explore for next year. I am already looking forward to it!

Randomised

Only yesterday, I have made another step towards my goal of becoming a good resident of Japan. Behold, ladies and gentlemen: A random citizen of Kyoto!

You’re not getting it, are you? Well, yesterday I have received a letter from the mayor of Kyoto (or at least his office) containing the “Kyoto Citizen’s Social Interactions Survey”.

letter attached to the survey I am one of only 3000 citizens of Kyoto that were randomly chosen to take part in the survey. It has around 100 questions touching different areas: Actual Social Experience in 27 different fields like environment, human rights, culture, pedestrian friendly city, housing; Importance of Kyoto city policies with respect to the above, and personal interest in city administration. The final question is especially interesting: “Do you think you are happy now?”

Well, yes for sure, thank you! No matter where I lived before, I was never deemed random enough to be asked to take part in such a survey. I cannot help wondering how random it really is though. The envelope contained four sets of questionnaires, in Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese, which is something that is very rare indeed in Japan. The question is whether there are really so many foreigners living in Kyoto that a survey sent to a random one out of 500 citizens would warrant such a measure? But then again, I was never good at statistics…