Fulbright in Japan

I just returned from a brief trip to the Fulbright office in Tokyo to meet the new Fulbright Fellows to Japan for this year. Congratulations to those who received the grant!! It was a happy and sad time for me. It was wonderful to meet all the new grantees and see the director, Sam Shepherd, and my liaison person, Mizuho Iwata. I was also able to attend a reception at the ambassador's house. Everything was very lovely and slightly nostalgic of last year when I first arrived in Japan and met all my fellow Fulbrighters. The year sure passed quickly!

I also had intended to do some serious photography in Tokyo and ended up taking only 2 lousy pictures. I can't really explain why this happened except that my mind seemed to be out of creative mode. I went wandering around Shinjuku, the heart of the night scene in Tokyo, and wound up disturbed by the carnality, consumerism and superficiality of it all. Besides, it was a major distraction to my photography to have to constantly be aware of who was around me and to have to avoid the guys at the street corners trying to convince me to go to whatever bar or club was paying them peas to harass anyone who passes by. After about 2 hours of wandering around, I decided to head back to my hotel and read some of the Harry Potter novel I was working on. The whole stint had just depressed me too much to do anything else. I never have liked Tokyo, and if Fulbright wasn't there, I would probably never go. Kansai seems to be my favorite place thus far, but even outside of that there are so many more quality areas to see in Japan that over-crowded, over-commercialized Tokyo.

The most reading I've done in a while

Well I just finished the 4th Harry Potter book (which was by far the best I've read in the series). If you notice, I normally post about what books I'm reading, but these ones flew by so fast that I forgot to put them up!! I'm now going to be reading the first Harry Potter again, but this time in Japanese.... so that'll be like slow-motion reading. Really really really slow motion reading. It'll probably take me at least a year. Anyways, it'll be good and hopefully a little faster than a year!!

onwards and upwards

After last week's insanity, I am trying to get my life into something of a working order again. I'm out of a job, so fellow former Fulbrighter, Erik, and I are starting up a private English school. The classroom is my livingroom transformed into an English wonderworld. Soon we will have the days of the week, the seasons, the ABC's, and the weather posted up along with my current decorations. We gave ourselves a name (K and E Eigo), signed a very brief agreement on money matters, made very fun flyers, and we're off!! I taught my very first private class today....and it went pretty well considering it was the first! The girl at least wants to return - that's a plus!! If we can get 30 or so classes per week, then we'll be pretty well off. It's a high goal, but I'm going to work hard to get there. That and find a part time job :) It's kind of fun rearranging my living room, buying texts and organizing the business...good experience for the future I suppose. I'm starving now though because that class went right through my usual dinner time!! ciao for chow!!

goths hit the streets of Kyoto

I wish I'd had my digicam today. The gothic movement finally made it all the way from Tokyo over to my humble little city of Kyoto. I even saw one carrying a gloomy bear

Xian and I were oogling over the strangeness of gloomy bear's creator's site a week or so ago. Hopefully tomorrow I can get some good pics of the goths running loose all over the city!

a perfect image of my (former) boss

muchos gracios to mi amigo Ken for this image :)

my OCD boss is really OCD or maybe psychotic

So I've had the craziest past three days of my entire life. It all started with an insane email from my (former) boss. He was mad at me for going in to talk to him and his wife about changing my schedule at work, even though at the time I had talked to them, they were willing to work with me and happily made the changes. Apparently he just snapped and went crazy on me. Sent me a few emails YELLING at me and threatening my safety. I responded to the first one with a pacifist's attitude - trying to work everything out before anyone got angry. That apparently failed when he started calling me and leaving terrible messages on my phone. I felt like I was in a movie. The messages went something like, "You don't know who you're f***ing with!!!! I'll make your life a living Hell!!!!" and "This is an order: You are to appear at my house by 9 PM tonight and give me $500 or else I will make your life miserable. And if you got your visa, you will have to pay me a whole lot more money!!" I did not owe him any money for any reason - it was pure, 100% extortion. So I was shaking and crying hysterically at this point because it seemed as if he was really out to get me. I cannot convey the tone of his voice or all the things that he said well enough. I panicked and called the police. They couldn't do too much except tell me to lock my doors and windows and call them if he came over. The night of all of this, I received an apologetic email from his wife, saying that she cannot control him and that she feels terrible about the way he is threatening me. Too bad she couldn't do anything.... Anyway, needless to say I fitfully slept all night, only to wake up to more threatening emails saying that "I will be punished" and "Do not turn to my wife for your safety." I called the American Embassy to see what could be done, and they advised me to go to the police again. So, Craig and I went over to the police and explained the situation all over again. I finally convinced them to call my boss and tell him to stop these emails. They did and I think this must have scared him because that day I received an apology from him for the out-of-proportion terrible things he had said to me. He apparently thought I wasn't smart enough to go to the police if someone was threatening my life. I honestly wonder if he thought I was dumb enough to be scared and succumb to his orders. I hope it's all over now, and I hope I never hear from him again. I'm saving all the emails and messages just in case he really snaps again - my friend who is a neuro-psychologist thinks he has some serious psychological issues. That's kind of a no-brainer, but who knows if he could snap again. So now, the result of all this is that I have no job and am now going to try to start teaching English on my own from my house. I have about 5 students so far, and if it increases to 30, I will be making more money than I could have made at Mr. Psycho's company.

my OCD boss

This was the best thing he's said yet.... "I love self-help books. You know, They've done a lot for me."

You'll probably be hearing a whole lot more where this came from. That and stories of how OCD he truly is. It's funny, except that I'm working for him!

Since he said something I should too

Yeah so now Xian got me started on the whole Michael Moore nonphenomenon again by putting something on his site. First, I haven't read bowlingfortruth's stuff yet, but I'm gonna. But I did recently watch the movie after several MM enthusiasts said it's a must see. (these enthusiasts also tend to like Noam Chomsky too....) Anyhoo....the problems he identifies are some that tend to drive me absolutely insane. Maybe it's because I'm half way across the world watching the U.S. from afar and reading all sorts of argumentative stuff on the Internet. who knows. We get the news here in English too and the Japanese love to make fun of Bush (well he kinda deserves to be made fun of cause he is kind of a monkey for lack of better words), but everyone is problem oriented not solution oriented. That's the real irk with MM too - he's got problems. Everyone's got problems. See, there's a problem when America starts killing itself off with guns...especially in the hands of children. There's a problem with pollution (though I didn't really see the whole Hollywood sign thing in the movie as being any bit relevant to the movie). But I think we're missing a whole big picture by just focusing on the problem window. So, everyone (if anyone reads this blog) is thinking, what's the solution? I can't say I have an answer for everyone, but the point is to start with some ideas and work your way from there. The thing that struck me at very first when I watched the movie was the hopelessness of the boys that did the Columbine shooting. No hope at all...that's why they do it. Depression, maybe. Lack of God, definitely. If no one understands the point of living, then what is the real consequence of killing others and yourself? Nothing really if we're all gonna die anyway and rot 6 feet under. So, for those who believe in a higher power, maybe we need to start teaching our kids that there is something a little more than just this earth. That's a start.

Then how about our education system in general? Looking at the upcoming presidential elections is very interesting if you compare their answers about the budgets for education and the budgets for defense. More military. More defense. More fear (and I think MM may be onto something here). No improvements in education at all. This is all backwards. How are we going to have any sort of national defense if our kids don't even know about the nation or don't care about it? I say that education is one of the biggest problems in the US and it is probably the most neglected. The teachers are payed peas, and the kids are shoved in crowded classrooms that need a paint job. It's really quite sad. So there's a start, change the priorities from military agressiveness to at home restoration.

Which brings me to another giant of a problem that I think Moore all but glanced over. The family. This is a problem that is more difficult to tackle than even education, because the government has less of a hand in it (which is probably for the best). But something needs to be done. Maybe I'll think about this one a lot more then put up a nicely planned idea. Basically, I think that the U.S. is in sorry shape, people have no hope, and that's where the problems are coming from. It's just a thought...but I rarely hear anyone talking about it. Stop complaining and start doing something (which I even am trying to do from way over in Japan, so if you're in the States get to it!).

Okay end of rant for the night. I'm exhausted. oyasumi.

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More kiddy Japanese. For all you Japanese fanatics out there, this is a) not textbook Japanese at all and b) Kansai-ben. So learn it cause it's cooler than that icky textbook 標準語 (hyoujungo).

何でよ？？(nande yo)=Why??
できへん！(dekihen)=I can't do it!
邪魔って何？(jamatte nani)=What's a pain in the butt? (after being accused by the teacher)
いてい！(itei)=ouch!
しんどかった。。。 (shindokatta)=that was too hard...

Change of Status for Visa to Japan

I finally nailed down a list of stuff you need if you're changing your visa from student to employee in Japan. It's super hard to get, but I eventually got an actual list from the immigration office in Kyoto. I'm not giving it as any form of legal advice, and if you're in serious trouble or something, go get an attorney. It's simply a reference designed to be a little helpful. If you want to read it, click "more".

Change of Status to Worker in Japan (specifically teacher at an English school, which most English-speaking foreigners tend to be anyways)

From the Applicant:
1. Resume of the applicant (apparently English is okay for this)
2. Original diploma (if it's in English, it doesn't usually need translation)
3. Original employment contract (Mine was in Japanese, which is preferred)

From the Employer:
1. Letter explaining the need to employ the applicant
2. Certified copy of corporate registration
3. Balance sheet, report of profit and loss
4. Certificate of corporation tax payment
5. Company brochure (we also did print outs of the company website)
6. List of non-Japanese employees

To fill out the form you will need to know how many employees total the company has and how many of them are foreign. If it's a company with capital you need to know that amount. You also need to know last year's total income for the company. Make sure you bring your passport and alien registration card with you. Of course, if you're missing anything they'll just send you away and tell you to return with more things. But if you bring all of this stuff, technically you should be all set to go. Again, this isn't legal advice of any sort, merely a helpful list and if you need true advice, hire an attorney.

kids nihongo

okay I've decided to add a category to my blog....kids nihongo. I figure that since I've got this job working with tons of little Japanese kids and they say the cutest things that it would be a good way to learn Japanese for everyone!!

Today's lesson:
喉が渇いて、お茶飲みたーい！！　(nodo ga kawaite, ocha nomitai)= I'm thirsty (lit. my throat is dry), I want to drink tea!!
ごめんなさい (gomennasai)= I'm sorry (although I have no idea why this 3yr old was saying it over and over and over again)

PS if you can't read the Japanese, make sure your view settings are set to auto-select or Japanese

Kristen's gonna work

for the first time in a year!!!! I actually hate it up to now. I started training, but I can't really start the job for a week because of my grant. But my boss is 100% obsessive compulsive. Just yesterday we had a sticker crisis and two copies of a memo on chairs. I'd write more but I've really gotta get my act together and get out of this house. mwah!

biting the hand that feeds you

My kitty is so sweet, until she thinks your hand is some sort of giant t-bone steak and chomps on it. Then she'll sit there and look up at you with innocent eyes as if nothing happened at all. Tricksy little rascal!