Vacation, Preparation for Returning Home

So I ended up going to Osaka, Okinawa and Matsushima on my way back.

In Osaka I went to see the Sky Building in Umeda and Takarazuka, an all female theater.  It was a good view, and interesting that a large part of the audience is all women.  I ended up losing my camera sometime though, and bought a new one right before going to Okinawa for around $350.  I like it, but it doesn't take panorama shots, which I really liked my old camera for.

Okinawa was cool too.  I ended up going to one of the smaller islands called Zamamijima for a night.  It was a calm little island and I probably should have stayed another night or two.  The next day I went to the Churaumi aquarium and that place, well the aquarium itself anyway, is BIG!  There were 3 whale sharks and a few really big stingray like things.  The next day I had planned on visiting a castle and possibly just enjoying the beach, but I came down with a migraine.  Of course, that was the only day that it was sunny.  I managed to drag myself out of bed around 3 or 4 and made it to Shuri castle.  A cool place, but not sure it was worth it at that point, I probably should have tried to just find a beach.  The place I wanted to eat at, a shabu shabu place, was full of people and I couldn't eat the dinner I wanted to either.

All in all, it was a decent trip, but I am never going to do this sort of thing again alone.  It was really depressing seeing all the couples walking around while I had no one.  Traveling by yourself sucks.

I've started getting ready to go.  Slowly cleaning my apartment and just sent 2 boxes of around 15kg (33 lbs) back to the states.  That'll lighten my load for suitcases.  I've also started the process for getting the pension refund, I'm set to get over $8,000 dollars so I'm quite pleased with that!

I'm telling the kids that even though I'm leaving, a new ALT will be coming.  They say that they'd rather have me.  Even if that is tatemae, at least this time, I'm able to let it make me happy.

水族館【すいぞくかん】 (sui/zoku/kan) aquarium

Bye bye Maria, Osaka and Okinawa soon

It's been a while.  It's actually getting really close to the time I leave Japan finally.  I'm feeling really good about finally going back.  I have no regrets about not signing up for another year and I'm anxious to see my friends (what few I have left back home) and family.

I'm actually getting rid of Maria, my car, tomorrow.  It's been a great 3 years babe, you treated me great.  No major problems and you only cost $1,000.  I'll miss you, but you aren't worth the ridiculous shaken I'd have to pay to keep you another month and a half.  I'll be renting a car from the Ishida garage for around $250 for the next month and a half.  Not a bad deal actually.

I'm taking tomorrow, Friday, off until next Friday and am going to Osaka and Okinawa for a few days.  Just bought the tickets today and still haven't booked any hotels or things to do yet.  I'll be by myself which dampens things a bit but should be a fun getaway.  I'm bad at traveling by myself so hopefully I can will myself to have some fun.

The schools had a track and field meet the other day and my school cleaned up.  They took a bunch of first places in the relay races, I was pretty happy for them.

Guess I should start looking for a place to stay this Saturday...

旅行【りょこう】 (ryokou) travel; trip

Random Update

There's roughly 75 days now until I go back to the states for good.  Time is winding down.  I've decided to try and take a week off near the end of June to go somewhere interesting, but I'm not sure where to go.  I'm also sure that I'll be traveling alone, and I'm not a big fan of that but I really feel I need to go somewhere so I don't waste my remaining time.  Right now I'm thinking of Okinawa and Osaka.  Plane tickets would be around $350 in total I think... not sure yet.

I'm not really sure what to write here anymore.  My life has been pretty boring actually.  My shoulder still hasn't healed up enough to play any kind of sport yet.  The 3rd years as retiring from their club activities I believe at the end of this month, so while my shoulder still probably won't be healed by then, I'll probably try and play a bit with them since it'll be the last time I can.

I also really want to get to Matsushima.  Maybe in a week or two...

つまんない (tsumaranai) dull; boring

My Car, Shoulder Still Injured, 3 Years in Japan

Finally managed to get those postcards sent off to Diana and Chiem, a year after saying I'd send them.

I went in the other day to ask about options for my car for the last 2 months.  The insurance is due in a month and it's going to be at the very least, $700 and likely more because I know it has some problems I've been ignoring for the past few months now.  I just want to rent a car or lease one for the last 2 months as $700 at the very least is too much for a car for that time.  I love you Maria, but your time has come!  She's been a good car for 3 years though, no major problems even though she only cost me a grand.

I was taking my shirt off one day about 3 days ago and seemed to slightly re-injure my shoulder.  Now I can't walk with my arm down or it feels like it'll fall out again.  I need to go buy a splint for it I think.  Doing that after school.  It sucks because it doesn't feel like it got any better after those 3 days either.  I don't want surgery...

3 years was a good amount of time to be here.  A while after I get home I'll be able to look back at this experience with fond memories and stories, but I'm definitely not as enamored with this place as I used to be.  Which is good in a sense as it's making it easier to go home.  I'm not going to get home and wish so much that I had stayed another year.  It's almost weird thinking that almost 3 years has passed and that I have less than 3 months left in Japan.  Definitely when people get all otaku crazy about Japan they only see the beautiful outside of it, but like sakura, it doesn't last long, and once you're here for a while you start to see all of what's wrong with the country.  I still love it and will come back for traveling and such, but I couldn't live here forever.  It's hard to live in a country that thinks work is more important than family and that bases a lot of its societal rules off of lying.  It's also hard to be an Asian American male here :)

車【くるま】 (kuruma) car

Preparation for Home, Shoulder Dislocation

It's strange to think about how I only have a little over 3 months left before I stop teaching overseas for good.  I've already started looking at phone plans, computer parts (I'm planning to buy an actual desktop when I go back home) and apartment prices.  There's things I'm looking forward to going back home and things I don't want to leave here.  It's hard to believe that by the time I get back home I'll be halfway to 31 years old.  I was 26 when I signed up to come over to Japan.  Time is just flying by.

The sakura have started blooming, they're beautiful.  I wish they'd last longer than 2 weeks or so.  It's my last time seeing them here so I'll probably go around and try to take pictures of them around the schools.

Last week I dislocated my shoulder again playing badminton.  I dove for the shuttle and extended my arm too much I guess, and it fell out.  It took around 2.5 hours to get it back in, much longer than the 20-30 minutes it took before.  I couldn't get it back in so I had to look up ways on my phone which led to me pulling on it until it slipped back in.  It's been over 5 years I think since it last slipped out but I don't think I can play things like tennis anymore.  I won't even be able to go at my usual 85% at badminton anymore either.  Getting older sucks.

脱臼【だっきゅう】 (dakkyuu) dislocation

The Japanese Lie

Not that other countries don't rely on this as well, but the lie is such a big part of Japanese culture that without it I'm pretty sure Japan would simply collapse.  There are so many examples I could use but that would take a book series.

Japanese people lie.  This is the simple truth.  The example I've had the most experience with is Japanese people telling you that you should hang out together.  A lot of the time what they're really saying is "I don't want to hang out with you,  but I want you to think I'm a good person and I want us both to be comfortable RIGHT NOW (big key words), so I'll just lie and say "yes!" to you about hanging out."  Then, you invite that person to hang out but you just get repeated excuses as to why they can't, along with the slightly hopeful, yet still useless "next time!"  Hint: They don't really mean "next time."

When they don't have to see you face to face, anything goes.  Gossip flies faster than sound and you can be flat out refused for things that were previously agreed upon.  A common complaint of Western businesses that try to do business with Japanese companies is that Japanese businesses will say that they will buy their products (or engage in business with the Westerners) while face to face, but later on won't fulfill on their verbal agreement.  This is to appear nice, but it's hard to see where essentially promising someone to do something, then negging on it later (and often messing up plans) is nice.

As much as the lie is an integral part of Japanese culture, Japanese people are actually pretty bad at the whole thing.  I believe this is on purpose.  I think that Japanese people give lies that are bad enough that people know they're lying, but are plausible enough that others can't really call them out on it.  It's like they're saying "I don't want to do (insert action here), but I also don't want to say that outright, so hopefully with this sorry excuse of a lie, you'll get that hint."  The worst lie I ever received is when I asked a girl to hang out.  She essentially told me no by telling me she wasn't sure, so I asked her why she wasn't sure, and she replied with "because I don't know what will happen!"  I thought maybe she didn't want to hang out with foreigners (she did that stuff to another foreigner here), but just a month ago she shipped herself off to Canada for a 1 year study abroad... I did get the hint though, I never contacted her again after that.

I've gotten used to the incessant lying here after 3 years and have started doing it myself.  Wonder how long it'll take me to turn that around after I go back home.  I do think that this is one of the reasons why Japanese people are not as happy as they could be.  True, honest and unhindered communication isn't valued here.  In fact, it's often punished.

嘘【うそ】 (uso) lie

New Teachers, Tokyo

So the end of the term has come, all my graduations are done, and I've found out who all my English teachers will be for the last few months I'm here.  The landscape of my schools has changed quite a bit, none of the students I met when I first came here are here anymore, and 90% of all my schools' staff has changed as well.

Teachers for 2011-2012
Jonan [Takahira Tomoko, Onodera Chisato, Niinuma Sachiko]
Niitsuki [Abe Shizuko, Onodera Masaaki]

2012-2013
Jonan [Takahira Tomoko, Onodera Chisato, Chiba Yoshie, Onodera Masaaki]
Niitsuki [Abe Shizuko, Takahashi Chihiro]

2013-2014
Jonan [Chiba Yoshie, Suzuki Chie, Onodera Masaaki]
Niitsuki [Takahashi Chihiro, Kumagai Junichi]

2014
Jonan [Chiba Yoshie, Suzuki Chie, Onodera Masaaki]
Niitsuki [Takahashi Chihiro, Kumagai Junichi]

All the teachers I taught with when I first got here have moved on to different schools.  Teachers only get to stay at any one school for a maximum of a few years (upwards of 7 or maybe 8) before they are forcefully transferred.  It's quite different from American schools where you hear of teachers who have been there for over 20 years.

I went to Tokyo for a few days over the break (they get 2 weeks here for spring break, although it's a little hard to call it that since most of the kids are still going in for sports clubs).  I met Marika, who is going to (is already in) Eugene, Oregon for a 1 year study abroad.  She's a cool girl, hope I'll be able to meet up with her when I get back in 4 months.  I also got to see Atsushi and Ami.  There's a lot of people I'll miss when I go back who I likely won't see for a long time afterwards.

I also went to see the ramen museum in Yokohama.  It's a cool place, but the ramen I ate there was the worst I've ever had in Japan.
Anyway there's a lot of ramen shops all over and it looks like a small town from a few decades ago.  Nice atmosphere.  I ate my ramen then went back to Kesennuma.

Last night we had a welcome party for the new teachers at Niitsuki.  Now I'm kicking myself I didn't try to see if Chihiro wouldn't have gone out with me.  I feel like she would have.  Seems no matter what I do with girls it's always wrong.  At least I can laugh about it a little.  Tonight I've got another welcome party for Jonan's teachers.  Hoping for some eye candy as there isn't a whole lot there now!

博物館【はくぶつかん】 (haku/butsu/kan) museum