Jun 2006

One of the big changes with moving to Japan was to adjust from driving everywhere to using public transportation. The thing is, in Japan, public transportation is nothing like it is back home, in either Toronto or Halifax. It is massive. We can get anywhere we want by taking a train and walking or riding a bike. They do have buses which I assume would make it quicker to get somewhere off the train, but we haven't braved them yet (we know trains and subways can only go one way, buses can go anywhere!)

This is a map of the subway and train lines that run through the Kansai area (Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Kobe). There is a blue post mark by Juso. You should be able to see it and it should give you an idea of the massive area it covers. There is a website that you can check train schedules, but I don't remember what it is.

So this is a running diary of me going to work on Sunday.

I have to be to work at 11:20 Sunday morning, the problem is I never remember how long it takes me to get to work. So I always leave at 10:30 and pray to some higher power that I will make it on time.

I start my commute here:

Juso Station. We discovered that you can buy preloaded train cards, so you don't have to stop every time and buy a new ticket. This always makes things faster. All you do is slide your card in the machine and it marks what station you got on at and when slide your card through at the other end and it takes the money off. They also have it timed and the gates are big enough that it spits your card out at the perfect time and you don't have to break your stride to take it back.

Cultural/tech note: all the little train tickets have magnetic strips in them. They're only good only for one trip. A hole is punched in the card at the start, and so when you slide the ticket into the gate at the other end, it takes the ticket from you. I've been told that they reuse them by refilling the holes. We don't let them reuse our train cards, though, because they have cool pictures on them. I don't know how many we've collected.

These pictures are from up on the platform. Juso is where the trains split to travel there different ways, either to Kobe, Kyoto or Takarazuka. It is very easy to get anywhere we want from here.

When we first got here and had to go to work we never knew which of the three train lines came first. It took us a week to learn that the first train came to whatever platform we were not on. But, don't worry, we did figure out which train came the most often.

The train ride into Umeda takes about 5 minutes. It's a nice view because we have to cross over the river. Umeda is one of the huge centres in Osaka. This is where the Hankyu Line, the JR (Japan Rail) and a few subway lines all meet up. There is always a lot going on here and it is always busy.

Cultural/tech note: the first moving walkway and automated ticket machines were built in Umeda station in the 1960s.

This shot is from the platform in the Umeda station. Keep in mind there are two trains behind mine.

Once I get off this train, I have to switch train lines from the Hankyu to the JR. The JR is government run and the Hankyu is privately run. The only problem is I only make this switch once a week and I am always half asleep when I do it. I always make it there, but I never remember the best way to get there. I usually end up going up over on overpass to switch train lines. On my way I pass Yodobashi camera (take a look at the Electronics post about this place).

This shot is from the platform where I catch my train. It is always packed here and I only take this train on Sunday mornings. When I got on my train today I counted 66 people in my car and the train is 8 cars long. The thing is, the seats were full but there was tonnes of standing room. During rush hour the trains and subways have men that walk up and down outside the trains and basically push you on to see if they can squeeze someone else on the train. I was trying to figure out how many people the train could carry, but I couldn't remember calculus and then I realized it was Sunday morning and I was tired. Needless, to say I have no idea how many people can fit on a train.

Once I get off in Kyobashi, the first thing I do is look to see what time it is. That way I know if I have to run to my school or not. I've had to do this before and your day usually doesn't get any better.

On my way to school I always pass this bicycle parking area. This will give you a little idea of how many people have bikes.

Once I am done work, I get to do this all over again. My biggest problem is getting out of the JR station. I'm only there once I week, so I have never learned where to go. The only landmark that I have identified is this place:

They make waffles. There is one corner I always turn around and the smell of fresh waffles always hits me. It is such a nice smell. I convinced Courtney that we could have chocolate waffles for supper. I forget what my reasoning was, but they were good.

On the overpass, when I am heading back to the other train line they always have these bands set up. I'm not sure where they get their electricity but they have a good time. There are usually about 3 bands playing on the overpasses at one time. I think this guy was singing "We Will Rock You"... it wasn't too bad.

Then it's back to Umeda. It took a while, but we've finally started to figure out where everything is and Courtney figured out that if we boarded the train at pillar #15, it will let us off right by the exit in Juso. Which means no walking on the other end.

This day I was meeting Courtney, but I was there early. So I stopped here and watched the end of a Sumo match with a lot of other Japanese people. They have these big TVs, basically Jumbotrons, setup in one of the main areas and they use them for advertisements, sports and other events.

Then that's the end of my day.

When we first got here we saw people running for trains and running everywhere. We had no idea what was going on, but we knew that we probably weren't going to run for trains. For me this lasted maybe two weeks. Then I started to run for trains. There is nothing worse than running for a train, getting to where you want to be, thinking you got on in time and then sitting there for two or three minutes.

I'm not sure what it is, but when I head out on my commutes I feel like I am racing someone. I don't know who exactly it is that I am racing, I don't know if it is the hoardes of school children in their matching uniforms, all the business men in their matching uniforms or the little old ladies on the trains (by the way I usually win this one. You'd be surpirsed at how spry some of these little old Japanese people are). Funny story about this. I was on the train one day and when we pulled up to the station I got up to jockey for position (I wanted the coveted pole position by the door). So I passed the gaggle of girls in 3 inch heels (I knew for damn sure they'd be slow). But then I got boxed in by two little old ladies and the seats and I couldn't go anywhere. I was starting to get pissed that I was stuck behind this lady when the doors opened. And, BAM, Like a bat out of hell she was gone. I was so surprised I just stood there. But don't worry I caught up and passed her when we she took the escalator and I ran down the stairs. I couldn't handle that blow to my ego if she beat me to the ticket gate.

My other goal everytime I leave here to go to work is to have the "perfect" commute. For me this is, I don't have to break my stride when I go through the ticket gate. The train is there when I get to the platform and it leaves as soon I step on (and maybe, I get a seat, but that's secondary, for Court it's necessary). And if I have to transfer trains this happens all over again. The train is there when I show up and leaves when I get on. The only down side is when this happens your commute is cut in half so you have more free time on the other end. But, this doesn't happen very often, it's always a nice surprise.

So this page is going to be a list of all the strange terms and phrases we teach our students or that come up in class. We will probably update this page fairly often because every day is something new.

Here goes:

• "Go for a drink" vs. "Going out drinking", May 29th, Andrew - I had a older gentlemen who could barely speak English, he was definitely a level 5b. In the dialog, one of the questions was "where do you want to go for a drink?". He asked, can I ask, "Where do you want to go drinking?". I managed to explain that I think go for a drink is, 1, 2, 3 or more drinks, whereas, going out drinking is A LOT of drinks. He got on to it and had a great laugh about it.

• "Action Figures", May 17, Andrew - I had an explorer level class and they were talking about things they collected. When guy who is in his 30's started telling his partner about how he collected dolls that were based on a TV show. So I stopped him at that point and said you should call those "Action Figures" and then described the difference between dolls and action figures.

• "Toupee", May 15, Andrew - This is actually the reason we decided to make this list. I was in a class and one of the students asked the other guy if he would rather go grey or go bald? The guy who asked is a doctor and started talking about pills you can get and that you can go to a company and get something made. I'm not sure what he said originally but we eventually figured out that he meant wig. Then I asked if it was for men or women and explained generally women get wigs and men get toupees (I don't know if this is accurate or not, but it sure sounded good to me during class). So I explained what toupees are, but did I stop there? No, I didn't stop there. I also explained that we usually call them rugs and why we call them that. I also explained that when you are talking about rugs and toupees the sentence is usually, "did you see the horrible rug that guy had on?" They got a kick out of this one. But I did not make the George Constanza reference, I'm not sure if Seinfeld translates well into the Japanese Culture or not.

• "Godzilla", May 14, Andrew - I didn't teach this term. In some of my FTL's I play headbanz to get people warmed up. I usually model it using Michael Jackson. That way I can ask, the typical, "Am I Japanese?", "Am I a singer?" but then I can ask, "Am I black?" This usually gets a laugh or a "you were" or "not any more". I then get the students to write their own people down (there is always an Ichiro, but now there are more Matsuis and there is usually a Kenichio Koizumi the Japanese Prime Minister). In this class one of the students wrote down "Godzilla", but they didn't write "Godzilla". Yes, they wrote Godzira.

• "Hourly Rates" and "Look the other way", May 14, Andrew - During one of my lessons I had two Explorer level students who ended up talking about love hotels and prostitution. So they asked me if there were a lot of love hotels and prostitutes in Canada. So I explained there are, but they're not called love hotels, and you can usually tell them because they have signs up that say, "Hourly Rates Available". I also had to explain that prostitution is illegal in Canada, but most of the time people just "Look the other way". This class also continued down hill when the girl asked the guy what kinds of movies he likes. At first I thought he said Poland movies, but then after a little more work it turned out he said porno movies. So at this point I finished the lesson. I wasn't going to have that discussion.

• "Crucifiction", "Lord", "Eskimo roll", May 11, Andrew - I was subbing an advanced level class one night and ended up teaching these two terms. The first one we were looking at idioms and one contained the word, "load". I asked if anyone knew what it was and someone said, "I've seen that before. That's something Christianity has." I was confused at first then I realized she meant, "Lord". So I had to explain "Lord" as well as "load."
  "Crucifiction" came up because two people were talking about The Passion and one girl said 'the execution of Christ'. Because we are here to pass on our cultural knowledge as well I decided to correct her. So I waited until everyone was done and proceeded to explain the difference. By the end I had drawn a diagram on the board, modeled it using my body, explained who Jesus Christ was and explained that the Romans did this regularily as punishment. And, I did this all within two minutes. I don't know if they really understood it or not.
  "Eskimo roll" was actually a term a student brought up. We were talking about skills that we've learned and he was telling his partner about how he learned to kayak. During his training he learned how to do an Eskimo roll - basically get back into a Kayak after you flip over (sorry Gary, I don't think this is a really accurate description). Again because of the whole cultural aspect of our job I went on to explain Eskimo is actually a very offensive term (unless you are talking about KC III). So I explained who they are, where they live, what Eskimo means, where that term came from and that they prefer the term Inuit. And I did this in about two minutes.
  
  
• "Chick Flick", Andrew - this one of the first things I taught someone. I was teaching a guy a web lesson one Saturday night and asked what he was going to do the next day. He said he was going to watch a movie with his girlfriend. So I said the next logical thing, "I hope it's not a chick flick."