Technology
March 29, 2009
Just before I left for Japan, I bought this 64 megabyte USB smart drive for about $50. While it didn’t have the biggest storage space (I think 128Mb was the largest at the time), it was the most reasonably priced, had a reasonable amount of storage space, and came with a USB extension wire that i still use today.
That was about 7 years ago.
This week, I bought a 8Gb Sony Pocketbit USM-J series USB drive for about $25. Like before, the new smart drive did not have the largest storage space but was very reasonably priced. It did not come with an extension wire. Plus I like the little LED light on the 64Mb drive instead of the dinky little light on the slider on the 8Gb drive.
From 64 megabytes at $50 to 8 gigabytes at $25 in less than 7 years’ time. Amazing.
Umbrella parade
March 26, 2009
I heard some chanting and shouting coming from outside about a week ago. It was led by someone on a loudspeaker and it sounded like quite a big group. I looked down from my balcony and saw a parade of umbrella carriers walking down the street in front of my apartment building. There were over a hundred people in this procession.
I count 97 umbrellas in the line.
While I couldn’t make out the mumbly Japanese, I did see a similar group a little later on my bike. They represented various labour unions and companies and were demonstrating against their treatment at work. I can only assume they have been laid off or have had their hours cut. Japanese people are a lot less active in demonstrations than Canadians and seeing so many people come out for this came as quite a shock for me. Everyone’s getting screwed.
What Would You Do?
March 23, 2009
An uglier side of human indifference and hate. Watching that big Mexican man start crying near the end of the video is something quite heart wrenching.
Sweet tooth
March 21, 2009
So here we have a bakery around Nakanojima. Not a big deal right? It’s kind of strange to have a guard in front of a bakery and it is rare to see a line that runs outside of the bakery right? Still, it’s not that interesting.
So why did I take the picture?
Because the line runs around the block reaching the bridge. There is a gap in the line in front of the koban (police box) probably because the people anxiously awaiting their baked goods probably bothered the policemen while they slept in the koban.
I’ve got to find out just how good this bakery is. More to come.
Graduated
March 18, 2009
I mentioned in my last post about the graduation ceremony. Well, it took place last Friday and it was as fun and sad as expected. Since I was no longer a student, and also, I was just enrolled as a foreigner already in Japan (and not one of the more official programs with a student visa), I didn’t get a spiffy certificate but it was good to take pictures with my classmates and friends.
It was also the last time the all of us would gather. From here on, everyone will be going onto different things. Most of them will be studying in universities and other schools and a few have left Japan already. I think my teacher and I are the only ones that can really say SSDD. It will be good to catch up with a few who are studying around Osaka but it just won’t be the same anymore.
The ceremony was as predictable as any of the recent Shyamalan films. The highlight was when Shou found out that he got into a university. He is the most serious person in class and is well liked by all the teachers. On top of that, he’s one of the nicest guys as well. He hadn’t had much luck getting into universities and he was down to his last application. In the middle of the ceremony, he found out about the good news and everyone was ecstatic. Our teacher was in tears when she heard about it.
That night we created several complaints by the staff at an all-you-can-eat yakiniku place. We were making quite a ruckus. It’s amazing to see young Chinese people get drunk and rowdy. Since I don’t drink I got to witness some rather bizarre things, like people passing sausages with their mouths only – mostly just some students, but when Shou did it to the very conservative Kanagawa Sensei, it was just bizarre.
It was a good end to a great year! Good luck folks!
Graduation
March 06, 2009
Vincent, Kim, and I
I think I’ll plug my Japanese school: Shin-Osaka Foreign Language Institute. They have a new website up now and it’s much better than when I first visited. I’m translating the site into English so I’ll be able to leave another mark at the school, alongside with this photo of me and a couple of friends on the website.
I studied Japanese a full year there and started in the Intermediate Class #2 and finished in the Advanced Class #3. Through the school I met some great people and became friends with a few of them. My main teacher is one of the best educators I have ever met. Considering I trained hundreds of people to teach for so long, I really do mean it when I say she is wonderful.
Through the school I was able to pass the JLPT 2-kyuu easily. I think I may have had a chance to pass 1-kyuu but I was just not confident enough. Instead, I decided to just get 2-kyuu out of the way to have something to show for. I’ll be taking 1-kyuu this year and I hope I’ll be as confident as last year.
All my classmates are graduating and going onto other pursuits next week. I’ll be attending the graduation ceremony and I consider it my graduation in spirit. I would love to study there again in the future but everyone will have been gone by then so it will probably not be as fun as the first time.
