October 23, 2003 – When you’re this bad, they call you Mister?
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Lux on October 23, 2013
The cold from hell is almost gone, but I lost my voice today, so no teaching for me. I ended up going shopping at Daiei with TimTam during the day because I didn`t need my voice for shopping. In the evening I went with TimTam and Lux to Mister Donut for 100 yen donuts. You really get what you pay for here. (i.e. the donuts sucked)
October 20, 2003 – Hockey finally
Posted by Barniferous in Hello House, Life in Japan on October 20, 2013
Still fighting the cold, but I needed to get out of the Hello House.
There was some good viewing on the Hello House TV today. The highlight was an NHL hockey game: Kings vs. Senators in LA. Unfortunately the Sens lost, but man it was great to see hockey! I also got to watch Tiny Toons and Japanese women`s wrestling. Satellite TV rules!
October 19, 2003 – Bob Sapp Time
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Lux on October 19, 2013
BOB SAPP!
Original Post
Nothing sucks more than a bad cold on your day off. I stayed home and watched a whole bunch of TV and finally saw Bob Sapp in a fight. Man that guy is huge!!! He lost by DQ when he slugged a guy who was on the mat under kickboxing rules. For those who don`t know, Bob Sapp is a former NFL player who came to Japan and became famous in K-1 and Pride.
In the evening I went out grocery shopping with Lux, the other Canadian in Hello House East. Lux refuses to speak any Japanese, but somehow gets away with it. She also loves smiling and waving at unsuspecting Japanese men making them blush. Shopping with Lux is never dull.
2013 Update
For a few years, Bob Sapp was one of the biggest gaijin talents in Japan. He was literally everywhere – train ads, commercials, fights, variety shows, everywhere. Part of the appeal is that Bob Sapp is like a human cartoon character. He is happy to switch from “the beast” to a big smiling, dancing goofball. As a fighter he was not great if you could avoid his giant flailing punches. As a moneymaking entertainer he ruled Japan for a few years and was well aware that he had a limited shelf life. It was fun to live in Japan during Bob Sapp time.
October 18, 2003 – The blind leading the blind
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on October 18, 2013
(complete rewrite from the original post)
Work was insane today. Overall there were 4 schedule changes. Since I am still pretty new, it takes me a long time to plan my lessons. A schedule change may involve a new student added into a lesson. That new student might have recently done the lesson you were planning to teach, which will involve finding a new lesson that works for everyone. It is also possible to have your entire lesson switched with another teacher to avoid the same student having two lessons in a row with the same teacher. Again, this will involve coming up with something new on short notice.
Due to continuous changes, I ended up with a business class student for a short time. The business class involved a set curriculum which I knew nothing about. Fortunately one of the senior teachers saw the problem and got this fixed before I failed spectacularly. My other big challenge was being scheduled with a low level student who was nearly completely blind. Nova was supposed to be heavily focused on speaking and listening, but there was still a big textbook component to the lessons. Some of the more experienced teachers had been given special instruction on how to work with blind students, but I am still a novice teacher about 3 weeks into the job. I ended up getting switched to the Voice room 5 minutes before the class started.
Kawasaki Nova is too busy!
October 15, 2003 – Beware Roppongi
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan, Shenanigans on October 15, 2013
After an eventful training class where I experienced my first earthquake I was just looking forward to getting back to Kawasaki for a quick beer at Kiosk before heading home. Mississippi Mark and I were on the train together – I was sitting and he was standing holding the train handle. Suddenly, a Japanese girl walks up to him and starts talking to him in English. I could only see the girl from the right side and she looked pretty cute.
The girl introduced herself as Momoko and started asking Mississippi Mark how long he had been in Japan, where he works, and where he has been in Japan so far (the standard questions).
When you are not from Japan, it is difficult to guess the age of the Japanese people you are talking to. Momoko was young looking and fashionably dressed. This meant she could have been anywhere from 15 to 35. Trying to help narrow down the age range, I asked her if she was a student. She answered that she was studying graphic design at a local art school. This meant that she was at least out of high school, which was a relief.
During the conversation, Mark mentioned that he wanted to go to Roppongi sometime. Roppongi is a well known foreigner friendly nightlife area in Tokyo. Momoko says “Don’t go to Roppongi! That’s where this happened”, pointing out the MASSIVE BLACK EYE she had on her left side. Mississippi had seen this the whole time, but it was not visible from my angle. She also pointed out her busted up lip and then told us “Don’t worry – the other girl looks much worse!”.
Well that’s a relief.
She insisted on getting Mark’s email address and told him she would invite him to Roppongi sometime and promised not to fight if they went out together. After she left, Mark told me that he would be bringing backup if he ever went out with Momoko because he was afraid of her. Man, I love this country!
October 15, 2003 – First Earthquake
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Yokohama on October 14, 2013
Earthquake and fire warning sign in an elevator.
Follow up training day in Yokohama. New teachers from all around the area went for training in Yokohama in a 10 story building. During the training everything started vibrating and shaking back and forth. The instructor calmly told us that it was just an earthquake.
JUST an earthquake.
After a few more seconds, one of the teachers asked us if we should hide under a desk or something. The instructor said we could, but it would be totally unnecessary and continued with the lesson like nothing was happening.
You can tell how long someone has been in Japan by how they react to an earthquake. With less than a month in the country I was absolutely scared shitless! The ground should never move. EVER.
October 13, 2003 – Canadian Thanksgiving in Japan
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan on October 13, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Well, its Thanksgiving in Canada today, and some sort of holiday here. But did I get any turkey???
It rained like crazy this afternoon. When the rain finally stopped, the water in the street was close to 30cm deep! I got some good pics which I will get around to posting when I can. The drainage in my neighbourhood leaves a little to be desired.
I was bored this evening so I headed to downtown Kawasaki to my usual internet cafe. Some scary lady was trying to hit me up for cash outside the front door. I just played the “gomenasai” (sorry) card and tried to walk away. She kept asking, saying something about her being a “kawaii onna” (cute woman). I respectfully disagree. I hope she is gone when I leave. I have to stop going to downtown Kawasaki at night.
Update from a few days later:
Well, the crazy lady was gone when I left, but the underground mall that I normally walk through was closed. So I had to navigate downtown Kawasaki at night and find my way to the station. I caught the last train with minutes to spare!
October 10, 2003 – Manual HTML editing
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on October 10, 2013
Original Post
I would just like to say that I hate editing html code manually. It sucks.
2013 Notes
At this time I was doing all of my blog updates with Wordpad at the internet cafe. It wasn’t pretty but it worked.
October 8, 2003: Le Kiosk
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Life in Japan on October 8, 2013
Kiosk!
(note – this is a rewrite of the original post because it didn’t convey the awesomeness of the experience)
Near the end of the shift, we were told that, as a treat, the experienced teachers were going to take the new teachers out to an exclusive bar called “Le Kiosk”. We started to get excited about going out, and were asking lots of questions; how far away was it? what do we need to wear? was it expensive? can we invite other teachers? The answers all came back very vague, making this mysterious bar seem even more interesting. The only thing we were told was that it was usually quite popular and we would likely be standing.
The end of the shift finally came and we followed the experienced teachers to Kawasaki station and through the gates. Our AT (like a supervisor) calmly walked up to the Kiosk convenience store that is located in many train stations in Japan and bought a can of beer. Le Kiosk was in fact just regular kiosk. The experienced teachers had a good laugh at once again getting the newbie teachers to fall for the Le Kiosk ruse, and then we all stood around in the train station drinking beer and chatting. I have to say – drinking beer in public is pretty sweet.
After a few beers, I went off with one of the other Canadian teachers to search for a bank machine that would provide money from our Canadian bank cards. I was successful, she was not. We were actually both very lucky that sticking our foreign bank cards into random machines didn’t result in the cards being taken away or security being called. What can I say – the beer was good.
In the rest of the time in Kawasaki I ended up making post work beers at Kiosk a fairly regular event. Also, I helped trick several of the new teachers as well. The circle of life continues!
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!
Drinking in Japan 
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