Japan Is Doomed

Familiar Pastures

Mike — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:11:56 +0000

Time to put some worries to rest. A few people seemed to think I didn’t manage to make it home – fair enough, as it’s been ten days since I touched down in fair England, and I’ve not put together a blog or a video since. Sorry about that. As you can imagine I’ve been very busy catching up with old friends, moving back into my apartment, and trying to convince shopkeepers to accept Yen. Today though I managed to find a spare hour or two and took my old faithful dog for a walk around the woods. So here are some photos! I’m aware this isn’t the first time I’ve done a blog post like this, but then who could get bored of doggy photos?! NODOBY!

Here he is. Still the same (very) old dog. When I left England a year ago I really said goodbye to the dog properly, as we were convinced I wouldn’t see him again, but there he was waiting for me at home last week. He even remembered me, which was pretty heart warming. At least, he remembered me as long as I had a biscuit in my hand.

This somewhat dark and depressing photo is a picture of the road I live on. My house is on the right hand side, more or less in line with the car parked on the road. It’s great to be back, living in a place where not all the greenery has been obliterated, and more importantly, there is so much space. If a Japanese town planner saw this picture, they would immediately put down plans to put eight houses and an international airport in the middle of the road.

Anyway, that’s more or less all I have today. I’m still sort of on my ‘recovery period’ from Japan, but I will endeavor to get a Youtube video filmed in the next few days. The Fuji video is still not done but the shots will probably end up mixed in with another video. Again, not sure exactly how long that’s going to take.

If you are interested, I put all the photos from today’s walk on Flickr. I am still working on getting the gallery up to date, but they will also appear in there eventually. I’ll leave you today with another photo of my adorable dog. Until next time!

Thus Ends My Study Abroad

Mike — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:42:47 +0000

It’s half past midnight. I fly in just under 12 hours. I’m sitting in my friend’s house in Chiba. I should really be sleeping, but there’s no way that’s going to happen. All my transport tickets and so on are booked, but I am a professional worrying specialist when it comes to flights and airports, so instead I’m writing this blog. I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I arrived in Tokyo again. I’ve had some amazing experiences here, including volunteering at a primary school, chilling to Nagano, seeing snow-covered sculptures in Hakone, and more recently scaling Mt. Fuji. (Still no video… I’ll do it when I get home! Honest!)

There were some things that I would do differently if I had a second chance. I do feel like I could have probably improved more, had more experiences, got less sunburnt and so on. But when I look back on this year I consider it a huge success and great fun. I met a lot of fun people, went to some crazy places, and got kicked in the mouth by a dog. Not many people can boast about that last one.

Since I get asked quite regularly, I thought I would quickly confirm that I have no plans to quit writing this blog or making Youtube videos. I love doing both, and as long as I have fun stuff to write or say, I’ll keep doing it. Or I’ll just make videos of kittens and reap the benefits.

So yes. Back to university. One last year in England. Here’s a rundown of what’s happening to me for the next year or so. Read it if you are worried about my future or are a stalker. I was going to take a photo of me waving goodbye, but due to the heat I haven’t been sleeping well, so I look like a cross between a zombie and a serial killer. Although I guess zombies are serial killers. Anyway, here’s a picture of me at the top of Fuji.

Next update will be from England! Until then!

The Beginning Of The End

Mike — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:29:15 +0000

Warning: This is another ‘Mike doesn’t want to leave Japan and thinks writing blog posts will make it all better’ post. The title is also an attempt to sound even more menacing than this entry, although I don’t think it’s going to be quite as useful to the prosecution when they prove my insanity in court.

At any rate, I have now fully moved out of my dormitory in Nishi-Kawaguchi. It was a pretty draining experience. Last night after being roundly destroyed at poker for the final time, I joined most of the exchangers in a trip to the park at night, where we feasted on beer whilst mosquitos feasted on us.

Then today I spent the day moving, and also cleaning my room as best I could so as to get the full deposit back. (Also I guess for the benefit of whoever lives there next) It was not very much fun, by the end of the process I smelt like a delicious mix of sweat and bleach. So that’s Bleat. Or Sweach. Take your choice. Both will kill you.

Then it was time to move all my junk to my friend’s apartment. I say friend’s apartment, it’s actually the flat the volunteers for Junten school live in. That’s right, for the next four days I’m staying in the flat I first moved into almost four years ago, in 2006. I’m sitting in the same room now. Nothing has changed except I’m older. Depressing or what?!

On the 5th, I move to Chiba to stay with Leon and Saori, who climbed Fuji with us. It’s a very different place to Tokyo, so I will take lots of lovely photos and write some blog posts. They also have super cute dogs, so expect a Youtube video called ‘Chiba Inu sneezing! SO CUTE!’ with 500,000 views to appear in the next week or so.

To wrap up, here’s one of my favourite photos from Nishi-Kawaguchi. I posted this on Twitter and Flickr, but I can’t remember if I ever posted it here or not. It’s the view that meets you as you walk towards the dormitory I lived in. It wasn’t always this pretty, but it was a nice little stroll. Except when you were tired or drunk, and it was hot or raining. Then it was terrible.

Escaping Gravity – Climbing Mt. Fuji

Mike — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:17:24 +0000

Landscape Photos | Photos Of The Climbers | Youtube Video (Soon!)

They say it’s one of the things you have to do in Japan. I’ve been asked by plenty of people, both Japanese and foreign, if I’d ever climbed it. Despite the hype, I’d never really understood why it was heralded as such an experience. I understood that it was a big mountain, with pretty views and an important role in Japanese tradition. Sure, it was something I wanted to do some day. Because my dad is a mountain maniac, I’ve been up plenty of mountains in my time, and it’s never really gripped me as something exciting.

Until now, that is. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I really ‘got’ why people go mountain climbing now. I am aware I just signed myself up to thousands of walks with my dad, but whatever. The five of us had an amazing experience and, despite the sunburn and horrendous pain of Aerosinusitis, I’d say this was the single greatest thing I’ve done in Japan.

This is the brave team that stomped up the mountain. (L-R Andy, Me, Ralph, Saori, Leon). Rather than cover this blog in pictures of us sweating and displaying symptoms of mountain madness (at one point Saori was convinced we were being chased by mountain ghosts) I have put all the photos of us here.

Anyway, after taking photos at the 5th station, changing into the sharp clothes you see in the photo above, and meeting up with our guide and the rest of our group, we set off. We were optimistic, not knowing that the average walking speed for a Japanese mountain group is about the same as a tour designed specifically for snails. “Why don’t we bloody well hurry up?!” would become a theme, nay a chant, for most of the ascent. Since we started at the fifth station, which is near the cloud line already, it didn’t take long before the views became spectacular.

It was a quite cloudy day when we were ascending, but honestly once you’re above the clouds it’s not a problem. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any sweeping photos of the Japanese countryside, but I did get plenty of pictures of clouds! The sky itself was a rich clear blue, so it wasn’t really an issue.

If you climb from the very base of the mountain, you spend an entire day walking through fields that are basically flat. So everyone goes from Station 5. On the first day, we made it to station 8, which is within striking distance of the summit. What’s amazing is that there are like 5-6 ‘hotels’ situated at station 8, which is over 3000 meters above sea level. So from 7pm until 1am, we slept at station 8. Or we tried to. There’s no beds. Just rows of sleeping bags.

We set off again at 1.30am, and headed for the summit. We joined what looked like a candlelit vigil – hundreds of people walking in lines, their torches creating a glittering snake, weaving it’s way up the mountain. It was pitch black and very cold. We were also getting very high, and breathing was becoming difficult. It was at this point that Saori came down with altitude sickness, and couldn’t go on. She returned to station 8 with Leon to sleep off the illness, whilst Andy, Ralph and I continued upwards. It was a big shame as they didn’t get to witness the view from the summit, but I’ll just make them go next year instead.

We reached the summit of the mountain about 10 minutes before sunrise. Those ten minutes were bitterly cold and depressing. But humans are funny things – once the sun’s there, we’re happy. The view that greeted us was unbelievable. These photos can’t do justice to the experience, but here they are anyway.

This is the view just before the sun broke through the horizon line. The rate at which the sky illuminated was amazing. Also, the multilingual chorus of ‘Ooh!’ from everyone at the summit was fun.

This is the most beautiful sight you can imagine. The sun slowly moves up through the horizon line, and the entire sky looks like it’s burst into flame. I took video of this on my little camera, so I’ll put that in a video, but again cameras and so on struggle with this sort of thing. It’s not really the same unless you’re there, anyway. It was mind blowing, it really felt like we were watching some surrealist film.

Not really much I can say about this, except if I had to title it, I’d call it “Japan: The Photograph”. Mt. Fuji. Shrine. Tourists.

We stayed at the top for about 30-40 minutes. It was still very cold and there was some wind blowing, but the views were taking everyone’s mind off it. Eventually though, we had to succumb to the temperature, and began our descent. This is where the whole experience went kind of rubbish. Getting down to station 8 wasn’t too difficult, but after we ate breakfast we spent about three hours very slowly winding our way down paths made up of loose rocks. The sun was beating down mercilessly. My sunburn is pretty bad, and my lips are so chapped they are currently bright red. People keep complimenting me on my choice of lipstick. I would say the descent was more challenging than the ascent in some ways, although that’s probably due to the lack of sleep and exhaustion. I did take my favourite photo of the day on the way down, though.

I think that’s a nice way to end this post. I would recommend climbing Fuji over pretty much any other experience in Japan, although I recommend you read up on it first. There’s a lot that can go wrong, and nothing is worse than coming close then not being able to ascend. All in all, an amazing experience. Can’t wait to get forced to do it again by my father in a year’s time!

Landscape Photos | Photos Of The Climbers | Youtube Video (Soon!)

821 Days Later

Mike — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:00:16 +0000

821. A rough estimate of the total number of days I’ve spent in Japan. It’s probably a little lower, as this year hasn’t ended yet, but I am rounding up because the higher the number the more impressive! That’s how business works!

I mentioned previously that I’m leaving on August 11th and going back to university. I went into depth in the previous post about what’s going on in the future, so if you’re interested go read ‘Next Year & Beyond‘. Today I’m going to take a look back at what I’ve done in my time here, what I still want to do and everything in between. I will try and keep it fun and light so it’s not too boring to read, with gratuitous use of poorly edited images and non-sequiter jokes. SUDDENLY, GIRAFFES.

Comparing my gap year (when I was 18-19) to this study year abroad (21-22), the most obvious change, and the thought that I find the most comforting, is my language ability. I’m essentially self-sufficient now – back in 2006 I would run for help every time the big bad scary man spoke that weird language. It’s refreshing to think this year I managed to contract a mobile phone, book transport and poison myself with undercooked chicken all by myself.

On the flip side, I do feel like the ‘magic’ has gone a bit. I’m aware that makes it sound like Japan and I are sexual partners, but geography turns me on. I feel like this last year there’s been much less personal discovery for me than last time. I remember my first trip to karaoke, first trip to a shrine, first time realising I’ve been on the wrong train for the last hour. They are still fun (except the last one) but the element of ‘Oh wow!’ is gone. But there’s not much you can do about that. Although she’d been before, my mum’s visit made me check out a couple of places that I don’t really go to anymore, and our last day in Hakone was one of the best days of this year for me.

The other day I was feeling content and happy, like a cat who just ate a whole bunch of fish. So to snap myself out of this mood and return to being the pessimist you all know and love tolerate, I went and re-read this blog post, which I wrote before I came here on my exchange year, in which I set myself some goals. Here’s the final tally;

I am pretty happy with my Japanese. It’s still got a (disturbingly long) way to go before I’ll understand even 10% of what my people always yell at me in the street. Something about how I should put the gun down and step away from the bank teller? I don’t know. Other than that though, pretty much failure on all accounts. Regarding Korea and Hokkaido, I’ve really not done a huge amount of travelling in general this year. Plenty of day trips, but the only real trip I took other than Hakone was my voyage to Nagano, which was awesome. Korea and Hokkaido will still be there next year, so I’m sure I’ll make it then!

As for performing something and Shorinji Kempo, both of them just weren’t going to work. I did go to Shorinji practice once, but it was on Wednesdays which helpfully I work on. As for performing something, I suppose I could have lived my dream of fronting an electro-rock-jazz band, but in the end I joined the racquetball circle instead. It’s all the camaraderie and sweat of being in a rock band, without any of the fame, money or financial potential! Yeah!

I guess it just goes to show you never really know what’s going to come. I made those plans with an image of Sophia University that just wasn’t accurate. I still had a great time, and I even managed to land a job here. So all in all, a pretty cool year. Here’s to another fun 821.

Thanks for reading this huge amount of words about me and nothing but me. I am aware it’s becoming a bit Hollywood-happy-ending, so I will finish with a picture of a t-shirt that my friend Andy and I discovered the other day. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions as to it’s meaning.

Next Year & Beyond

Mike — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:31:08 +0000

Yesterday, I received some amazing news, which has more or less settled what I’m going to be doing in the future. I am aware that first sentence makes it look like I’m going to have a child but it’s not that. It’s even more exciting because I’ll be making money! So here’s what’s going to happen to little old Mike for the next year or so.

The remainder of my study abroad year. It’s going past way, way too fast but I’m determined to make the most of it. I have university right up until nearly the end of July, meaning that I only have a week or two to get some travelling in, but as long as nothing goes horribly wrong I should be climbing a certain famous mountain in the end of July.

Studying hard at Sheffield university. It’s going to be one hell of a busy year. Japanese degree. I’m also going to be taking an English teaching course, possibly two. Japanese Language Proficiency Test in the summer. I’m going to try to pass the top level, but if not no huge loss. Kind of want to get it out of the way, though. Oh, and since after this things get super serious, I guess I’ll be partying like a monster for a year. Do monsters even party?

If I manage to graduate, I get from around June to September off. But then things get serious…

Ok, this is where things get serious. Starting September next year, I will be working at Junten School, but this time as a full time teacher! YEEEEAAAAAHHHH! It’s been talked about and mentioned a few times, but yesterday I accepted the contract and wheels started turning. It’s a huge step forward, and it’s job security. I can finally stop being so defensive of my student finance. I’m going to go bet everything on Japan winning the world cup. Oh wait.

I’ll be doing six months of training, so I won’t actually be teaching until around April 2012. The school is currently in the process of designing the course I’ll be teaching, but from what I can tell I will be teaching advanced English to students who have lived abroad, and also taking some regular level classes too based on staff numbers.

At the meeting yesterday I was told the course details will begin to be set in stone as of October this year, in other words once I’ve gone back to England, so they can avoid my amazing suggestions like ‘Candy Floss for all teachers!’ or ‘Teach the children to perform classic Disney songs!’ Once I know exactly what I’ll be doing I’ll let you know!

There’s a few other things I want to mention. Firstly, I appreciate the emails but I really can’t help you land a job in Japan. I’m sure there are some good guides out there, and plenty of people willing to give advice, but I’m really not the one to ask.

Secondly, this blog. I’ve been turning it over in my head and I’ve finally reached a decision. I’m going to continue this blog until around August next year, in other words after I finish university but before I come to Japan. At that point, I will open a new website, with a brand new blog. Japan Is Doomed will continue to exist, and I will never get rid of it, but I think after the end of my education it will be time for a fresh start. That said I may well change my mind and continue on with Japan Is Doomed as it is. I’m not sure, what do you think?

I’ll keep taking photos for Flickr and making videos for Youtube, under the same account names.

That’s about all I can think of right now. If anything changes I’ll be sure to write it on here. I’m aware this post has been a bit dull but if you stuck with it and read the whole thing, you win a prize. Check under your seat!

Japan’s World Cup Bid

Mike — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:46:00 +0000

It’s been a long time coming, but here’s my latest Youtube video, in which I make fun of America, England, Japan and Switzerland! Alienation RULES!

As I mentioned in the vide, I’ve been really, really busy recently. I’m teaching a lot, and also trying to get as much fun in as I can before I fly home. I can’t remember if I mentioned or not, but I’m flying August 11th. I’m going to spend my last 11 days in Japan staying with my friends Leon and Saori in Chiba, which means 11 blog posts about their adorable dogs.

Of course this all relies on me not succumbing to the heat. Urgh!

The Last Chance Picnic

Mike — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:56:06 +0000

日本語：「梅雨って嫌だ」

Wow, I sure have been neglecting the written word recently! For those not in the loop, I’ve been uploading videos to my Youtube channel at a rate of once a week or so. This past week I put two up, partly because I missed last weekend, and also because this weekend was crazy busy so I didn’t have time!

On Friday night my friend and fellow volunteer Mike, who volunteered the year after I did, had his farewell party. Karaoke ended at 5am, I got home at 6am. Slept all day like a log. Then on Saturday night, we went to Ueno to watch the (ultimately disappointing) England vs America football match. It ended at 5am. I got home at 6am. Have you noticed a pattern yet?

To finish off a great weekend, we headed to Yoyogi park today for a little picnic. I was meant to go to one last week but I got a mild case of food poisoning (oops!) so I couldn’t go. The weather wasn’t great – it was pretty cloudy and quite cold, but it didn’t rain. However as of today (Monday 14th) Japan is officially in rainy season. It’s going to last a long time, up to a month, so this really was the last chance picnic.

Unfortunately I only remembered I had my camera with me when all but four of us had left. Still, here are some fun photos of myself, Andy, Mako and Aiko, as well as a very friendly, giant dog and some some Elvis impersonators!

Anyway, I’ll try and get a Youtube video up in the next few days, depending on how long it takes me to adjust back to a reasonable sleep cycle. Curse the world cup and it’s 3:30 am starts! Also I’m going to Fuji Q Highland, a theme park, on Wednesday so I will probably write a blog about that, too! Until then!

Playing Baseball In A Tree In Africa

Mike — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:42:54 +0000

Yep, it’s another Youtube video! This one has the weirdest accompanying blog title ever, too! Yeah! (It’s about baseball and also a drink that has something to do with a tree from Africa, incase you’re wondering…)

So I didn’t manage to get a video up last weekend. I feel bad as I was really enjoying the ‘one video a week’ process. I did mention in this video that I might well miss a week or two, but I still feel bad. I’ve been gaining subscribers at a pretty nice rate recently, probably due to a mention by a more popular user, and I wanted to capitalize on that.

So in an attempt to make up for that, I am going to try to film myself answering the questions you guys sent me anonymously on Wednesday, and then shoot a regular video next Saturday or Sunday as well. So that’s double the videos this week! It’s like Christmas has come early and you got nothing you wanted!

Anyway, I say it every time, but thanks for watching, rating and subscribing. You really do keep me coming back!

World Cup 2010 – Japan Over England

Mike — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:28:29 +0000

Did you catch the England vs Japan World Cup friendly match yesterday? If you did, you probably had the same impressions I had before the match started. ‘Japan have improved, but they can’t beat a team like England’. A fair assumption! But after last night I am starting to think Japan may well have a better chance than Rooney and co.

The game, for those that didn’t see, ended 2-1 to England. Both of the English goals were own goals, meaning in total Japan scored three and England scored none. We really need to work out how to put the ball in the goal rather than asking the other team to do it for us. That said, it was a friendly and the English team were probably told to be a little reserved in order to avoid any last minute injuries.

Now I know, honestly, that Japan doesn’t really have much of a shot at winning the world cup this year. They have got some good players now, like goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi who saved a penalty in the friendly, Keisuke Honda who was blasting shots from miles and miles away pretty consistently throughout, and Tulio. Tulio is the Rooney of the Japanese team. For some reason he plays in defence, but he’s their consistant goal threat. Yes, a goal keeper. Threatening to score all the time. He’s awesome, and I really hope he gets a chance to shine in the world cup.

I’m keeping this update short because, as you might be able to tell, I don’t know a huge amount about football (or soccer for you poor English users!!) but it’ll be interesting to follow this year. I’m predicting Spain win the cup, England scrape through the group stages and then lose to a team like Germany / Italy, and Japan should hopefully win at least one group match. Fingers crossed for every team except America – if England loses to the US I’ll never be able to show my face in the dormitory again.

England play the US on the June 12, and Japan start on the 14th against Cameroon. Fingers crossed!