With Thanks to Rie - Motoyawata photo's

Robot De Niro

One of the coolest things about Japan, and to be fair, there are many, is their all embracing view of robots. At Osaka University, the latest step forward has been unveiled; the robot actor.

Hataruku Watashi (I, Worker) is set in the near future and tell the story of a young couple who own a robot who loses the will to work. He then engages the couple and claims his existence is demeaning.

The robot has been programmed to speak lines and move about the stage in the 20 minute production.

The machine which stands at 1 metre tall was made by Mitsubushi and the programming for it's performance took over two months to complete.

Japan invents....The Man-Bra

Errr...Can I bring my own ?

As mentioned on my previous Japanese blog, the intricacies of English, especially pronunciation and spelling sometimes get lost on the Japanese and their Asian cousins...

Engrish.com has hundreds of examples of these...there is a link in the Interesting Things part of this blog...enjoy!

A little bit of Tokyo...and a dancing Stormtrooper.

So here is a little of bit of Tokyo...and a bloke in a Stormtrooper outfit dancing...

Actually it's Danny Choo, an ex worker for JAL (Japanese Airlines) who now runs an excellent, if otaku fuelled blog...

What would Darth say ?

Paperwork

With the acceptance of my AEON contract comes the joys of paperwork and running around like a headless chicken.

To be fair to AEON, and this is 100 times better than my NOVA experience, they have kept in regular contact with me and have been more than willing to answer any questions I might have.

The last week or so, I have been organising the neccessary paperwork, getting photographs taken and reading the documents and useful bumpf that they sent me.

The hardest part was trying to track down a courier service, as AEON want the paperwork to be delivered by a trackable system. I finally hunted down DHL, only for my jaw to hit the floor when they wanted upwards of £50 to deliver my documents to New York!

But when I think of Rie, teaching and Japan I believe its all worth it...

Japan-tastic

In the words of Hiro Nakamura (pictured above) "YATTA!!!!"....

I got offered a job with AEON last week after an intense week and a bit wait. The interviewer from London, Motoko rang me personally to offer me the job and the even better news is that I am going to be posted in Ichikawa city, Chiba.

I might hear you ask, Ichi what ?

Ichikawa is about 20-30 minutes from the centre of Tokyo...AND more importantly for me, it is Rie's hometown....

How lucky am I !!?!?!?!?! That or, as I believe someone is watching over me from above, and my sacrifices over the last year and a half are starting to look worth it.

I depart on April 4th 2009 and will attempt to write more posts on my new position...

The Long Hard Slog, Empty sights, Hopes and Fears - PART THREE - PEPPY KIDS

Tuesday came around. I left my luggage at the hotel and made my way to my Peppy Kids interview. Or as I called it Interview #2.

On first impressions, Peppy Kids seemed a bit maverick. The chap, interviewing me was a cross between Albert Steptoe, Frankie Howerd and Ian McKellen. I was the only person to be interviewed, because the company interviews throughout the year, but compared to AEON felt like NOVA all over again.

However, I remained professional and decided to give Al/Frankie/Ian and Peppy Kids a shot. I was kind of glad I did.

I was informed that they are the largest Kids teaching chain in Japan, and they seemed to have their head screwed on when it came to teaching them. I found the interview, more like an informal chat compared to the intense scrutiny of AEON and was surprised when I was offered a position in March.

Maybe I need to rethink who I am going to Japan with ?

The Long Hard Slog, Empty sights, Hopes and Fears - PART TWO - Killing Time

After my AEON interview I had until Tuesday afternoon and my Peppy Kids interview before I had to worry again. This might sound fine, but it left me feeling strangley empty and lacking any direction.

I had put so much into the AEON interview, that I felt slightly underwhelmed by the prospect of having free time in the capital. Plus myself and Rie had spent time here only a month or so earlier, so I felt lonely, an emotion that is heightened in a city like London.

So I ate sushi, drank beer and spoke about football with random strangers in a Chelsea pub, went to the Natural History Museum, had a chat with some old lady selling poppies, found out Harry Redknapp had taken over Spurs, got 24 out of 28 in a pub quiz and went to see Burn After Reading at the cinema.

But I felt strangely disconnected from all of it. Maybe staying in London all that time wasn't worth it.

The Long Hard Slog, Empty sights, Hopes and Fears - PART ONE - AEON.

So yesterday evening I made it back, successfully, if I might add, from a 4 night sojourn to our Nation's capital.

The buzz that London once held for me now seems more like a light static "electric shock" that you could give yourself after rubbing your feet madly on a shagpile carpet. It's strange that the City holds little of interest for me now. Sure it has some great galleries and museums; some interesting places to hang out, but maybe because I've been through my "London phase" it seems a tad empty.

The reason I went to London ? 2 interviews for my attempted return to Japan!!!

My hotel was great. Around the corner from Earls Court station, clean and friendly. The room was excellent with a nice ensuite bathroom and ten times better than the one that myself and Rie stayed in a month or so earlier.

My first interview on Saturday morning was a 10 minute walk away in a hotel in South Kensington with Eikawa school, AEON. About 30 plus candidates turned up looking equally apprehensive and equally excited. What made me slightly more nervous and yet more glad and eager about AEON was that my fellow candidates were all more mature and more experienced than my NOVA interviewies 3 years ago.

The presentation and introductions from the AEON recruiters, Motoko Taki and Lars Frank were professional, friendly and extremely warm. It boded well. Then we were split into groups and given times to return for demo lessons and a grammar test. I was given a later group (3 hours later to be exact) so headed off to lunch with a sweet, yet terribly nervous girl from Singapore.

My demo was up first and went well. My lesson plan was well prepared and I felt my experience as a teacher helped no end. Yet I always think praise is HUGELY important in teaching and I made sure I gave my "students" as much as possible.

The grammar test was tricky, but not really difficult. Then it was out into the hotel foyer to wait for envelopes from the recruiters to see if we could return tomorrow for our personal interviews. In the foyer my other interviewees were nervous, but in good spirits and we chatted about previous jobs/applications etc.

When the envelopes came out, it was like being on the X-Factor. I opened my envelope to reveal that I had to come back at 9am tomorrow (Sunday). YATTA!!! I wandered on back to hotel room, after wishing the others good luck, and had some take out Sushi and a beer.

The personal interview went as well as I could hope. After presenting an AEON lesson to my interviewer, Motoko (as if she was an intermediate level student) which again recieved no negative feedback (DOUBLE YATTA!!!!), she then proceeded to ask me questions about myself, teaching, AEON etc. I gave it all I could. My heart and soul very much open to her scrutiny as an interviewer. If it isn't enough then I can do no more.

I have to wait 2 weeks to here a HAI or IIE.....GANBARIMASU!!!

Monkey Service

Some people say that the bad service they recieved in restaurant was down to the fact that they pay the staff peanuts. Or Soy beans. And they might as well have monkeys.

Well in the Izakaya (Japanese style pub) , Kayabukiya in Northern Tokyo that is exactly what they have.

Yat chan and Fuku chan serve drinks to customers and are rewarded with soy beans. Fuku chan, who is the younger is only allowed to hand out hot towels, due to a lack of experience.

Both the animals are family pets, and the premises was vetted by Animal Rights regulators.

Japanorama

If you haven't already seen it yet, I recommend that you track down the BBC 3 documentary series, Japanorama. Presented by Johnathon Ross, who obviously has a keen soft spot for Japan, it is a quirky look at the culture.

This is clip from the season 2 episode "Kakkoi" (which is Japanese for cool).

Teaching in Japan

As some of you may know, I used to work for NOVA in Japan for just over two years. I enjoyed my time in Japan (well most of it) and had no problems working for NOVA. Luckily for me, I had already left Japan when the company began to feel the financial implications of the fine imposed by the Japanese courts. Some of my friends however were not so lucky, and had to either find other jobs or return home.

Teaching in Japan, is one of the easiest ways to get overseas. In many cases this means applying to one of the many Eikawa (large chain schools like NOVA, GEOS, AEON) as they will sponser a VISA for you.

I have included some links to these schools and others if you are interested in teaching in Japan.

ANOTHER new Japanese Prime Minister!

After the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda at the beginning of September, one would think that the job has become something of a poisoned chalice.

When I arrived in Japan in 2005, the Prime Minister was the flamboyant Junichiro Koizumi. He resigned in 2006 and was replaced by the younger and eager Shinzo Abe. However Abe was not a popular choice within the party, despite his father having been a powerful politician, and soon he found himself in a deadlocked situation.

He was replaced last year with the older Fukuda, but his leadership seem non-descript and anaemic at times. With the DJP (Democratic Party) holding the upper houses, Japanese politics seemed at a stalemate.

The man pictured is the new leader of the LDP; the tough talking, manga loving conservative Taro Aso. Aso is, and was during my previous time in Japan, one of the most charasmatic and recognisible faces in Japanese politics. He recieved 351 out of the 527 votes from fellow MPs and Party members, and it is now widely believed that he will call a general election to reinforce his leadership.

However, Tokiko Terada, a pensioner from Tokyo, states " I can't stand it! We can't choose the Prime Minister again".

The LDP has run Japan, almost without a break, since Mrs Terada was about the same age as her granddaughter Yuki is now. Yuki's mother Michiko Terada was born in 1956, the year after the LDP first took power.

But with the DJP rising in power, maybe there will be change or will the election of Taro Aso keep the LDP in governement ?

Happy/Sadness

For those of you who know me well, you will be aware of the "trouble" I seem to have with women. Firstly I used to fret over being single. Finding despair and self esteem issues in the void of my single life.Secondly I would always attract women in pairs. It would force me to make a decision. One I didn't make well. Which leads me onto point three. I used to make terrible choices on the type of woman/girl who was "right" for me. I seemed to take an option that was ruled by my heart or head and not the two.

After Shiori, a nightmare of a relationship in which I was sucked dry emotionally and mentally, I emerged stronger, yet more harsh. An element of coldness had entered my heart. Relationships were unworthy of my time, my emotion. They were a a serious of misadventures where ups would counter-attacked by lows, and would always end in disappointment.I channelled all my energy into my family. Helping my Dad and co heal from the loss of my Mum. And bizarrely this aided me. Over time my hurt and frustration dropped away.

But this wasn't all down to me. Via emails and MSN conversations, a young Japanese woman, Rie Iwadate was fixing me without me knowing. She was restoring my faith in people. In life. In love. That people are fundamentaly decent. Our relationship grew over distance. Through written words. It was shorn of the shackles of physicality. Even though I did find her attractive.

Then one day it dawned on me. Like an epiphany of light in a dark room. The reason I felt no desire towards other women was because I had all my desire channelled in one direction. Rie's direction. Here was a relationship that had been built over a long distance, yet I felt closer to her than anyone in my life, and definately more so than any of my previous girlfriends.

Did she feel it too ?

She told me she wanted to come to England and visit me. But the caution in me, the scepticsm that has always lived in my heart was fresh now. Gone was the blissfully naive Justin of my first real relationship with Claire. The clinginess that had subverted me before had also vanished.

Yet when she arrived in England on August 29th the connection between us was solid. As soon as I saw her small delicate frame walk through those doors at Heathrow, I felt something in me click. She was real. This moment was real. We had a drink as we waited for the bus back to Bristol. It was euphouric. I had been as important in her life as she had in mine. In the bus station, we chatted and laughed, I could feel her body language as something positive. That she felt the same way as I did. She felt that 1 in a million connection.

And so she is now my girlfriend. No time was wasted whilst she was here. It was perfect. As if the grace of someone above was rewarding me for the sacrifices I had made to get here. We travelled to Bristol, Bath, Cardiff and London. We cooked for each other. Drank beer together. Laughed together. In many ways from the 29th of August until the 9th September we were lost in each other. I have never felt anything like it. Like all my previous relationships have been whispers, dress-rehearsals for this one.

When she left on September 9th, the sadness was unbearably. It was a sadness we shared, which made it even more special and bittersweet. Tears were shed. Promises were made. Promises we both wish to honour. When you find something as special as Rie, you don't throw it away. We miss each other, and will until I return to Japan, and I can hold her in my arms again.....

(This orginally appeared in the Notes section of my Facebook page 11/09/08)

I'm turning Japanese...again....

So here goes. My attempts to get back to Japan, and the blogging of those adventures.

I promised that this blog would be back and so it is.

I hope to record my highs and lows, observations and adventures.

But first of all, I have to try and get back to Japan. One of my friends once described leaving Japan like the Malcolm McDowell character in Star Trek Generations. In that movie, Mcdowell plays an alien scientist who is attempting to get back to the Nexus, a kind of spacial Shangri-La. All he can think about is getting back there. The experience he has had there consumes him.

Of course, my time in Japan had a profound effect on me. Not that I am going to destroy planets and Sun's to return there. For one, it's probably too expensive, especially when I am attempting to save.

Seriously though, I felt that I had left something behind in Japan. And I did literally. 90% of my posessions. But I am talking here more about a part of myself. I know that if I do manage to get back then it will be different, but the same.

Usually I believe in the addage that you should never go back. But I left Japan, not under my own need to leave. My Mum had passed away and my family needed me. Now I have to make the opportunity for myself to go back to where I want to be.

Of course, Rie is another huge factor. But she deserves a post on her own, and I don't want to do her a misjustice in one post.

I have applied to AEON, GABA, EEC, and more schools than I can remember. I have an interview with AEON on the 25th October; an interview with Peppy Kids on the 28th and EEC have interview dates in November.

So please enjoy the ride.

And cross your fingers for me!