Golden Week

Currently in Japan, we are on a 4 day vacation period called Golden Week. The holidays are Showa day in honor of the emperor , constitution memorial day, greenery day and children's day although it seems little distinction is made what the day is, it is just golden week. The main difference I have noticed is that the Japanese flag is being displayed in public, shops have golden week promotions, and the streets are generally busier. We tried to go today to a monkey park and there was a huge line up to even get into the parking lot. It is nice though to have golden week compared to Canada which has no real consecutive national holidays except during christmas time. In fact, I did the math and Japan has more national holidays than in Canada.

Canada vs. Japan

I have realized that I have not been the best blogger. I have been in Japan more than 4 months now and so I have experienced so many new things. It's been quite an enlightening experience and this is not reflected in my blog. Nonetheless I want to keep blogging since I appreciate everyone who has read it and commented about it.

So I have actually been pretty popular here and given several speeches to junior high school student, senior citizens, english groups, etc about Canada. In these speeches I often speak about the differences between the two countries. I thought maybe I could list some of those differences for those who are curious:

• Lots of bikes and bikers (including me) but no helmets
• No garbage cans but the streets are very clean somehow
• Grammatically incorrect english is rampant
• No central heating (for eco reasons)
• People drink alcohol in TV commericals
• Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere
• The government TV channel (i.e. CBC equivalent) is mandatory and you must pay for it although most people don't since they feel it is corrupt
• Service is much much better
• Transit is also infinitely better
• Underwear is called Pants
• Clothes are dried outside (no dryers)
• No dishwashing machines either
• No tipping and much lower tax
• People show no emotion in movie theatres and don't leave until the credits are over
• Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Deniro commericials
• Infidelity is a lot higher here
• Curry is not spicy (good for me)
• Cannot use cell phone on train or subway
• Lots of TV shows about fishing and eating
• Lots of educational TV shows

OFFICIALLY MARRIED

Last week Mako and I submitted our paperwork to the local city office meaning...we are OFFICIALLY MARRIED in Japan. We do plan on having a formal celebration once I start working, but to celebrate the occaision we went to a very nice Italian Restaurant. The meal was just excellent, perhaps the best Italian Food I ever had. After the meal something very shocking happened. We were walking back to the station and heard a thud. An old man had fallen to the floor face first. We went to help him, and were shocked to see blood everywhere. As people came to help him he kept saying ...."Sumimasen" or Excuse me, even though he was in so much pain all he could think of is how he was being an inconvienence for everyone helping him. He was given a tissue to stem the bleeding and he decided to use it to wipe up the blood on the floor. Eventually the station staff came to help him and it seems like he was going to be ok...

BIG NEWS!

I haven't had the opportunity to update this blog as often as I would like, but to all those loyal readers I have some big news. Me and my girlfriend (Mako) are officially engaged!! 2010 is off to a great start. Now that being said, there is some paper work to go through, being different nationalities and all. For one, I had to get a sworn affadavit from the Canadian Embassy saying that I am not already married in Canada. Luckily I found a law firm in Osaka that has someone who speaks english. It will be an interesting proccess to go through.

Otherwise things in Japan are a bit slow. I have stopped taking my course here and focused on finding work. I had one offer to teach english for good pay but I had to commit to 2-3 years. I have emailed some professors here but no response. I am thinking of sending my Resume to the big companies but I need to convert it to Japanese first (currently what I am working on). Speaking of Japanese, my ability has improved, but still a long way to go. I am finding it very interesting learning the kanji (chinese characters) since each kanji can be thought of as a picture and learning how that picture translates into the kanji's meaning gives insight into the culture.

Anyway it is looking like it will be a very exciting 2010, and I will do my best to keep up the posts.

Birthday Gift

Last weekend was my birthday and Mako treated me to a weekend at a Resort in Mie prefecture, a three hour drive from Osaka. Along the way we were able to go to two aquariums. The first was a fairly small one but had very cute penguins as well as doctor fish, fish that feed off of dead human skin. I've included a picture of the doctor fish feasting on Mako's hand. The other aquarium was quite massive and I had the opportunity to see sea life I had never seen before (say that 10 times fast) including penguins, walruses, and sea otters. The resort itself was amazing. Themed as a French resort our weekend included two decadent meals featuring Matsuzaka beef, a beef even more succulent than its cousin in Kobe, and a hot spring utlizing the nearby ocean water. All in all a great weekend.

First Blog Attempt

I have been in Japan now for 2 weeks and every day has been very exciting. It is absolutely great to be with Mako again and she has been a huge help in helping me get acquainted with Osaka. Yesterday I began a language course offered by the local YMCA. In my class there was 1 Canadian, 1 American, and 1 Filipino student. We all spoke English so the class was fairly smootht. I am hoping to improve my Japanese, especially reading and listening. I've already had several experiences where someone was talking to me in Japanese and all I could do was nod my head or keep saying hai even though I had no idea what they were talking about. My next task is now to find some work...