ダニエルの冒険

I had breakfast with everyone on Saturday morning and gave the family a Irish turf-made clock which they loved. After Kaori arrived at the house, herself, myself, Ayumi, and her parents headed out for Nikko, where Tokugawa Ieyasu is buried. I pointed out that Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki and is buried in Nikko, and I had come from Okazaki and was then in Nikko. (more…)

The Yamasa Speech Contest was Friday so the class all left the school in the morning and walked to the Civic Centre down the road. It was pretty good and my friend Scott took first prize with a speech about how Japanese language learners don’t actually interact with the native speakers in the country and just live in their own 外人世界 (gaijin-sekai, foreigner-world) at Yamasa, with people who speak their own native language. After the contest everyone was going to eat Yakiniku together but I had to excuse myself so I could get to Tokyo on time. I would have been able to do that if I’d got on the right train. (more…)

There’s always been something about my friends from Gunma/Tochigi. I’ve never had a similar relationship in my life. I’m in contact with them all individually but when we meet up, we’re usually together in a group. Honestly, I usually prefer hanging out with my friends one at a time but the more of my Gunma friends I can meet together, the happier I am. (more…)

We did two tests this week on Chapter 9 of our textbook, New Approach. In the first, I got 5/12, which is officially the lowest result I’ve ever gotten in any Japanese test ever in my life. Today we did the second test and the teacher looked through them and said 「みんな、ちょっと・・・！」 (“Everyone… hold on a minute…!!”) and handed them back to us to correct them during class. People didn’t do so well in it. I got about 4/12 by my marking.

I believe the problem is that this chapter has a lot of grammar which is either the same or very close to what we’ve studied before a long time ago. So long ago that it’s just part of our Japanese language and not something our brains have flagged for “being learned right now”. So when there’s a question asking me complete a sentence using the grammar we’re studying now, I just can’t see what it is that it wants from me. (more…)

The zipper broke off my sheets recently so I informed the school (as I’m renting them) and when I came back to the apartment yesterday, all the bedding had been replaced, futon and everything. I finally got my sheets clean

The next day we went to Disney Sea. Just to nip this in the bud before any more confusion occurs: Disney Sea is not an aquarium or a Sea World-like place. The only fish there are in the restaurants, and have an bones, skin and organs removed. Think Disneyland with less cartoon characters and a more grown-up atmosphere with great food (the best food in Disneyland is Buzz Lightyear’s pizza). (more…)

This was the first weekend where I had no plans, but I spoke to Yukine, who freed up her Sunday for me, and we decided to go to Disney Sea, as we had been planning! I got the Shinkansen and arrived in Tokyo at about 4pm or so and went to Akihabara to burn some time. I wandered around some electronic shops for a while, playing Playstation 3s (Ridge Racer’s graphics are pathetic, by the way) and watching the final scene of Die Hard 4 on loop on some impractically large televisions. (more…)

Last Wednesday we had written and listening tests, and on Thursday (yesterday) we presented our speeches in front of the class. As such, I was far from prepared for Thursday. I just winged it really, occasionally glancing at the iPod to see what I was supposed to be talking about. As such, I maintained eye contact and was able to make it sound like I wasn’t reading, but that’s about all I succeeded in doing, as my language ended up being a bit too casual for a speech and I wasn’t exactly holding myself properly because I was too focused on putting together the Japanese in my head to think of it. At least that meant that I wasn’t chosen as the representative for our class, a responsibility put onto Shun.

His speech was great though. He wrote it seriously and delivered it seriously, but had one of the teachers crying with laughter. It was about young Japanese women putting on their makeup while they’re on the train, and delivering a fairly absurd speech in such a serious way worked really well. Shun’s a smart guy and I’m sure he’ll do us proud at the contest next Friday. (more…)

I’m just back from eating Fugu! The notorious poisonous pufferfish, with lethal levels of the tetrodotoxin neurotoxin, which remain if incorrectly prepared. Mine was correctly prepared, so I didn’t die, but the meat itself looked pretty scary. It was white with black veins running through it! The meal itself was a bit overpriced (15,000 yen for two) for what it was. The location wasn’t very good and the restaurant wasn’t as classy as I had expected, but just for the fugu it was worthwhile. (more…)

Wednesday is usually a short day for me, since I only have one private lesson and no electives. Today I went for my private lesson and found the classroom, but I had arrived a few minutes early so my teacher wasn’t in the room yet. This particular teacher is the university student who’s been in Ireland. I looked into the room and her bag, coat and books were there on the table. On top of the books, there were two small brown paper bags. I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be cute if they were Valentine’s Day presents.”

She arrived and greeted me and we sat down and she said “today I have a present for you!” I did my best to act surprised and confused and said “present?” and then she handed me one of the bags and wished me a happy Valentine’s Day. Inside was a pink mochi with a strawberry inside it and two small chocolates. Mochi don’t taste as bad as the wikipedia article sounds. Picture after the jump. (more…)