Level up!

Level 2 classes have started and I can honestly say that they want us to step up our game when it comes to learning Japanese. From now on, all the class lessons are in just Japanese, the amount of kanji we had weekly before is now daily, and we are now also gonna have a class weekly on Japanese old-style culture. Guess the real schoolwork starts here.

I've also discovered why the karaoke places are really popular here. It's not crazy expensive and you can get as much as you want to drink included in the price. The only downside us that non-alcoholic drinks are self-service.

Anyway, that's it for this post I suppose. Nothing too special going on in this past week.

Delayed Status Update

Been a while since the previous blog post... Again. I've been bad at keeping this blog up to date and as an apology I've added some photos.

Been really bust lately, with my end of level 1 exams (last one on Monday, with feedback on Wednesday). Luckily it's "only" 133 Kanji for level 1 to know, and a whole lot of grammar. (；´Д｀)

I've gone ahead and gotten myself a Japanese phone, which makes blogging a whole lot easier than it was on the iPad. I also recently went to the Okinawa Music Festival in Ueno with a friend. Lots of fun and very catchy music.

I've gotten a lot of impressions and started to settle in a bit more here in Tokyo, so I'm planning on doing a post about the more different aspects of Japan and things I would've liked to know earlier, instead of when I had arrived in Japan.

Anyway, this was just supposed to be a short post letting you all know that I'm still alive and blogging! (The pictures are hopefully a nice bonus). Until next time! (≧∇≦)b

The First Big Test

I got my results from the test we had at Wednesday today, scoring a 98/100 on the Kanji writing and reading exercise (would have been a 99 if I didn't accidentally write さん, instead of きん for the kanji 金 ... Oh well...). I also got an 87/100 on the grammar part, which was alright.

In related news, my birthday was a couple of days ago, and I got a card with a present from my parents. That was a pretty nice surprise, as I didn't expect any presents.

As for other festivities, there's a local sake producing factory tour planned for tomorrow, as well as a party in a local park. Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun! One thing the japanese know, is how to make great parties, usually starting early. Just two or three weeks ago we went to a jazz club, at 7 in the evening, missed the last train, went back to the jazz club and took the first train back at 6 in the morning! ... In Norway people would probably start later, and end it at 2-3 at night, because people can't stand up straight anymore...

There's also some sort of festival going on in Asakusa this weekend, so I'll try going there as well, maybe get some more nice pictures out. Today on the other hand, I'm heading out to a local bar to meet some friends. Until next time!

Golden Week

During Golden Week I was lucky enough to be allowed to join a friend of mine and his family for their trip to Atami and Hakone, as they have a house there. Atami is a great place, we had some rice crackers wrapped in nori (a kind of seaweed), went to some hot springs and saw the art museum! The art museum had some stuff from way back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries, as well as a display of the golden tea ceremony room the emperor had in his castle way back in the Edo era, if my memory serves correctly.

In Hakone we went up on the ropeway, walked on the trail at the top and had some of the black eggs they boil in the area. According to my friends japanese wife, those eggs supposedly prolong your life by 7 years, but they looked like normal eggs to me underneath the sulfur encrusted black shell. Was also lots of sulfur in the air, so the place smelled like the worst fart ever though...

It's also been more than a month since I've arrived, and I've gotten the chance to meet a lot of amazing people. Some have said that they've had some racist encounters here, but I haven't as of yet. The closest would be someone asking me why I chose Japan and not China or Korea, just for someone else to point out that they should stop asking questions like that because it makes them look bad, wanting to gloat over their neighbours. xD

As always, pictures of my trip can be found on my tumblr. I might just pop them in the blog posts one day if I ever go to a net-cafe or something. No promises though.

Umtil next time, stay safe, and have fun!

April Mini-Update

Just wanted to do a quick update/new stuff I found and really, really like post, so here it is!

First off, VisualArts/Key has done it again. I finished the visual novel Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume (Dream of a Little Star in English) recently. Yes, it's a visual novel by the people behind works like Kanon and Clannad. It's a bit on the short side, with me finishing it in one sitting, but damn, the feels are strong in this one. Give it a try if you got 3-4 hours to spend.

Other than that, I've also started reading a manga series by the name of Yotsubato! (Eng: Yotsuba and!). It's made by the same mangaka that made Azumanga Daioh, very similar style. The difference is that this time it's about the girl Yotsuba and her adventures and daily life. I personally picked it up to read in japanese, to improve my reading, understanding and vocabulary, as it has simple japanese day-to-day talk and furigana over the kanji. I'm surprised at how good it really is though! (The first volume is a couple of years old, so I'm sure you can find an English version somewhere as well).

To wrap up, I also went on a trip to Mt. Takao today. Lots of shrines and nature, lots of photos from my trip at my Tumblr account. Great fun!

Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

Kyojins, Harajuku and food!

Been a while since last post, and for that I apologize. The network we got at the Share House I live in is a bit flimsy at times, dropping out and dying whenever it feels like it. Probably doesn't help that whenever the network is up, my neighbor keeps blasting boring music that is just two or three beats that repeat over and over from the net, haha.

So, if you've seen my tumblr, I recently got some Shingeki no Kyojin loot with my drink at a 7-11. That series is immensely popular here, and you'll spot some stuff even at family restaurants or convenience stores. I also went to a big, eight floor store called Tokyo Hands, where I bought the Tiger Tank nanopuzzle model I'm working on in between studying and looking around.

Speaking of Kyojins, I've tried looking a bit on TV over here, but it's not that great when the only thing you manage to make sense from is baseball, haha. Did see a match between the Tokyo Kyojins and another team I can't remember where they were from, just that they were named Sparrows. Pretty good stuff. There's also a tv-show where they showed off a couple of Rube Goldberg machines though, that was pretty cool, and I saw one performance of Rakugo on the TV shortly before that. I find Rakugo fascinating, even if I don't get the jokes (yet).

I've also been lucky enough to meet a couple of people I can call friends! Been at some local bars and Izakayas with them, with more probably to come. Food and drinks here are great, both in taste and price. Lunch at a restaurant here costs about as much as a hot dog from a gas station in Norway! It's great!

Also tried taking the trip to Harajuku, as I was told that there's cosplays and stuff there. The weather wasn't too great (overcast, lots of clouds), and the entire area seemed to consist of foreigners, girls under 20 in groups shouting "kawaii" every two seconds, lots and lots of girl stores (clothes, phone accessories, outfits like school uniforms and such...), candy stores and the famous pancake/crepe stalls every 150 meters. It was nice to see it, but I think you need to have female company to fully enjoy what Harajuku has to offer.

However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Taking the train to school is a bit of a pain. Those train-pushers you might've heard about? A real thing during rush-hours. A German friend of mine put it in a rather eloquent way: "You will never be as close to a woman, not even during sex, as you will be to the women on the train". It is crazy how many people they want to fit into one train...

I'm afraid that is it for this post, as I got some preparation to do before tomorrow. Tomorrow we begin with the Kanji characters, as well as some more grammar. Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

First school week!

My first week at school is over, and we seriously went through all of hiragana in that one week, along with some "survival-japanese" phrases (stuff like ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions, and shopping). We even had a test at Friday, which I think went really well. Tomorrow it's the same deal as this week, just with Katakana I bet. They really weren't kidding about it being an intensive course!

Also went to an Izakaya, which was great! Lots of drinks, food and happy people! We ate liver, the small intestine of chicken, shark-sushi and some kind of vegetable that I was told was similar to natto in texture. It all tasted really, really good! Until next post, stay safe and have fun!