Archive for category The Penpal
February 15, 2004 – Train Simulator
Posted by Barniferous in Shizuoka, The Penpal on February 15, 2014
Mt. Fuji from Izu Mito Sea Paradise
Today I went to Numazu and hung out with The Penpal and Williams. I really love the change in scenery when leaving the greater Tokyo area and getting into Shizuoka. Mt. Fuji was snow covered and looked spectacular.
The first stop of the day was Izu Mito Sea Paradise, a marine park just south of Numazu along the coast. Sea Paradise has tanks with a great selection of fish and other underwater life. They also have a dolphin show, which is much like a dolphin show just about anywhere else in the world.
After Sea Paradise, we went to a beach along the coastline where people were practicing various water sports. For the first time ever I saw someone kiteboarding. Imagine someone on a small surfboard holding on to two handles connected to a large parachute like kite. Unfortunately for the man, he wiped out and his kite started blowing away. None of the onlookers at the beach stopped to help.
Following the beach, we went 10 pin bowling and then spent some time in a game center. I specifically mention that the bowling was 10 pin because bowling in Canada is typically 5 pin. I prefer 10 pin, except for the time it takes to find a ball the right weight with proper holes.
In the game centre I played a Dance Dance Revolution clone (badly) and tried a very strange train simulator game. You can’t drive off the tracks, but you lose points for being late to the next station or for giving the passengers a rough ride. I was very fast but I actually had a passenger fall out when I opened the doors at top speed.
It’s always good to get away from the Greater Tokyo area for a while, and I had a fun day with The Penpal and Williams. Fortunately the train driver on the way home was much better than I had been on the train simulator.
(partial rewrite of original post for detail)
January 25, 2004 – A romantic dinner at Wendy’s
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on January 25, 2014
The view near Mukogaoka-Yuen station including Wendy’s in the middle of the shot
The Penpal came to visit me in Noborito today. We watched movies, practiced languages, and enjoyed a romantic dinner at Wendy’s. Okay, it was actually lunch, and not terribly romantic. But we did it together and it was fun.
The Penpal had to leave in the late afternoon. From Noborito she would take the Odakyu line to Odawara and then change to Tokaido line to go to Numazu. I wanted to spend some more time with her, so I came up with a clever idea. At Noborito station I bought the cheapest ticket available, good for one stop on the Odakyu line. We then rode together to Odawara. We said goodbye at the Odakyu exit gate, and then I got on the next train going back towards Tokyo. I got off at Mukogaoka-yuen station, which is exactly one stop away from Noborito. In total I got to spend another hour with The Penpal and to travel a round trip of 134km for the low price of 130 yen.
Feeling pretty proud of myself, I stopped in at Daiei to get some discount food for dinner instead of cooking. I was pleasantly surprised to find an entire pizza with jalapenos, olives and pepperoni for half price. How can you beat 450 yen for a whole pizza?
Just a fantastic day all around.
January 2, 2004 – Mishima Taisha, Evangelicals, and Fathers
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on January 2, 2014
A crowd trying to celebrate New Year at Mishima Taisha
Today’s plan was to go to Mishima Taisha with The Penpal. I took the train to Numazu station to find The Penpal waiting for me. She walked up looking worried and told me that her father was waiting outside. Apparently he was off work, wanted to meet me, and offered to drive us to the shrine. I am generally pretty good with parents in Canada, but had no previous experience with Japanese parents. This was going to be a new challenge.
The Penpal’s Father greeted me at the car. We exchanged some pleasantries and the three of us got into the car. About a minute into our drive, he got the Penpal to ask me how old I thought he was. This was obviously a loaded question and I needed to come up with a reasonable answer. Guessing too high was out of the question, and if I guessed too low he would know I was lying. I masked my panic and decided to work this out logically. He looked to be anywhere from 45-65. The Penpal was 24 at the time, so if he was 25 when she was born then he would be 49. After redoing the mental math, I attempted to sound confident with my answer of 49 years old. He was actually 62, so he seemed pretty happy with my answer. Bullet = dodged.
With that out of the way, we went in the direction of Mishima Taisha but made a few stops first. The first stop was the rooftop parking of the new Seiyu department store in Numazu. It offered a good, unobstructed view of Mt. Fuji. After that, we went to Kakitagawa Park. It is a park next to a river where water comes underground from Mt. Fuji. The Penpal’s father treated us to some Green Tea ice cream and then we departed for Mishima Taisha.
Taisha quite literally means “big shrine” or “grand shrine”. There are only a few taishas in Japan. Since it was New Year, there were literally thousands of people trying to get into the shrine to pray for good luck in the upcoming year. On the approach to the shrine we passed a lot of food stands and souvenir shops, which gave the whole area sort of a carnival atmosphere. We got into the shrine itself, worked our way to the front, and dropped in coins to pray for good luck in 2004.
After leaving the shrine, we worked our way through the crowds to leave and find some lunch. Across the street was a van with a giant loudspeaker on top. The Penpal explained that they were a Christian group warning people not to go to the shrine and pray to false gods, recommending Jesus instead. It was an interesting scene to say the least.
We ate lunch in one of Mishima’s many small parks and exchanged slang from each other’s languages. Some time later a security guard approached us and told us that the park was closed. We apologized and he escorted us out of the park. We wandered around Mishima for a while and then ended up at karaoke again. Karaoke is fun – my singing isn’t getting any better, but I am starting to care less about how bad I sound.
It was a good day and I got to see a lot of new things, as well as spending time with the Penpal. On the way home I managed to sleep on the train, but waking up as my head hit the stainless steel handrail I was sitting next to. I am getting better at sleeping on a moving train, but am still in training.
(rewrote parts of the original post to add more detail)
December 28, 2003 – Yokohama Redemption
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal, Yokohama on December 28, 2013
Cosmo Clock in Yokohama at night
Today I spent a great day in Yokohama with the Penpal. We started the day off with a trip to the famous Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. Just like the name would indicate, this museum is dedicated to the history of Japan’s favourite noodle soup. Japan has some unique museum ideas.
The upper level has a history of ramen in Japan, including pictures, videos, old packages, and TV commercials through the years. They also have an impressive collection of ramen bowls from famous ramen shops across Japan. The basement is the truly interesting part. There is a recreation of a city block set up to look like 1958 Tokyo. Within the city block there are 8 different restaurants, each specializing in a different type of ramen. Also, there are long lines. We waited about 45 minutes (the shortest line) to eat some really delicious noodles. The Japan geek in me loved the experience, but the cynical Canadian in me pondered the wisdom of paying to get into a museum so I could wait in line and pay for ramen.
After the museum, we wandered around Yokohama’s Chinatown. Even though I had been to Chinatown recently, I still saw new things on my second visit. From Chinatown we moved on to Minato Mirai to see the port area. Since we had been walking all day we stopped for karaoke to get a break. I sang Barbie Girl, various Beatles songs, and some Radiohead. The Penpal sang a lot of Sheena Ringo
After karaoke, we headed to Cosmo Clock, the giant Ferris wheel together. About one month earlier I had gone on Cosmo Clock with Asako, misread signals, and ended up making an ass of myself. However, the Penpal and I had been talking to each other often and started to see a bit more than just a friendly connection. Today, I was finally able to interpret signals correctly and made a move that was well received. Redemption in Yokohama!
We walked back to the train station hand in hand, cautiously optimistic that this could be the start of something good. I love Yokohama!
November 30, 2003 – Christmas Tree!
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on November 30, 2013
(rewrite of original post)
Today was a day off, so The Penpal came for a visit from Numazu. Together we assembled and decorated the small Christmas tree that my parents sent from Canada. When I was young, our family always had a big Christmas tree in the living room at my parents house, and somewhere along the way we got a small tree that we would set up in the basement. The small tree had been sitting in a box for years collecting dust.
Growing up, Christmas was an important family holiday. When I think of Christmas I think of presents, snow, turkey dinner, family, watching the Grinch (animated, not live action), midnight mass, and my dad’s famous Christmas morning breakfast. Christmas 2003 will be the first time I will not get to experience any of these things. Having a small Christmas tree will hopefully help to offset a bit of the homesickness.
The Penpal had never decorated a Christmas tree before, so we had fun working on it together, even though it took about 15 minutes from start to finish. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out before she had to return to Numazu.
Christmas won’t be the same this year, but at least my room is feeling a bit more Christmassy.
(I didn’t take a picture at the time – the attached pic is an example of the size of my small tree)
November 2, 2003 – First visit to Numazu
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Shizuoka, The Penpal on November 2, 2013
Goyotei Memorial Park
Rewrite of original post
Today I went to visit The Penpal in Numazu. From Noborito it was a 2 hour train ride; first a train on Odakyu line to Odawara and then switching to Tokaido line to Numazu station. Compared to Kawasaki, Numazu is a beautiful city. Numazu is on the ocean and the skyline is full of mountains. I wonder if NOVA Numazu needs a new teacher?
I met The Penpal and one of her students who likes to be called Williams (his name is Akira). Together we went to Goyotei Memorial Park. This used to be one of the Emperor’s houses in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa era. The house stopped being used in 1969 and became a museum in 1970. US President Grant visited the Emperor at this house. It was very cool to see.
We went for lunch at a trendy restaurant where I tried to explain the many uses of the work “fuck”. Normally it isn’t polite to explain “fuck” and all of its variations in a restaurant, but this is Japan and I am an English teacher. After our lunch we went to karaoke. This was my first time with Japanese style karaoke, which is usually in a small private room instead of on a stage in front of strangers. I absolutely rocked on Monkees songs and Bohemian Rhapsody, but totally sucked many others. I really need singing lessons! After Karaoke we drove around and went to a massive sushi restaurant. I love sushi!
2013 Update
This was the day that started my love of karaoke. To say that I sung Bohemian Rhapsody well would likely be very generous.
October 5, 2003 – Kamakura with The Penpal
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, The Penpal on October 5, 2013
The giant bronze Buddha of Kamakura
Today I went to Kamakura. Kamakura was the capital of Japan in the first two hundred years of the Bakufu (military) government. It is just south of Yokohama. I met The Penpal there. We went to a Shinto shrine where I was attacked by pigeons shortly after getting a “best luck” fortune. We also saw Daibutsu (Great Buddha) which is huge statue of Buddha built in the year 1252. It has been restored and rebuilt over time when it fell because of earthquakes or tidal waves. We finished the sightseeing at a Buddhist temple which was absolutely beautiful. More info when I have the proper names of the places I went to available. In Kamakura we saw a New Orleans style Jazz band playing in the street. Overall, a great day.
2013 Notes
I met The Penpal at Ofuna station. I asked her to look for me, because I am very easy to find in public. Also, I had not seen a good picture of The Penpal before, so finding her would have been nearly impossible.
The Penpal made a very good tour guide, taking me to Daibutsu, Hachiman-Gu Shrine and Hasedera. There were good English signs in the area, but she knew a little more about each place than was explained on the signs. After sightseeing we went to Baskin Robbins near Kamakura station. We got ice cream and talked for almost two hours. Since we had been emailing each other for over a year, we were fairly comfortable with each other and it was more like a meeting of old friends than almost strangers.
Overall, a very good day. Kamakura is highly recommended!
October 3, 2003 – Enter the Penpal
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English, The Penpal on October 3, 2013
Original post
Today was my first day of work. I have just finished 3 days of on the job training which was pretty scary. The first day went fairly well overall. I only had 5 lessons. I was able to reuse two lessons from before so my planning time was nicely reduced. It still takes me too long to plan a lesson. I also talked to my long time Japanese penpal on the phone tonight. Thankfully her English is much much better than my Japanese or it would have been a very difficult conversation.
2013 Notes
Nova on the job training (OJT) is a terrifying experience. On the first day you learn how to choose and create a lesson. You observe an experienced teacher actually giving the lesson. Day 2 and 3 involve actually teaching lessons and getting feedback from observing teachers. Due to the high turnover, training time is kept short to maximize the amount of time teachers can be making money for the school. I believe that lesson quality could have been better with some more instruction, but Nova was a business, and that business wanted to make money.
The conversation with the Penpal was interesting – it was the first time I had ever heard her voice. The conversation was fairly short, and mainly served to set up a meeting two days later in Kamakura. Take a guess what my next post will be about…
The Penpal
Posted by Barniferous in Before Japan, The Penpal on June 1, 2013
Another one of the important characters in my upcoming adventures is The Penpal.
In my second last year of University I took an elective Japanese language course. I liked it so much that I wanted to continue with another Japanese course in my final year of school. My biggest concern was losing my language abilities in the 4 months between semesters. Winnipeg has a very small Japanese community, so I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to find language partners in person. Faced with a challenge, I turned to the internet for assistance.
Searching for foreign language exchange partners brings you to a wide array of websites – some legit language exchange sites, many more for finding foreign spouses. I would promote the website that I used, but it has now been replaced with a straight up dating website.
I signed up for an account and created a profile explaining that I was looking for someone to practice Japanese with. In my profile I specifically mentioned that I was a big fan of Radiohead, Pixies, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and the Beatles. In short order I ended up with penpals from Japan, Korea and the Philippines. One of my Japanese penpals decided to write to me because she shared the same taste in music. She was about the same age as me, and lived in a city called Numazu in Shizuoka prefecture. Like many other Japanese people, she had studied English in school but didn’t have a lot of opportunity to practice in daily life. Out of all of the penpals I got on the website, she and I had the most in common and wrote each other weekly in English and Japanese.
One of the highlights of our email exchanges was when I made a mix CD to send to her. The CD included Queens of the Stone Age, Moist, Our Lady Peace, Frank Black and other music that I was into at the time. Out of the CD, she particularly liked Moist and Our Lady Peace (go Canadian bands!). Not having a CD burner, she responded with a mix cassette. Her cassette included Shiina Ringo, UA, Love Psychedelico and Number Girl. I had never heard of any of them before, but quickly became a fan.
To be clear – I was not looking for a girlfriend. I already had one of those (The Ex). She also had a boyfriend at the time. We were both honestly looking for a language partner, and we both ended up finding a friend. From here forward I will refer to this person as “The Penpal”.
Drinking in Japan 
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