It seems the Japanese were not in fact lying about their 4 seasons, the just over-simplified. From what I've seen so far:
Autumn = Hot/Pleasantly warm
Winter = Warm/Moderately cold
Spring = Pleasantly warm/ RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN
Summer (From what I've heard) = DEATH BY HUMIDITY
This country has now consumed, kidnapped, damaged beyond repair or otherwise dis-incentivised 7 of my umbrellas since I arrived here. Interesting questions this has raised:
1) What is it about Japan that has such a severe effect on umbrellas?
and 2) What is it about Japan that has convinced me that an umbrella is such an absolutely indispensable object that I have felt compelled to buy 7 replacements since arriving here?
Question 2 is particularly odd given that before today it's barely rained at all here...
It rained today. A lot. And according to the weather forecast it's set to continue. I still find it a bit odd to watch the weather report on TV and see China and Korea next door...
I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I'm off to the Philippines in just under 2 weeks, to go see my Canadian cousins living just outside Manila (Los Banos for any Filipino readers (I.E Kirstie). Apparently we're going to go to see the Banaue rice paddie, which are a UNESCO World Heritage site... I'm looking forward to seeing some grass :-) (Not that kind before you make some comment.). My allegedly "Multiple-Entry" Japanese student visa is now nicely complimented with my ￥6000 superfluous bit of paper and two tiny passport stamps which make up my "Re-entry Permit" after a visit to the Osaka Immigration Office, which is A) actually in Kobe, and B) NOT where google maps said it was, though thank you very much for the lovely sight-seeing tour of a nearby building-site.
Question: Why did my Student Visa, which allows me to live in Japan, study at a university, get health insurance, mobile phones, work part-time and receive a very generous Japanese government scholarship (JASSO様、愛してる）, cost a 1/10 of the price of my "Re-entry Permit" which basically says "Please let me back in"?
Answer: Because this is Japan.
Oh, and I am now an English tutor :-) Foreigner-in-Japan stereotype No.17 completed. My pupils are 2 little kids (7 and 10) They like Avatar a lot... Their mum is mixed-race American and Japanese ("Half" as they say in Japanese. Not to be confused with "New-half" which means trans-sexual...sorry about that little confusion Yume...), though entirely Japanese by upbringing so doesn't really speak an enormous amount of English. She also asked me to do my best in teaching them American English... Shin and Carlos are sceptical of my chances of success...
Oh, and we went for some karaoke as well the other day with Mark's friend from the UK. I'd love to share mine and Mark's (Mark and I's?) "unique" rendition of the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme song with you all (complete with improvised "Da da dada da da da da da dadada") (Un)Fortunately such a marvel has been lost in time, so I can only point you in the direction of the original and let you use your imagination:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvFJvYkka_o
Had it not been brutally cut off/censored by Yume, our later duet of "Breaking Free" from High School Musical could well have rivaled such a performance. (To be fair, Mark wasn't bad as Zac Efron. My Vanessa Hudgens impression was perhaps spectacular in a different respect...).
Btw, now do you see what I did with the title eh? yeah?
Right, that's all for now, though I'm sure something else as silly will happen to me before I go off to the Philippines so speak to you then :-).
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I LOVE YOUR BLOG, don't know why I didn't check it out before...! ('Cause I'm erm, busy and important - for real though, I've been working on the dissertation, and it's not that I'm any less busy with essays now, but I happen to be stuck in bed, attempting to fight a vicious infection and amusing myself by stalking people on Facebook and seeing where that takes me :))
ReplyDeleteOh and it's "Mike and my" - I think. And yes, that's the only reason I commented on this one and not one of the more recent ones that I was enjoying first...