Of Bank Transfers and Konbini Clerks

So, today I have some wonderful stories for you all. Today, we are not going to talk about tests or homework or any depressing news about tensions between China and Japan. Nope, none of that. Today, we're talking about awesome storytime. It's been a a while since we've had storytime, so now's the time.

One. Bank transfer. That's right. I see your face; you're like, "Oh no, Michelle. Please let's not talk about that. That's horrible and boring." But you're wrong. It's exciting. So I tried to transfer money today, but it ends up you can't do online transfers to other international accounts. International companies don't like that very much. And it's pretty much impossible either way since they don't have ABA numbers. So here's how it went. I called up Bank X today in the States, on my Japanese phone. Which honestly, normally it'd be free since it's a toll-free number, but I called after 9:00 my time, which is when Softbank starts charging me for phone calls, so we'll see how that goes, but that's beside the point. I called up Bank X. Nice support person, Josh, answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Josh. How can I help you?"

"Hey Josh, this is Michelle. I'm wanting to transfer to a foreign account, but they don't seem to have an ABA number. Can you lend me a hand?"

Well, Josh of course wanted my last name, because it's blasphemous for him to call me by my first name, but I'm a funny sort of gal, and I like being on a first-name basis. So, I told him how to pronounce my last name, and then promptly told him that I'm young and prefer him to call me by my given name. Luckily, Josh is a young sort of guy too. So we of course struck up a wonderful conversation.

Josh needed to research a bit to figure out how to solve my problem. While he did that, we made small talk. He apparently had used one of those McDonald's cups and sliced his finger open on the lid. It was unfortunate, and he had to get 9 stitches. So, not only did I get my question eventually answered, but I had a great talk with Josh from Bank X, which I would just like to say is the best bank ever. By the way, for those of you wanting the answer, apparently doing a cash advance from your checking account (NOT credit) is free of charges from Bank X, so I can get funds cheaply. Score.

Two. I went to the konbini the other day, which I'm thinking I might have to start making a label for konbini soon, cause I seem to have written about them a lot. Anyway, I walked into the konbini yesterday and tried to ask about paying my health insurance but I couldn't remember the word for health insurance bill, so instead I made up some nonsense. Of course, the lady I was with had no idea what I was saying, but luckily, there was a guy there who after giving me about 20 example words, finally figured out what I meant. And he was so happy. Today, I went back, and he instantly recognized me. So I bought some dinner and mentioned I wanted to pay my health insurance, using the correct word this time, and he was so excited. So yes, I'm starting to make friends with the konbini people. Friends of course need names though, so I've named him too. His name is Kurosawa 黒澤, written with the kanji for black and swamp. So hereafter, if you hear me refer to Kurosawa, please keep in mind it's the konbini person.

Later!

Michelle

Of Karaoke

So I went karaoking for the first time the other day, and let me just say, it was really exciting. Our trip began with us taking off by train down to Hakubaicho to find ourselves a classic karaoke place. Once we got there, we just wandered the streets until one appeared. In neon lights. You can tell its popular with the youth because there were a good hundred bikes outside.

So we walk inside, step up to the counter, and ask to buy a room. Unlike in the States, you buy individual rooms here for a set period of time. That way the only people you inflict your voice upon is your close friends. (I don't know about the rest of you, but that's a good thing in my opinion.) So, for 980 yen each (approximately $10), we got a room for 3 hours. Awesome.

Surprisingly, we got carded. I can honestly say this is the first time I've been carded my entire time in Japan. You never get carded. It's kind of wonderful. Either people actually believe my age, or no one cares. Either way, I'm happy.

So, after paying our humble fee, we got a box with the controller (which is really a miniature computer with a display of all of the songs) and 2 microphones.  We walked into the room and stopped. This was no normal karaoke place. The room was huge; it easily could have fit 20 people. The seats were really just cushions and pillows, and love seats covered in leopard print. I'm not kidding. You can't make this stuff up. Where were we? Oh yeah, leopard print. So we have this room full of leopard print seats and we're shocked. We walk in, all excited, and start to choose songs. A few are normal, you know, the recent hits on the radio. There are plenty of songs in English and Japanese. And then, then, we find a blast from the past. Spice Girls. And then, Backstreet Boys. And then, Queen. You name it, it was there. the song book was easily as big as a phone book, if not bigger.

And that's how it went, for 3 hours. It was amazing, and we all left happy.

On another note, tensions between China and Japan are increasing again. It seems Chinese ships are near the Senkaku Islands, and so Japan is submitting a formal complaint. Protests seem to be happening in China as well over Japan's continued claims to the island. To be honest, I can't really tell you the Japanese opinion on this. I don't know if there have been any protests here against China or not. I'll continue to keep you updated.

Michelle

Konbini

Hello all,

I'm currently studying for a Japanese exam, but you know what? I promised all of you I'd keep you up with the latest fads in Japan, so here you go. I'm not going to claim it's the best Japanese ever, but it's definitely something to appreciate. As you know, I go to the konbini all the time. And when I say all the time, it's all the time. It's just so convenient!

Well, a group of people decided to make a konbini video, and so without further ado, I present it to you below.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Arashiyama and Nabe

The other day, instead of studying, I decided to go exploring with Jazmin to Arashiyama. Arashiyama is one of the famous parts of Kyoto, which in Kyoto, says something because all of Kyoto of Kyoto is pretty famous. So, Arashiyama is really famous for temples, and the more traditional arts in the city. But we didn't go to temples really because frankly, I'm a little templed-out at the moment. Instead, we went to one of the very famous bamboo forests behind one of the temples.

Beautiful, isn't it? I admit, it's my first time to really see bamboo, so I was super pscyhed. I can't imagine having to chop any of this stuff down, it's ridiculously strong. And this bamboo is easily the size of a small plate.

After our random explorations outside of the normal touristy zone, we ended up going to a friend's house to make nabe. Nabe is extremely delicious. Basically, you put a bunch of stuff in a pot and then let it cook for a little while and then serve directly from that pot into people's bowls. Ours was full of deliciousness. It went something like this:

1. Start with a soybean milk base for the broth
2. Add pork
3. Add yam noodles
4. Add mushrooms
5. Add carrots
6. Add cabbage
7. Add fried tofu

And let me just say to you that it really doesn't look as delicious translated. There are so many bad connotations with those words that I just put up there, but you know what? Try to ignore them. And think of the feeling you get when you walk into the house and you've had that bowl of spaghetti sauce or something boiling on the stove all day, and you think, "Wow, I'm home, and this smells so delicious." That's the feeling you get with nabe.

And now just because I'm thinking about it, and I really think I owe all of you a picture, here you go. This is my bowl, perfectly arranged by Tomoyo.

Japanese Cell Phones

So we already covered that I got a cell phone a while ago. I think you all should remember this. Anyway, the reason for this post is because somehow we've gone this long without me giving you a description of the cell phones here. Japanese cell phones are pretty interesting actually. The smartphone is just starting to catch on in the market here, but it isn't huge yet. This is mostly due to the price of data here. Anyway, this post will contain some useful tips for those of you looking to get a phone over here and some normal shenanigans.

So, let's get some of the basics covered. You're coming to Japan, you want a phone. Good for you. You go into Softbank, au, or Docomo and buy your phone. If you're doing prepaid, it doesn't really matter where you go. If you're doing contract though, the prices do vary by company. If you want that sort of info, feel free to leave me a message or such and I'll do my best to answer those questions. For the sake of time, we'll continue. Before you choose any plan or anything else, you should understand one thing. In order to get a phone in Japan, you need your alien registration card. Without it, you can't get a phone. Promise. Secondly, you don't pay for the phone in Japan. You pay for the charger and you pay your plan. There is no paying for the phone. That means that you just choose one you like off the wall.

Also, texting is not like texting in the US or some other countries. You "text" to e-mails here. Each phone has an e-mail. You text to that. So, that means that you can e-mail without having internet on your plan. Confusing, but it's important to understand.

Now, you've gotten your phone. Cool. If you were lucky and went with a bunch of friends, or people you just claim as friends, you get some cool coupons sometimes. In my case, I got possibly the best coupon ever. My coupon offers me a choice. It states, "Please call this number and choose either 5 months free or a stuffed animal." Yes, I'm not joking. 5 months free on your contract OR a stuffed animal. Personally, I want to know who chooses that stuffed animal. What stuffed animal is equivalent to 5 months free?

Japanese phones are equipped with all sorts of cool gadgets. Read books on your phone, surf the web, etc. Put your info in your phone: e-mail (texting), address, birthday, name, and so on. All phones have a cool little infrared sensor. Turn that on and have your friend turn theirs on too, and you can exchange all of that information in seconds instead of having to type it again. How efficient!

Personally though, my favorite addition is the wealth of emoticons available. These are hysterical. There's everything from your standard happy and sad face to pictures of penguins, whales, hamburgers, sake, and octopus. My phone (a basic phone) has 15 pages of them. And I know what you're thinking, "When is someone possibly going to use all these? A penguin?!" But you know what? I use them all the time. It's really funny actually. I send my friends a text like, "Hey. Let's meet up for lunch. How about by the benches?" And I get a text back with something like "Sure *picture of scarf*." And I think to myself, "What on earth is that scarf for? I mean really. Is that scarf a sign that they think it's cold? It's like 40 degrees Celsius out here. Maybe it means that they really want to eat lunch? Maybe it means it's a bad time for them?" Honestly, I'm not sure, but after asking myself about a dozen questions, I've just given up trying to understand it. I've even adopted the practice as some sort of strange conformity thing. I'm sending pictures of octopuses (octopii?) like there's no tomorrow.

Well, it's late! Take care all! *scarf*

Michelle

Of Rice Buying

I walked into the rice aisle again today. For anyone that's been keeping in touch with me, you know that's something of an achievement. The rice aisle is intimidating. In fact, it's the most intimidating aisle for me. I can go in the other aisles and be perfectly comfortable with the fact that I can't read anything, but the rice aisle, oh no. Here comes trouble. Last time I walked into the rice aisle, I stopped, physically stopped, caught my breath, the whole shi-bang. There were bags and bags and bags of rice. And I can't read any of them. Awesome. So I took my little 外国人(gaikokujin, foreigner) self through the aisle, grabbed one at random and fled from the aisle like a gazelle fleeing from a pack of lions. When I got home, I learned I'd bought the wrong kind. How embarrassing!

But this time, this time I steeled myself and walked into the aisle for the second time. My thoughts went something like this:

"Alright Michelle, you can do it. Just walk up, read the kanji and grab one....Crap, I can't read the kanji. What on earth is this? It's rice. Well, how about that one. Nope, can't read that one either. Well, that's rice too. What about this one? No, wrong kind. I can read that one. That one's for mochi. And the fourth one says Hokkaido, but that's just a brand....Shit."

To me walking into the rice aisle is kind of like when you send a guy into the women's sanitary supplies aisle. He's like, "No talking! No talking! I don't belong in this aisle! Where are they? Where are the things she told me to buy? Are those tampons? Pads? Elderly incontinence diapers?! God! My eyes! My eyes!" And then, scarred for life and eyes bleeding, he grabs the first thing he sees and runs out of the aisle, mistakenly buying "supers" or some other such nonsense.

That, my friends, is the fear that the rice aisle evokes in every foreigner. You have all these kinds of rice in front of you, and they look exactly the same. Luckily, it seems though that this time I picked the right kind.

And now, with regard to rice and an embarrassing sort of translation. While in said rice aisle, I saw a package labeled 無洗米 (musenmai). The last two characters I definitely knew. They mean "wash" and "rice" respectively. The first one I technically know but I forgot it's meaning. I only recognized it from the word 無理 (muri), meaning "impossible." So here I am in front of this bag of rice and I've just translated it as "Impossible to Wash Rice." And I'm thinking "What the heck? Who would put that on a package? That's horrible marketing!" I can see it now, "Come one, come all, come buy the rice that you'll never be able to get clean!" Yeah...fail. For the record, that kanji alone has the meaning of "not," so the meaning is actually "Not necessary to wash rice" or "Rice that's already been washed." So yeah, cool beans. At least I remember the kanji now.

And now it's already hit midnight and I promised myself I'd be in bed by 12:30, so I've gotta' run! Night all!

Michelle

Of Japanese "Convenience"

Here in the magical world of Japan, there's a couple words that are often thrown around to describe everything from the convenience store to transportation. These words are "convenient" and "efficient." For example, "It is convenient for me to only have to walk 1 minute to a convenience store in order to buy anything that currently strikes my fancy. Because I am not wasting time driving somewhere, I can use that time to do more productive things, such as studying or working or possibly going out to the bar with my peers (or in the case of business people - coworkers). This therefore is very efficient." Yes, my readers, that is exactly how it works.

Here in Japan, there are stores called コンビニ(konbini) everywhere. Konbini is short for convenience store, and because it is convenient for me and efficient for me to not have to type all of those other letters, we will call them konbini for the rest of this post. Think of it as your little Japanese word for the day. I'll call it convenience.

Konbini have everything: toothbrushes, magazines, bento (pre-made meals), snacks, alcohol, winter clothing, you name it. Your local 7/11 (called Seven & Holdings here) will be your new best friend. Let's look at a typical konbini here. You walk in. "Oh, look! They have that new magazine I wanted! I'll get that. Oh, and there's some melon pan, yum, I think I'll get that too. It will be a good snack. But you know, sometimes I like something else too around midnight. Oh, they have my favorite onigiri today. That'll be good. And look at that! That bento looks delicious. Great!" You walk up to the counter and place your items down with a friendly "Here you go." The cashier rings them up, tells you the price, and then looks at your bento. "Would you like me to heat this up for you, honorable customer?" "Yes, please," you reply. So they heat it up for you right there, just to the perfect temperature, and you're on your way. See that? That's convenience. You didn't even have to heat up your own meal.

Now, I'm all for convenience, don't get me wrong. But today, I saw one of the craziest things: pancakes. Don't give me that look. You read that right. Miniature pancakes. In a package. In the konbini. They're really cheap too. Like 200 yen. Yum. They're even flavored with maple syrup so you don't have to deal with any of that mess. You can just grab a package and go to class or something. Here's a picture just to prove it: Konbini Pancakes. Now, my friends, I think we've reached a whole new level of convenience here. This is what we call laziness. But the Japanese will never call it that. It is convenience and efficiency. Those are the words they will always use.

So, why are there konbini on every corner? Why are there more vending machines in this country than I've ever seen in my life? Why are the trains so fast and on time? Convenience. Efficiency. Awesomeness. Personally, I admit it's kind of growing on me. I love my neighborhood konbini. I love the people that work in my neighborhood konbini. And maybe one day, I'll buy those pancakes for breakfast just out of sheer "convenience." Thank you, Japan. I admit, a girl could get used to this.

Michelle

Biking: The Ultimate Challenge

So, I decided to start off this post with a quick correction of a commonly held belief. "X is like biking, once you learn, you never forgot." Yeah, we've all heard that, right? It's completely and utterly untrue. I come from a place where you either walk, or you take a car. Biking is rare, Things are just too far. Here in Japan, everyone owns a bike: You, your best friend, your best friend's grandma, the three-year old kid down the street who just learned to walk. Everyone, and I mean everyone, bikes here. That means that people like me who haven't biked in a good 5 years are at a disadvantage. And if you believed that nonsense about never forgetting how to bike you're at more of a disadvantage.

Here you will navigate small streets, keep in mind the age of some of these cities and the population living within them. You will also navigate around cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, and fellow bikers. Bikes are treated as vehicles here. That means also if you've hit someone, you get charged as a vehicle. It's bad, very bad.

So, why am I bringing this up? Because

1. I suck at biking. And I'm not being modest here. I honestly and truly am terrible at this. Those three year old kids who just learned to bike? Yeah, they're better than me.

2. I already wiped out once while trying to get onto a curb. It hurt like crap, and I was a little beaten up for a while. I managed to avoid the cars going past me though, and I only damaged myself.

3. Unfortunately, I got in another bike accident today. I was avoiding some other obstacle, and was checking to the side, and then noticed there was a person in front of me. I wasn't even going that fast, and I tried to purposefully roll my bike in order to not hit them, but I clipped them anyway. Unfortunately, they fell despite my best intentions. Luckily, it was another student and they only escape with a minor scrape on their arm, but it could have been much worse. Some bystanders decided to take us both to the student health center since my nose was kind of gushing blood (somehow I'd managed to hit it), and we wanted to check on the girl I hit. It seems we're both ok, and I hope nothing else comes of it, but this biking thing just might kill me.

Michelle

Rare Occurrences

Well, because I've been getting questions about it, I just wanted to say that before I begin this post that nothing else has really happened between China and Japan. Three Fujita employees were released the other day. China had supposedly been detaining them due to them entering a restricted military zone. This was considered a positive step toward resuming relations between the two countries (Source: China Frees Three Fujita Employees). However, to be honest, nothing really has changed. Things are still tense, and we haven't been given anything else on the matter.

In other news, I experienced a couple really rare things recently. First, I found a water fountain. I know, what an odd thing about post about right? But I'm not even kidding you when I say these things are hard to find. In a month, this is the first one that I've seen so far. I was even like, "Woah! A water fountain!" And all of the Japanese students around me looked at me like I had three heads, but hey, sometimes you just can't contain your excitement.

The other unusual thing happened the other day when I decided to ride a bus with a friend to a temple in downtown Kyoto. We went a few stops down on the line and then an "argument" began to break out behind us. And by argument, I mean, people trying politely to convince a person to get off the bus when he really didn't want to. It was an elderly man, I suppose his wife, and a friend or something. They were telling him, "Let's get off now. This is our stop. The family is waiting," etc., but he refused to get off stating that it wasn't his stop. I'm assuming that he had some sort of mental disability, but it was very strange. The bus waited nearly 20 minutes for this individual to get off the bus. The bus driver then came and also tried to convince the man. The reasons why this is so unusual are listed below:

1. The elderly man created a scene. This is absolutely unacceptable in I believe a fair number of countries, but it is especially frowned upon here. By making a scene, you inconvenience the people around you. You are causing the public to become unsettled. Therefore, your goal is to make sure that society runs smoothly. You live your life, but you do not inconvenience other people.

2. The fact that this man caused a scene means that the individuals with him, especially his supposed wife will be embarrassed for an astronomically long time.

3. The bus waited 20 minutes for one individual. The busses, trains, etc. never wait for a group of people, let alone one person. Things run on time, getting off the schedule inconveniences the populace which is never done if it can be avoided. The only reason I think this was excused was because the individual was elderly.

Needless to say, the man decided he was not getting off the bus, so the bus continued on its way.

And that's it for this post. I need to get back to studying.

Michelle