Sayonara

After 18 months, I have left Japan. It was an awesome time. For anyone considering doing what I did, I'll leave with some parting advice:

• If you can afford it, come to Japan then get a job in that order. There are plenty of job opportunities for teachers here, only a fraction of which you could know about while in another country.
• If you come with Nova, move out of Nova accommodation ASAP. It is expensive and your housemates are a lucky dip of cool people and freaks.
• Learn Japanese. Before you come, learn speaking basics by listening to tapes. Then join a Japanese class when you arrive, and find a language exchange partner (easy to do).
• Take up a hobby that you do back home. For me, it was soccer. That's the best way to expose yourself to Japanese culture.

Tokyo 2

I returned to Tokyo on my way out of the country for one week, during which time I managed to check the boxes on three more of the things I wanted to do before I left the island:

• I ate whale: There is a whale restaurant in Shibuya called Kujira-ya, which means 'whale restaurant'. Really nice place. I went for the whale steak, which was delicious. The menu included every conceivable other part of a whale too, including whale bacon (???).
• I played Pachinko: There are some professional pachinko players in Japan - it turns out I'm not one of them. My 1000 yen ($12) disappeared before my eyes in the form of little metal balls plunging into an abyss over the course of three minutes. The idea is to control the force at which the balls shoot into the machine (like Pinball) so that it bounces off lots of little pegs and hopefully falls into this special hole, which then activates a kind of slot machine that can cause you to win... more balls. You can exchange the balls for a coupon representing balls. Gambling is illegal so you can't cash the balls in. BUT - you can go into the alley next door to a guy who will by the coupons. It's a kind of loophole. In any case I never made it that far.
• I sang Cutie Honey at Karaoke in Japanese: English version...

She's a girl who's in fashion
She's a girl with a nice butt
Look at me Honey
Just a little
That's all
Please, please, don't hurt me
My heart is pounding
No, no, no, don't look at me, no
Honey Flash!

She's the popular girl nowadays
She's a girl with a big chest
Look at me Honey
Just a little
That's all
Please, please, don't come near me
My nose is twitching
No, no, no, don't look at me, no
Honey Flash!

She's a girl who's in fashion
She's a girl with skin like a kittens
Look at me Honey
Just a little
That's all
Please, please, don't follow me
I'm weaping femininely
No, no, no, don't look at me, no
Honey Flash!

Favour

One lesson we teach is about requesting favours, and it includes several phrases to learn, one being 'Could you do me a favour'.

Here's a transcript of a recent lesson between the teacher, Brinnen, Erina, a high-school student and one other student, which went wrong with, as they say, hilarious results.

Brinnen: Let's practice. OK, Erina!
Erina: Err.... I know you're really busy, but I was wondering if you could do me.
Brinnen: ....
Erina: .
Brinnen: [falls off his chair in a fit of laughter]

(If you don't get it, ask your parents when you're older)