It’s been about three months since I left Japan behind to begin my life anew back where I came from, in sunny San Jose. Although it took me a while to do so, naturally, I’m beginning to miss things. At the same time, I’m re-experiencing things I’ve missed here and I’m wondering how I could’ve left some of these behind, so I decided to make two lists: one about things I miss about Japan, and one about things I’m glad to have back in America. (more…)

To you Fall 2013 guys, this is for you.

I’m gonna take a shot in the dark here and assume you guys are coming in around the same time we did: sometime in the first week of October. In which case, you’ve got less than one week of life in your home country, so go and overdose on the things you’re gonna miss most, because you won’t be seeing them for (up to) nearly a year’s time! For the people you love in your life, things like Skype exist, but being there with your family and friends in person (of course) feels far better than a face on a screen. Definitely binge on the food you like, too — especially if you’re a terrible cook like I am, but even then there are some things that just naturally aren’t available in Japanese grocery stores (for example if you’re a fan of Mexican food you’re definitely not finding tortillas by themselves; though I do remember seeing imported American hardshell taco kits at the market in Kamiooka.)

In any case, here’s a handful of last-minute tips, in no particular order. It’s certainly not comprehensive, either; I might come back to add a couple more things. In any case, bon voyage! If you plan on making a blog on your stay, do link me — I’d love to follow it. 🙂 (more…)

This is part three of my guide to JOY-sei ryuugaku life, concerning the navigation of the city of Yokohama (and travel outside). Here’s a copy-and-paste of the table of contents quickjump:

Part 1 (The Dorms, The Neighborhood, Commuter Passes)
Part 2 (Getting to School, Getting Comfy in Your New Place, Resident Registration, Cell Phones, Money)
Part 3 (Getting to Know Yokohama A Bit Better)

Disclaimers: this is not an official guide; things are current at the time I wrote this post and may change; you can probably use this as a guide for non-YNU study abroad but a good chunk of things won’t apply to you; this is based on my experience and things may be different when you get here. If a website has an English page, I’ve linked to it, but most of the links will be in Japanese-0nly.

(more…)

Part two of my guide to Yokohama ryuugaku life. Here’s a copy-and-paste of the table of contents quickjump:

Part 1 (The Dorms, The Neighborhood, Commuter Passes)
Part 2 (Getting to School, Getting Comfy in Your New Place, Resident Registration, Cell Phones, Money)
Part 3 (Getting to Know Yokohama A Bit Better)

Disclaimers: this is not an official guide; things are current at the time I wrote this post and will change; you can probably use this as a guide for non-YNU study abroad but a good chunk of things won’t apply to you; this is based on my experience and things may be different when you get here.

Patch notes —

10 Nov 2017: fixed a couple of things here and there; updated the cellphone section. (more…)

It’s about that time of the year where I remember I have a blog, I go in, and see more hits than usual, due apparently in part to search terms for the JOY program and odd things about the area in English. Maybe I should’ve written this earlier, but now that spring break is here (and I’m done with the usual handful of end-semester assignments I procrastinated on), I can actually sit down and write this up. Ahem.

To those of you who have decided to make Yokohama National University your university away from university for a semester or two, hi! My name’s Mattie, and I look forward to getting to know you, JOY-sei alumni 2012-2013. Lemme give you a preview of life as us ryuugakusei live it here in Japan to the best of my ability, shall I?

Oh, before that, though, couple of disclaimers: this was current at the time I wrote it (2-18-2013) revised it (2013/8/29); things probably will have changed. This isn’t an official guide or anything like that. This is also YNU-specific, so if you’re thinking of studying abroad and YNU isn’t on your list, things will naturally differ…I think that’s about it. Okay, onto the good stuff. (more…)

Happy new year, everyone! 明けましておめでとうございます！

It’s been one hell of a weekend: a couple of friends showed up and we ended up at Comic Market (Comiket) 83, which happened right before New Year’s Day, giving me a one-two punch to my time (and my wallet). Do expect writeups of both, as I went to two days of Comiket and attempted to survive crowds at the Meiji Jingu for hatsumode (the first temple visit of the new year). Oh, and crazy things happened at Shibuya on midnight: let’s just say after braving Shibuya, the crowds at Comiket (take your ordinary convention center and then stuff 150,000 people into it for six hours) seemed really, really tame in comparison.

I ended up spending the entirety of New Year’s in recovery mode, but oh man, what a way to end 2012.

By the way, incidentally, today — the day after New Year’s Day — is when a good handful of shops put out fukubukuro, or lucky bags, filled with stuff and sold at a discount. My friend’s in Shibuya right now trying to score a couple of things from the famous 109 building…having went to all-night karaoke just prior to that. I can only hope he makes it out alive. Wouldn’t do well to survive an apocalypse only to get snuffed, right?

In any case, I hope you all have a wonderful 2013. Love and peace! ◆

Out of all the “Yokohama goods” that seemingly exist, I’ve only come across one consumable — a brand of water labelled “Hamakko Doushi The Water“. Hamakko refers to Yokohama natives; doushi refers to Doushi Forest (道志の森) — a forest in neighboring Yamanashi prefecture from which the water’s supposedly sourced — but also can be a reference to the word doushi (同士) meaning fellow. Not quite sure how to compare the taste of this water with everything else I’ve had (I mean, come on, it’s water), but I thought it sort of interesting.

Also interesting is the fact that on the way to the station, nearly every vending machine carries this as their sole water option at 120 yen (~$1.50) a bottle, save for one that mysteriously sells it for 130 yen. Well, since a part of the proceeds go to “support volunteer forest preservation activities as well as African nations”, I guess there’s an option to donate just a bit more. ◆

While I was having breakfast today, I noticed that the pack of bread I’d bought* had a food balance guide panel — the first of its kind I’ve seen during my time here, and the first non-American one I’ve seen. The USDA food pyramid was an oft-ignored staple of my childhood, and is the one a handful of my friends and I recognize the most (newer ratio-based “portion plate” be damned). So, when I saw this, I was actually rather intrigued what Japan had to say about balance in food intake. Here’s a quick and dirty translation of this daily food intake “top” and its descriptions (notes, commentary, and reference to the rough equivalents on the old US food pyramid are in italics):

• Top “Handle”: Water/Tea ~ Top Momentum: Exercise
• 5-7 servings of Staple Foods (US: 2-3): one slice of loaf bread, 2~3 bread rolls, etc. (Pictured: sliced bread, rice, noodles, rice ball.)
• 5-6 servings of Vegetable Sides (US: 3-5): a big plate of vegetable salad, a small dish of sautéed spinach, etc.
• 3-5 servings of Main Dishes (US: 2-3): A sunny-side-up egg, a small plate of sautéed weiners, etc. (Also pictured: stuff like fish and hamburger steak.)
• 2 servings of Dairy and Dairy Products (US: 2-3): Half a cup of milk, a slice of cheese, etc.
• 2 servings of Fruits (US: 2-4): an apple, an orange, etc.

The rest of the display naturally talks about the importance of breakfast (“Breakfast begins your day”), and encourages people to follow the top. It also gives a link to balanceguide.com, which, in an odd twist, redirects to an English booking site for Balearic hotels. I guess if you’re dancing in Ibiza all night you’re definitely fulfilling the whole exercise and momentum thing, right? ◆

* Now that I’ve determined that 4-slice loaves are awesome I’m now fine-tuning my preference in Japanese bread. This particular pack is a bit more dense than the last, which I quite enjoy.