押しつぶしてないで下さい。

THE DOORS WAIT FOR NO MAN NOR BEAST!!

This is basically what I hear when the loudspeaker in the station announces the train doors will momentarily close. Although, it seems instead of this, most japanese people hear 'Hey guys! now is a great time to try and board the train!!'.... 
Due to this, their boarding of the carriage sort of turns into a game of 'hole in the wall' where the hole between the doors gets smaller and smaller as they rush towards it. Surprising however, a lot do make it onto the train!!.... My research into this seems to indicate that most Japanese people have a build in transformation device whereupon activation they can not only become the width of a small poodle but also rectangular in shape. 

Here is a photo I took this morning of my train journey to uni:

BRING ON THE DOORS!!!!

I haven't get got this art down to a tee and were I to try Id probably end up jammed between the doors, legs a-flailing as the train moves off down the platform...

Seeing as i'm on the topic of trains, I may as well take the time to explain a little about my daily commute! (it's picture timeline time!)

So I start my travel at the humble 明大前 station, home of the Keio line! This is the station closest to where I live.
It is also really convenient as I can travel to Shinjuku or Shibuya directly!

I then scan in and head up to platform 2 where the trains to Shinjuku pull in as thats where I need to change trains.

Up the stairs!

If you ask me, personally, I think the trains could be more frequent. 

Then I squish into one of the nearest carriages along with a million and one other people

Then we all try and get off at the same time at Shinjuku, promptly all also attempting to climb a tiny set of stairs at once.

My next destination in the Chuo Line. (RAPID). There's a bunch of Chuo lines but this one is most convenient.

I have to transfer to a JR line to get on this train. My stop is Ochanomizu (means 'the honourable tea water')

I just follow the orange signs to platform number 8, this is my favourite entrance as it has an escalator!

Rapid train to Tokyo! It's only 2 stops but it's not really walking distance unless you are penniless or mad (or both)

Here it comes! NYOOM. They trains also often beep when they get to approximately that close to me and make me jump out my skin

The emptiness of that carriage is a misconception, theres swathes of people stood behind me...

Last train, this photo was taken on a shockingly spacious day. I will fondly remember it as i'm pressed up flat against a window next time.

You know you've been in Tokyo too long when you start to see the same person on the trains.... It was a beautiful moment, I recognised the sad eyes of an overworked salaryman on the return journey from Ochanomizu. We had both been there before merely yesterday, and, as he raised his head heavy with the thoughts of spreadsheets and meetings to solemnly nod in my direction I felt at one with the train and accepted as part of the rat race. 

OR, he could have just been angry that I knocked his briefcase over. *oops*

Luckily however, my new zen train powers did grant me the ability to actually cross from one train to another at the next platform in the nick of time without being bashed by countless shopping bags on the way OR being chopped in half betwixt the metallic edges of the doors!

With manoeuvres like that I'm well on the way to becoming a professional commuter if not even a train-hopping wizardy squirrel! 

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Extra!! (4): [漢字過ぎる]

漢字出て！

So it's time for another little fact file! (Not in the least part because I haven't taken the right photos to continue my life update posts) Today, about the Japanese language! 

Most people just see Japanese and immediately think 'omg too complicated' or 'oooo looks like Chinese'.  But in reality it's too complicated... and looks a lot like Chinese. 


A few facts about Japanese for you: 

The written language has 3 methods of writing: Kanji, these are Chinese characters, they look big and liney and the number of these character reaches into the thousands. The other 2 methods are the Japanese 'alphabets' called Hiragana and Katakana, consisting of 48 characters each. 

As you can see the two alphabets are differently shaped, one is curvy and the other spiky, they are also normally used alongside one another (and kanji of course) in everyday text. An interesting fact about these symbol is however; in ancient times Katakana were used only by men and Hiragana only by women!  In fact some of Japans most famous literature is written solely in one style or the other. 

Oddly, these characters development at all was actually partly due to laziness! Much official / political business in olden days Japan was conducted in Chinese.  However for the Japanese men using the full symbol every single time was too stressful on their dainty velvet hands, and as such they started to use only parts of each character to express the meaning of its much more complicated base. Voila! Katakana! Hiragana on the other hand came into existence due to Japanese women's use of the brush pen and ink. The difficulty of drawing many separate and straight lines using one of these brushes meant that many parts of one character became curved or joined. This calligraphic beautification eventually gave rise to a new symbol hardly resembled the original one at all. The hiragana. Or, when I use my barely existent brush pen skills to write combined with my aptitude for laziness I form an entirely new type of character, the 'ungainly sploge' U-splo for short. I'm sure it'll catch on soon. 

Right to left development. 

Kanji problems!

Although Japanese pronunciation is simple, most words however have two ways of saying them; a Chinese root and a Japanese root. So when learning a kanji it is almost like learning the vocabulary of 2 separate languages. (or in my case, just taking a stab in the dark, 1/46 chance of correctness isn't so bad)



All of the 8 Kanji characters above are pronounced "shin" and all 8 of them are totally unrelated to each other in meaning! With meanings ranging from "heart" to "new", there is massive amounts of mistake making potential just waiting to spring out and show me up.... To add salt to the wound there are also many more Kanji (maybe even hundreds) that are pronounced shin! [-____-] However despite all this, 'shin' is not the most common reading of a kanji by a long shot. It is usurped by the sound 'kou', and with apparently over 1/3 of all Japanese characters having that reading it becomes the most logical sound to make in a conversation where you have no idea what is going on. 



Recently due to my arrival in Japan, i've been trying to cram vanloads nay truckloads of words into my head so I can communicate on a normal adult level with people here. This is why I decided to drag my favourite poster all the way from England to here in Japan. (it wasn't just to make my room look like a nerd-den, scaring away potential new friends, that was just a biproduct)

This is my poster:

It shows over 2000 of the most commonly used characters in Japanese along with their readings. As such, it is huge and takes up a massive proportion of my wall. BUT ITS SO HELPFUL. I often like to gaze upon its large sheetyness and attempt to spot kanji I know low down on the poster (this means they are classed as more difficult, and it makes me feel clever) :)



SHAMELESS PLUG TIME!!!

I have also taken some really cool (in my opinion) photos of Japan, I put them in this album *link below* . Check it out :)

Japan is Prettyね



BYE BYE!!!

今週の日本語誤解 (2)

Dreadful Japanese top 3!

Just a countdown of my top 3 retarded things I said and did in Japanese this week! ROUND 2!



So at number 3:

Here's a combination of the two.

This one is a kanji mistake and very easy to do. In my in-class test this week we had to write down how to read different kanji. Obviously, I was very happy with this and proceeded to zip through the list of bizarrely complicated words such as 'vertical axis'. But then, I met my nemesis, the word 'window'. Sadly I actually know what the word for window is due to the fact my mental age is 4, not 3, my pencil just didn't write what I told it to. This means I put 'まと' not 'まど'. See the little squiggles missed off, this means instead of 'window' I wrote the way to say 'mark / target'. 

At number 2:

Shopping in Sam world.

This one is me just being a nervous turtle. I had to read aloud a part of a piece of writing in class. Of course this mean I instantly forgot all simple japanese including numbers and the word for 'shop'. So when the kanji '店' popped up, instead of reading it 'みせ' (mise), I instead decided to delve into the stupid section of my brain and say 'しみ' (shimi). The most common meaning of this word, is 'stain'. I guess I'm buying all my bread rice and milk down at the stain from now on.






And at number 1:

Is of course a speaking fail. These are by far the most embarrassing and thus often place at number 1 on my top 3 fails of the week. This time instead of saying '好きなことについて打ち明ける' I said '好きなことを打ち上げる'. As you can see these two phrases are very similar, however, one means 'talking truthfully about things you like' and the other means something approximating 'i'll launch whatever you want'. Upon saying this I was met with a plethora of confused looks and it was only about a day later when somebody pointed it out that I realised I must have looked a complete dunce. 

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かわいい！もう一度。。。かわいい！

ZOOO TIMEEEEE

Today was a good day, I love zoos and animals which is why this post is so full of pictures and other goodies!

Actually hold that thought, I just have to go and see why smoke is coming into my room.

Ok, it seems like somebody forgot about a pan of a bready substance or something, so i've opened the windows and flamey disaster has been averted. Give me the key to the city!

OK UENOOO ZOOOOOOO attempt 2!!

Today was a good day, I love zoos and animals which is why this post is so full of pictures and other goodies! 

To start with the day was going only averagely, I lost signal for the first time due to going underground (why they don't have sub-terra wifi is a mystery to me) and then we ended up at the wrong Ueno station a kilometre away from the zoo. However the walk to the zoo was really nice the path was really pretty and covered in loads and loads of trees! The was even a little temple along the way (pictured below) hard to believe this was in the middle of Tokyo city!

A weird encounter on the way was that of a strange old monk. He shoved a leaflet in my hand and demanded I want peace. So I said yes.... this is when he presented me the booklet of the amount of money I would pledge. However when I looked at the booklet there was only non-japanese names next to obviously ridiculous sums of money, mostly over a million yen. I then asked the monk if these people had actually given him this amount of money, in response to this, he took the leaflet back and told me that I didn't want peace. Strange fellow. More peaceful after he left actually.......

In the zoo!

Ueno zoo is actually amazing, there are so many animals to see that it can take all day and sometimes more than one day. It's also super cheap to get in at the equivalent of around £4!! 

We started off our day by running like maniacs to the lions and tigers area! This was party because lions are super cool, but mainly because they were being put in their houses at 2pm for enclosure cleaning (and we arrived at 1:30). So we got to the big cats and took a million pictures, they were really cute but also big and scary...

I also spotted a rare wild Japanese zookeeper in one of the exhibits!!!

Rare!

Other of the highlights of the day was going on the monorail! It didn't cost very much or take to long and it's always nice to zoom along above everybody looking at the animals birds-eye style, while also avoiding a trek over a big hill.

At the other end of the monorail is where the exotic bird house was, and this is where I saw the "Sam-bird". Ok, it's not really called that, it's actaully a 'cock-of-the-rock' and comes from the andes. I call it the Sam-bird, not because i'm a cock, of the rock or otherwise.... but because I believe that if per say a genie came along to earth and turned every human into a bird, i'd become that one.

Hey there sexy chick. ;)

I also managed to see most of my other favourite pokemon animals including:


Relicanth The Japanese giant salamander;

Bidoof A hyrax;

And also sandshrew an armadillo;

Couldn't have asked for a better selection!

On the way out I also got attacked by a giant ostrich;

HELPPPP!!

Grappled a salamander;

I have you now!

And exercised a lot of restraint to avoid buying all these little squishy adorable cuddly toys;

Soon..... soon....

Overall as you can see it was a great day out with all the new people I have met here and it was also nice seeing the animals I missed last time I visited the zoo (last year). Although the bear is still an enigma.  Here's one last compilation of my favourite animals of the day!

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クッキングサマ (1)

Cooking with Sam!!

As well as all the other interesting content i'm providing you with on this blog iv'e decided to write a bit about Japanese food / cooking too!

At home in England I enjoy cooking, especially when I get to use loads of different ingredients together and then when it's tasty and people ask me what's in it, I actually know!

In fact I think my cooking enthusiasm comes from the fact that until university I didn't even know what coriander was or even tasted like (mainly because i'd never eaten curry) . My poor un-spicey upbringing.......

The humble pot noodle.

Although some people say it is boring. (mother.) I thought this design of pot noodle was genius when I first saw it. The little packets and pouring flap made my life that tiny bit easier, and, in the time I saved by not straining the noodles i'm gonna write about the humble pot noodle!

But, this isn't quite the pot noodle you guys are used to. It's flavour is squid Yaki soba (fried buckwheat noodles) and it comes with little sachets of flavour you have to add along with the water and after for extra seasoning.

Cooking instructions!

1. Open the noodle pot.  In fact, scratch that, that's simple if you need that instruction just... you see that little red x in the top right?? click it.

2. Ok for the people who are left (sorry to have lost you Pon :P), make sure you don't open it past the line marked 'B' and take out ALL the like bags of stuff from inside the box. There should be 3 of these. If you leave them in, your noodles will be stupid.

3. Open the little Purple packet and tip the stuff inside onto the noodles. The stuff inside the packet is dried cabbage and squid pieces. You put them in first so that the water cooks them. Put them in after if you enjoy crunching through uncooked vegetables and fish.

4. Now fill the big square box with the noodles and cabbagey squid in with boiling water up to the dinty line on the inside. [If you're Lomrom, ask an adult to help you.] Then CLOSE THE LID. If you peeled the lid entirely off, go and get the lid and put it back on. The covering makes sure the noodles cook through using the hot steam rather then going like clumpy spaghetti.

5. Wait for about 3 minutes then take a peek inside and poke the noodles with chopsticks, or failing that a fork. The noodles should be yummy looking but plain and the cabbagey bit should look soggy. 

6. Now open the opposite side of the packet. Where the big orange arrow is. It's a sticker to don't panic when it comes off. Underneath this is a little grate so you can get the water out without burning yourself / losing all your nicely moistened cabbage flakes.

7. Tip the water down the sink.

8. Once the water has all gone, you can take off the lid fully. Now open the little green packet (it should feel squidgey not crunchy). This packet contains the flavoury sauce so this is the more important bit for tasty noodles. So, tip the contents onto the noodles. 

9. Spin the noodles round in the sauce so that it coats them instead of sitting in a puddle at the bottom. Then it should look like this. 

10. The last step is optional. Yaki soba is often served with Furikake (the last remaining packet) and mayonnaise. But these are optional additions. In my opinion it is better with both, so grab the last little packet and tip the contents slap bang in the middle. (furikake is like the 'do us a flavour' sachets you get in pot-noodles, this one specific one is like peppery seaweed). Then get your pot or in my case tube of mayo and splap in on in a squiggly pattern.

Yummy!

TA-DA!!!!!

( I'm hungry now :( )

案内時間！

Let me give you a word of caution to heed. There will be pictures. Many. Be ready. 

'Why will there be so many pictures Sam?' I hear you all excitedly and quizzically ask... WELL avid readers it's finally time for me to do a little picture tour of my accommodation here at Izumi international house.

So here's the outside of the building, when I walk up the street to get back home this is what I see. 

building edge

Front door

It's nice right?, I think the blue sky helps a lot too. Maybe if it was dull and boring skies like in England the building may look more grotty?

So once I walk inside there is a nice sort of lobby area, and reception where you can contact all the rooms. The guy who sits there all day is really nice and helpful and seems to really enjoy his job of talking to people as they enter and leave the building

The lobby has seats and a vending machine and is generally spacious in it's appearance. Here it is:

The lobby and reception

I think this place is cool because it's nice and modern and has lots of little pamphlets to tell me about the cafes of the local area or what to do in case of landslides. (answer is; not much)

The main part of the building and also the best part, is my room. My little hovel full of stuff and things I don't need. I love my room and it's messiness I even took a video to show you guys how nice it is.

The only complaints I have are as follows: 

1. The air con despite saying it is on 28 degrees makes my room into about the same temperature as the inside of a fridge

2. There is a distinct lack of hangers and draw space, as such most of my clothes are shoved onto my desk shelves and the cupboard has become a place to hide bags and coats I don't want laying around.

3. My bed is not squishy. At home after a hard days doing nothing I often like to running jump myself into the air and land on my soft soft bed surrounded by pillows and blankets. Here, if i were to try that I would not only injure myself (probably quite severely) but also damage the bed. I swear the mattress is made of new japanese technology that means that plywood can bend or something. 

Here's a few pictures to compliment the video:

My organised chaos

BED :) hello Ploofy!

My highly stylistic photo line.

My en-suite bathroom

We also have a shared kitchen were we can make meals and socialise. Or in my case, take my pre-cooked meal from the fridge then promptly leave. If i were the socialising type of person however, it would actually be quite nice to sit in there with free air-con, electricity and a nice big table. BUT, it does smell of feet in there though.... I just hope the feety smell doesn't permeate my packet of seaweed I have in my cupboard... The best part of the room in my opinion is however, is the fact that there is a TV and I can watch a variety of crazy japanese programmes and laugh at their general ridiculousness. 

The kitchen

The hallway to the kitchen

If you don't want to socialise in the kitchens there are also other options, we also have a little garden and terrace in the middle of the two blocks. This is a really nice place to sit in in an evening and chat to people. The only downside is, as it is open air we have to leave after 10pm because apparently our chatting in random languages offends the ears of the neigh-boring <--( see what I did there) people.

The garden seating in the heat of day.

A few nights ago, me and a few of the other guys living here made use of this nice garden when it was nice and cool outside. We sat at the tables and had a few drinks in the evening, I even got chance to go up to the terrace. (usually I don't go up there as the sheer volume of flowers attracts every large and horrible insect in the vicinity and they flap in my face) 

Our evening gathering

The garden in the light of the moon

Not-so bug ridden terrace

I think that just about concludes my picture tour of the Izumi international house. I'm really glad I got to live here as the people and place is so nice. It seems way too good to be student accommodation!!

I'm off to my crinkley clunk of a bed now.... must buy new pillows or something! Night :)