|
|
Aug. 3rd, 2006 @ 12:59 am
|
|---|
Finally back and relaxed back in America now. I have to get over this time lag, and prepare for school which starts in a few weeks. I can't wait to see friends again and get back in the groove of things. Tokyo was an unbelievable experience and there are so many things things that happened. For example, skydiving and relentless karaoke and drinking nights.
Before I left, I had AU, my cellphone company there, get all my cellphone pictures onto a CD, BUT they are in some weird file format and i cannot see it. AU has software to read it, but i wont buy it!
For all pictures of the trip that i have been able to upload so far, you can visit my university of Memphis FTP site at
https://umdrive.memphis.edu/jbro/Japan%20Pictures/ |
|
End
|
Jul. 31st, 2006 @ 10:39 pm
|
|---|
Its been a blast, so many things have happened during these past year that I cannot explain from a livejournal post alone. I met many interesting/boring people, drank a lot of alchohol, went to quite a few clubs, (yes this is still Jonathan were talking about), meet my girlfriend, got pretty good at Japanese, found a job after college, watched a lot of daily show, and hung out with a lot of cool interesting people.
I plan to keep in touch with many of them from now on through email, mixi (a japanese livejournal varient), and instant messager.
I have tons of pictures (unfortunately on my cellphone which is pretty hard to get on a computer). You can buy a USB cable for it for $30 or email all your photos to your email account ($3/150Kb) =( You can do it, but it takes money. Ill try to get the best ones out on my ftp soon though.
I cant wait to get back home and see how different everything is. Not everyone is asian, people are taller, i have to become more protective of my belongings, get used to more fat people and self concious people again, etc. Itll be nice to get back in a car and start driving again, and see friends again, but I will miss having Tokyos public transportation system!
Anyways, im babbling. Theres too much to say and I have to go catch my flight to Chicago tomorrow. Catch ya later. |
|
|
Jul. 22nd, 2006 @ 01:17 pm
|
|---|
|
Its difficult to put into words what it feels like living in a different country for a period of time. That is why there are study abroad programs, I suppose. But, I am very glad I took the risk of going to some university where the environment and studies were unknown to me beforehand. I definately plan on coming back and seeing some friends some time in the future, and its a strong possibility that I may even start my career here in Japan. It's a difficult choice that im not taking lightly, i'm trying to assess all my options (too many). See you next week for my last post. |
|
|
Jul. 3rd, 2006 @ 01:53 pm
|
|---|
Yesterday, I went to Kamukura with one of my friends. Was so humid and wow so many stairs, but all in all a good experience. At some of the shrines here you get to see a lot of triforces from zelda (that NES game... its incredibly famous). Its not actually from zelda, but born through tradition.
This temple deals with unborn infants. You pray for their happiness.
Daibutsu. The great buddha.
Just a peronally opinion. Why are Japanese shrines/temples overcrowded with overpriced shops/restaraunts and gimiks that feed off off of these national monuments like they were born from disney world? Its sad to come across a very serious monument where people worshipped for hundreds of years, and come across a ice cream shop and restaraunt still inside the temple grounds. =\ |
|
|
Jun. 29th, 2006 @ 11:35 am
|
|---|
I went on a side trip to Kamukura earlier this week. Its famous for the giant buddha statue and many temples. Im going to head out again this Sunday to catch everything else that i missed in the first run. =)
This pic is a giant statue sticking out of a mountain near the train station... (0_0)
The inside of one of these temples was pretty freaking. You walk into this pretty dark candle lit room with a old starving man statue and a giant golden buddha behind him staring at you. Oh btw, theres also a giant black and white painting of a dragon on the ceiling.
(0_0)
 |
|
|
Jun. 20th, 2006 @ 04:35 pm
|
|---|
These days im looking around for jobs and doing a great bit of studying before I have to go back. I figure while im in Japan, I better learn as much japanese as I can because well the only person I know whos japanese is my japanese teacher. Maybe hanging out with exchange students from memphis would help me out a bit too. I know, they will come to America to learn English, but its not like im gonna speak only japanese to them.
In the meantime, I (kinda) checked out Mt. Fuji, but it was still quite a distance away. Its funny that you can drive hours away and still see the same mountain in the distance. Sometimes I wonder if the cars actually drive slower. or it just seems the same speed because the cars/roads are smaller... Here is Mt. Fuji in the distance. Pity its cloudy.
Also, heres a picture of one of the clubs in Tokyo. On the main floor were dancers decked in traditional/bizzare wear dancing to house music. It was really quite a site (sorry for the dark picture and not rotated image. Cant rotate in HTML (i think). I could just reupload it but ill do it later.
 |
| » (No Subject) |
|---|
So still looking for engineering jobs and stuff. I took an interview earlier this week and I had to say it went well, but I havent recieved anything back from them yet. So I guess I wasnt accepted... Ill keep trying a bit longer and see what I can get. Less than 2 months left, and I want to return to the states and I want to say in Japan much longer. theres a lot to do here, and a lot to see. Perhaps there is also a lot to see in America also, but it just seems all the same to me. I suppose its because I grew up in the US.
btw, starting engineering salaries in Japan are low. Its like it doesnt matter if you graduated a masters in Astro Nuclear Physics with a Master or a sociology BA degree. The starting salary will only be about $10,000 different. However raises are very common and go up quickly with age/skill.
Oh, I bought an iPod nano a few months ago. it holds 2gigs and will not break according to news articles. They did tests on it. It seems you can throw this up in the air, let it fall on the concrete and it wont break. Or run over it with a car and its still ok. Lets hope it doesnt get stolen like my old MP3 player! Ahhh good memories of Memphis!
Jun. 3rd, 2006 @ 12:21 pm
|
| » (No Subject) |
|---|
1.5 months left and im pretty busy lately. I decided how hard it would be to get a job here, so I went to an Engineering Job Fair on Saturday, where I say only 2 other foreigners the whole time. Just another reminder that there are not so many foreigners in Japan, and the ones that are mostly teachers and bartenders.
Walking into the room, I could sense a lot of eyes falling upon me, but I shrugged it off and began searching. First a questionnaire is filled out with all your qualifications. So yeah mine looked a bit of empty. Then talk to some of the attendents and they recommend a few jobs that I should look into. The real part of the fair is when you walk into the next room where all companies are lined up in a row basically looking around frantically and smiling giving out information and mini-interviews to searchers such as me. I took about 5 mini-interviews, some great, some not so great. All but 1 was all in Japanese btw, which im proud of.
In lighter news, im not missing any episodes of Family Guy because one of the Americans here is hooked up. Im also getting into the Corben Report and Daily Show.
=)
May. 15th, 2006 @ 09:54 am
|
| » (No Subject) |
|---|
Whew, pretty busy nowadays. Im actually seriously thinking about getting an engineering job in Japan after I graduate. Tokyo is an interesting place to live and theres a lot of stuff to do. However, if im unable to find a suitable job, im not sure what my next step will be after I graduate. I have Memphis... but thats Memphis, Id rather not live in Memphis. Im going to an Engineers Fair this saturday, and classes are keeping my busy doing homework, not to mention other "stuff" going on here. Heres a picture to keep you satisfied.
May. 9th, 2006 @ 12:45 pm
|
| » (No Subject) |
|---|
St. Patricks Day parade last month. Was nice, giant guiness floats, dogs dressed in green, marching bands. It was so incredibly crowded, even though when I ask Japanese about st. patricks day they give me a confused look.
This one turned out really good. It almost looks fake if you know what I mean, the sky is perfectly blue and the grass looks like just one texture spread underneath. Just a plain old sakura tree in a park near Shinjuku. I forgot the name.
I went to the Tokyo International Anime Convention and it was pretty good. They had booths everyone covering everything and a singer was always performing on stage pretty much the entire time. There were also booths of the Seiyuu (voice actors) being oogled by all the rabid fans. During the day, a booth would feature a series seiyuu being interviewed. Questions as to what do you do during the day, what sports did you play during High school... what kind of guys do you like, first boyfriend, embarassing stuff that the troops of rabid fans ate up.
Apr. 12th, 2006 @ 02:13 pm
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
jonbro's journal