Archive for the ‘goals’ Category
The hopes of a cynical person
Posted on: October 14, 2008
- In: fukuoka | goals | Japan | jobs | Uncategorized | Writing
- 2 Comments
A cloudy Autumn evening in Fukuoka
A little while back I turned 26 years old. Another year older and a little more cynical. Let me break it down for you. Tomorrow I go back to my part-time job at the university. When I left for summer vacation there was talk about more classes and a possible full-time position. I told them that I would definitely want to do that, but so far I havent heard another word about it. My visa will expire in January and all their talk will be just talk if I don’t get an extension. You have to apply at least 2 months in advance. I like my job, but I’m tired of scraping by. I’ve been offered two full-time ALT jobs that would require me to move, both wanting me to start immediately. I passed on both, because ONE it’s a pain to move and I’ve already moved at least 5 times since I’ve been in Japan. TWO I really don’t want to do the ALT thing anymore now that I’ve had a taste of teaching at university level.
It was my hope that this university position would give me a step-up in the world. I don’t want to go back to being a chimp in a suit, just sitting at a desk waiting to punch out because this week the Japanese English Teachers decided they don’t need my services. Sure it gave me time to study being an ALT, but so far all my studying hasn’t given me any extra money. My friends back home working in warehouses are making more money than me.
My hope is that this month I will be given that full-time university position and get my visa. Then I can stay in Japan for another year, doing something that I enjoy. However I do have a backup plan. If I don’t get the job, then when I go home to America for Christmas vacation, I’m not coming back to Fukuoka. I may come back to Japan, but when I don’t know.
- In: goals | Japan | Uncategorized | unique
- 1 Comment
Where I am now
I`m 25 and I live in Japan. I teach at a university. I haven`t traveled really since I moved to this part of Japan about a year ago. I have a lovely girlfriend that speaks to me in Japanese. I have a few close friends and several acquaintances. I`m in the process of writing a book, but it`s coming along too slowly for my taste. I want to write it in a week and be done with it. I`ve become a voracious reader now that my television and internet signals are kaput. I`ve read several novels in the last few weeks alone.
A vision of things to come
I will pass level 1 of the JLPT, proving at least on paper that I have mastered Japanese.
I will publish a book.
I will travel more and make more friends.
I will marry happily before 30.
I will begin learning another language.
I believe these things will happen. That`s really the important part. Believing that what you want can and will happen. Sure you have doubts, but you got to ride them out. You keep dragging yourself inch by inch until you get to the goal.
So I just finished taking the practice test for the Business Japanese Test (BJT). There are 3 sections to the test. In the first section for each question you have to look at a picture and listen to some phrases and select the one out of 4 choices that best describes the picture. I did the best on the Section 1. The next section is a little more challenging because you have to do a little multi-tasking. For each question there is a dialogue you listen to and you have to either fill-in the blanks for a conversation, or use a written memo or graph to make the best selection. Section 2 was the hardest for me. The last section is fairly start forward. If you took the JLPT, you will be very familiar with this part, because basically it is just grammar and reading comprehension questions. I did ok, but not as well as I would have liked. With one minute remaining I filled in the last 5 questions without looking at the questions. I was able to snag one write answer by doing that. So I tallied up my scores and I got 47 out of 100 questions right on the practice test. I did incredibly bad on the practice tests for the JLPT too, but that preparation helped me pass the test in the end.
Hustling for that yen
Posted on: May 2, 2008
The other day I decided I can’t stay still anymore. I need to get out there and make something happen or I’m not going to achieve anything and it will all come to nothing. So I went down to IMS and got a paper to place an ad on their bulletin board for language instruction. I came home and made and advert for my services and printed it on that bulletin paper. The day after I went back and had it put up on the bulletin board. Also I made a bunch of flyers to pass out to people leaving the train station. So that’s what I did. I went out there, I looked each person in the eye and said, “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.” It’s the customary expression people say when handing out advertisement in Japan. It means, “Please be good to me.”, “Pleased to meet you.” or just plain “Please.” It has many uses.
I was out there standing by the escalator, waiting for people to get off the trains. Some people made a sharp right as soon as they saw me so they wouldn’t have to interact with me. Others pretended I was invisible. Some said, “Excuse me.” and went on by. There was one high school boy that took a flyer and made a big scene by saying, “Thanking very much!!” in Japanese very loudly. I just said the same back to him in English. I managed to handout all of my flyers. How many flyers are in people’s trashcans and how many are on people’s tables next to their day planners is unbeknownst to me. I’m hoping to get at least 10% will contact me for a lesson – 20% would be great, 30% would make me prosperous, 40% would be unbelievable, and 100% would be too much for me to handle.
The majority of people who took my flyers were women. I’d say it was skewed to about 65% women and %35 men. But that seems about right anyway. When I taught at Nova, most of my students were women. Women tend to be more interested in learning languages than men.
Now I’m going to wait a for about a week or so. If I don’t get any replies, I might have to go back to teaching for a school. I have to make money. If I don’t make money, I can’t eat. If I don’t eat, I’ll die. Dieing is bad. But I’m long way from that. I just want to.
Tests Tests and more Tests
Posted on: April 24, 2008
- In: fukuoka | goals | Japan | japanese | kanji | learning | Life | nihongo | Personal | test | translater | translator | Uncategorized | unique | Writing
- Leave a Comment
I’ve been trying to do some things to better my chances of getting a good job in Japan or in Hawaii later on. I signed up for the BJT (Business Japanese Test) that is coming up. I only have a couple of months to study for it, but honestly it looks much easier than the (JLPT) Japanese Language Proficiency Test that I took last December. Not many people take the test, but I think it’s worth it if it will motivate me to study a little more. Anyway, I think last year only around 86 people took the test in Fukuoka. But the number of test takers in Tokyo is more than 10 times that. I just hope it will help me get my foot into the door of a respectable company.
The next certificate I’m aiming for is the Level 4 of the Kanji Kentei test. Unfortunately the test dates are on the same day so I’m going to take it in October or November I can’t remember exactly which month it’s being held in. Anyway, Level 1 of the Kanji Kentei is nearly impossible to get for you average Japanese. My girlfriend tried to do a practice quiz for Level 1 and she maybe got 3 out of 10 questions right. It’s really hard. The average Japanese person who is fairly well educated can pass level 3 with a little bit of studying. Level 2 might require some serious hitting of the books. My problem is getting the 4 kanji compounds correct. I don’t know the idioms or expressions so I can only guess at the answer.
Then of course I’m aiming for Level 1 of the JLPT in December. I hope that taking these other tests will give me bit of an edge when it comes to taking the monster of test in December. If I can pass it I’ll seriously consider going back home to America to get a job as in translation or interpretation. I don’t want all my studying to be for not.
If you are interested in taking the tests I mentioned please click on the links below for more information. You can also find a wealth of information about the tests in English on wikipedia. I know it helped me.
Business Japanese Test http://www.jetro.go.jp/course/bjt/
Kanji Exam http://www.kanken.or.jp/index.html
Japanese Language Proficiency Test http://momo.jpf.go.jp/jlpt/home.html
Well today I went to a jobagency in Fukuoka. It was a very interesting experience. First I was greeted after I came through the door right now time. I would have been early, but it took a little while for me to find the right building. Once inside I was given a sheet of paper to fillout. All the usual stuff: name, date of birth, address, and contact info. When they heard me finish writing, a man and a woman came to the table and gave me their business cards, introduced themselves, and gave me slick looking printout with a summary of the companies information. From then on the man did most of the talking. He told me all about his company. He spoke with a rapid pace, but also very clearly. Then he started asking me questions like. What kind of work are you interested in doing and how I came to Japan. What companies I worked for and how I was able to learn Japanese in such a short time. I tried to answer as politely as I could, but ever now and I again my grammar would slip back into dameguchi (unpolite speech), and I would correct myself if I caught it. They didn’t seem to mind. They seem to have had lots of experience dealing with foreigners, however I was the first American customer. They were absolutely thrilled when I told them I’m from America, because they love America. They studied there in college and frequently visit the states. They didn’t speak much English to me, but by the looks of it they understood well enough. On occasion they would throw in an English word, when a Japanese word would do, for my benefit of course, but I can’t blame them for trying to be accomodating. Overall it was a great experience. They seemed excited about my coming to them, because it would give them something to added to their company website. Normally they just deal with Asian students who are studying in Japan: Chinese, Koreans, Philipinos, and maybe Thais. To tell the truth it made me feel good. I am the first American to go to that job agency, I have made history. Not real history, but a significant step for me. I don’t know when I will get a job, but as I was heading out the door they told me that if I should find a job that I looks interesting to me in my own searches, I should tell them and they will contact the company for me and to plead my case. The last bit made me a little uneasy, because it sounds like they don’t have anything lined up for me yet. Now just I have to wait and see how things unfold.
The Stuff Japanese people like
Posted on: April 10, 2008
It’s time to break out the world’s smallest violin. I’ve been reading here on wordpress that a particular blog called “The Stuff White People Like” is getting a book deal through Random House publishers. Sure it’s been going on longer than my blog, and it’s a lot more interesting, and people find it really funny or offensive. But I can’t keep on thinking why not me? I can be offensive and I don’t even have to try really hard. But it’s that kind of offensive that makes people laugh that people really want read about or put their hard earned cash towards. All this time I’ve been thinking of ways to get people to look at my blog and get interested when all I had to do was start writing, funny yet offensive things. I’ve been such a fool. Without further ado I give you
“The stuff Japanese people like”
#10 American women.
If I could go another day without seeing a commerical for Cameron Diaz using Japanese cell phones or another promo for Avril’s new CD it would be a good day. For one thing, Cameron Diaz is getting old. She’s what 60 now. But in Japan 60 is the new 40 or so they’d have you believe.
#9 Hip-hop
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Japanese people love hip-hop. You can see groups of wannabe gangsters and rappers at every Tsutaya or Ministop (Translation: Blockbuster Video or Circle K). Most of the kids here can’t put together a cohegent sentence in English, but they love to listen to it anyway if you put a nice beat to it.
#8 Listening to Americans curse.
I’ve had many a conversation with Japanese people and if it should so happen that a real curse word should come out of my mouth (by accident of course) well it would just get that Japanese person tickled pink. “It’s like I’m in a Movie” is the response I got once from a Japanese friend of mine.
#7 Eating Whales.
It’s not something you think about everyday in America, but Japanese people love to eat whales. They think it is their God given right to do so. I once tried to argue that it is wrong to eat certain animals because they might go extinct and that it was a simple matter of numbers. The rebuttal I got was “It’s food culture.” So in other words it’s tradition. I can’t argue with the fact that it is a part of Japanese culture. If Japanese people want to eat “Shamu” I’m not going take the chopsticks from their mouths.
#6 Hating on the Chinese
If anything Japanese love more than eating whales it is Hating on the Chinese. You think white people like to complain about immigrants taking their jobs – well the Japanese can hate on Chinese people for everything. Now it is true that the Chinese make about 97% of everything in the world. Just turn over any 10 products in your home and look at the label on the botttom and you’ll see what I mean. China makes everything. Well recently there have been a few tainted food problems with gyoza (chinese dumplings) and it has been causing quite a stir. Every news station and newspaper had to report on it. If anything wrong happens in Japan, Japanese people can trace it all the way back to China in an instant. Doctors incompent – must of given some bad chinese medicine to his patient. Kids behaving badly – they must have eaten some bad chinese candy. Got yellow sand on your clothes – it must be those Chinese again making those winds blow from the Gobi desert.
#5 Manga (Japanese comics)
Everyone in Japan either loves comics or at one point in their live they did love comics. I can go up to any random Japanese person on the street and ask them what managa do you like and they will give an answer in a reasonable amount of time. You see it everywhere. If you want an to study for the test to become a civil servant, there is a manga for that. If you want to learn how to do simple home repairs, there is a manga for that too. And it’s not just a simple illustrated guide. Thee is even a manga for women who marry foreign men and have a baby. I’m not joking at all. I saw it and read through it at the bookstore just the other day.
#4 Traveling
Most Japanese people have been to more places than the average American person. I know this because I asked them. They’ve been to Hawaii, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Mexico, Paris, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Saipan, Macau, Taiwan, Korea, China, Vancuever, Tornoto, Indianpolis, Boston, Australia, England, New Zealand, Africa, Peru, and Brazil. How many of these places have you been to? Not many I think unless you’re a military brat. But even with all the traveling they do the average Japanese person does not know who to have a normal conversation with a foreignor. I have met a few who do, but for most travel is just about picking up souvenirs. The ones who do have made close friends with foreignors and are a pleasure to talk to if you ever get a chance to talk to them.
#3 American TV shows
If you ever want to strike up a conversation with a Japanese person. Just ask them if they’ve seen “Prison Break”, “24”, “CSI”, “The 4400”, or “Lost” and they with tell you all about their favorite character and what was the last season and episode they watched. They also love “Full House”. It’s scary, but true.
#2 Eating raw stuff
If ever you go to any formal kind of party in Japan, be prepared for the possiblity of eating raw or possibly moving things. There is a food dish in Japan where they eat live squid. Now I’m ok with eating raw fish, I’ve become accostumed to it, though I still prefer cooked over raw, but eating my food while it’s still alive is not very appetizing.
#1 Rice
It’s true. Japanese people like rice. Not only do they like it, they love it and use it everything: rice paper, rice cakes, rice balls, rice wine, and rice gruel. If you go to a Japanese home you will be asked if you like rice. If you don’t they will be put in kind of a bind. “What can I feed a person who doesn’t eat rice?” I have no problem with rice. In fact I eat it almost everyday. Some Japanese people can go so far as to tell you where the rice is from in Japan, just by tasting. But that is truly rare. However many Japanese people do have a preference for one kind of rice over an other. Also most have a particular hardness or softness of rice that they like more.
I want the monies
Posted on: April 7, 2008
Where are the monies? When am I going to get the monies? And so on and so forth… I love the Simpsons. Here are some of my new pieces. If you like them you can buy posters at my shop. www.cafepress.com/gorillaskin Also if you appreciate my artwork and would like to donate please click here:
City Life in Fukuoka Japan
A couple at a gyoza restaurant in Tenjin
Job hunting
Posted on: March 31, 2008
- In: goals | Japan | japanese | jobs | nihongo | Uncategorized
- Leave a Comment
So at around 10am I got a call from a company I applied to weeks ago. They told me they had a position open in Kita-kyushu. They wanted me to work in a place called Kanda Town. I’ve heard of this place. It’s really, really far away from where I live. I told them I wasn’t interested in working there at that location. They told me to fill out an application form just in case something close to me opened up. It would be nice if it did, but I’m not holding my breathe.
I have to get my resume changed to Japanese format soon. I’m going to do that tonight if possible. Then I’m going to go to a temp staff place. If there is time, I’m going to go to a talent agency too. Just for kicks. They might have something for me. I could be stand-in in a commercial or a movie or something.
The job I want
Posted on: March 25, 2008
- In: fukuoka | goals | humor | Japan | japanese | jobs | jokes | learning | linguistics | photos | teaching | translater | translator | Uncategorized
- 1 Comment
So today is the first day of my “vacation” until I find a another job. I’ve been looking online, in the local want ads, and at Rainbow Plaza in Tenjin. So far I’ve seen a few jobs that pay better, but the downside is they’re teaching English. All the translator jobs are in Tokyo or Saitama which is practically Tokyo. Plus I’m missing a few things to become a translator. I’m missing experience with a program called TRADOS. It is a program translators use to manage the translating process. Next I’m missing experiences with translating the most common kinds of documents: legal, electronics, and medical. I do know a good deal of medical terms, but it’s not enough really. I need to find a way to overcome these obstacles. Plus almost every company wants JLPT Lvl 1 for translators. For a proofreader I only need JLPT Lvl 2. So I’m looking for proofreader jobs right now. Maybe it will be my step into translating.
As far as making money is concerned, I’m getting my monies that are due to be paid by the government tomorrow. It’s a good thing so I can pay off the debt I accrued when Nova went belly up and I had to live of my credit cards and my parents kindness. Plus I’m going to start teaching private lessons starting next month. I just have to advertise my services and find a place to give lessons at.
I’m still working on my designs for t-shirts and other apparrell. Help a ninja out. Please buy something from my store at www.cafepress.com/gorillaskin
Year of the Dog's Weblog 