6/30 Monday:
First day of work. Nothing exciting. Pretty boring actually. I spent most of the time studying/reading a book (in Japanese of course) on a new programming language I have never used and reviewing how to use Linux and another programming language that I have used. Unfortunately I can't use my phone at work to translate anything (can't use phones in parts of the building due to security reasons)... so it looks like I'll be doing a lot of translating with an online translator. Of course it doesn't help that the operating system(s) are in Japanese ¬_¬
Speaking of security, they have these neat sliding plastic waist-high security doors that you have to swipe your card on a scanner to get into the building (so I have a security card now). You wear it also as an identity badge from a strap around your neck while at work. It has my last name on it (I have to get used to people calling by my last name) as well as Kanji to indicate I am a "trainee" (there aren't really Interns in Japan... either you are hired or you aren't). Unfortunately I don't think I'll be taking any pictures of my workplace... the level of security makes me think I shouldn't even really ask... Work is a little laid back. Noone wears ties or suit jackets. But they do wear black pants, nice-ish shoes, and white button-down shirts. I decided to wear my suit the first week anyways. Tomorrow there will be a company meeting (for our building, which is actually only 2 floors of an 8 floor building) and I will have to introduce myself to everyone. Apparently they will be taking me out to dinner after work tomorrow... that should be interesting.
7/1 Tuesday:
Well, my introduction to everyone was actually pretty short, and I don't think I did badly (was only really about 140 people I spoke in front of). Unfortunately noone really speaks English at work (well my group's leader speaks a little), so everything is done in Japanese (geh...). After work, my coworkers took me out to dinner. There were a total of 12 of us there (including me, the sub-leader/my group's leader, and the section boss). It ended up being REALLY expensive (about $600, there was a LOT of food). We started at about 6:15pm and went until about 10pm. A couple of things I notice: 1) EVERYONE drinks, I didn't see anyone who didn't drink (besides me). 2) A lot of people smoke, it seems a lot more common for people to smoke in Japan than in the US (well, I haven't been to many places where a lot of people smoke in America). Another thing, one of the co-workers was telling me that the plan at work-dinners like this is to get the boss drunk so he will pay for everything. We had a lot of food. They bought these huge ice-cream floats that had sparklers in them and everything (and when I say huge, I mean HUGE, like large bowl size, I will have pictures sometime later on that a co-worker took). One was melon soda and another was coke. They also introduced me to a summer mineral drink called Ramane. It's unique in that you take a small plastic cap and press down on the top to open the bottle which pushes a small glass bead into the bottle which is shaped so that the glass bead stays sorta near the top. It's kinda hard to describe, so I'll find it again later and take pictures/video. Some things about my boss: he was a Sargent and he has a Hello Kitty credit card (yeah, Japan is awesome).
7/2-3 Wednesday:-Thursday:
Nothing exciting to say about work... well my computer at work is a piece of junk... crashes several times a day... Other than that, more boring studying. Lunches are spent eating bento ("boxed" lunches) at our desk, so I have to bring something every day (I could buy something from the many street vendors at lunch time, but I'd rather bring something since it is easier to figure out what I'm buying at a grocery store). Since I don't really have much else to talk about, here is some info I forgot to add earlier about my host family in Kyoto: My host father volunteers as a school patrol during the week, plays golf on weekends (he got a hole-in-one at one point and brought back the prize: garbage/recycle bags), and watches a lot of baseball. My host mom grows her own vegetables in a vegetable garden a little walk away from the house (she ended up replacing most her vegetables with potatoes, onions, and mostly lettuce), she shares her vegetables with neighbors (who also share things like Nori to give to me to eat), she likes a various music (except classical) which she downloads off the internet (from a chinese server... heh...), she taught preschool for 5 years, then did office work for 20 years, taught how to use a computer for 3 years, now everyday is a weekend to her so she uses the computer a lot, her future plans are to teach how to make bread. They have two grad-daughters that went to a program at UC Berkeley during the summer (not sure if they are continuing there after the summer or something). I think that's it. I may add stuff later if I remember. Tomorrow I'm supposed to have lunch with the boss or something.
7/4 Friday:
So, today my boss' boss took me have lunch with him, his boss, the president of the company (the guy on the right, who can speak English), and someone else (I think). Not quite what I was expecting, but interesting none the less. We ate at the top floor of the main Fujisoft building in Yokohama. The building is 21 stories high and has nice elevators that have transparent sides that you can see a lot of Yokohama from (same building that had the "sit" button-seats). Mostly they talked about how much they want someone like me working for them because of plans the company has (not sure if I can actually talk about that...). Anyways, thought that was interesting. Unfortunately, they Meishi (Japanese business cards) I had ordered hadn't arrived yet, so I couldn't exchange business cards with them. At work I keep a daily schedule (check in/out) in an excel document, I have to write a weekly report (in Japanese of course), and I will have to do a presentation the last day at work (again, in Japanese). This should be interesting. Another thing, its hard to do anything without Internet, especially find someplace to actually use the internet, or know where to look. At least my group-leader helped me find someplace that I might be able to use the Internet (btw, I also can't use the Internet at work for anything besides work). Sorry if the boss' boss' boss stuff is confusing. Its like this: I work in a group with 4 other people, one of those is that's group leader (also known as the sub-leader), this small group is part of a slightly larger group that just works on the floor I work on and has a boss (the section boss/former sargent), this group is one part of several groups that work in this building which has a boss (the one that took me to have lunch with the president of the company), who also has a boss (everyone has a boss >_<). Hope that's a little clearer.
7/5 Saturday:
Today I did some searching for things I need... like curtains... I cannot find curtains anywhere, a new pillow (they give a junky pebble-filled thing that is hard to sleep on), an iron (I can't find a cheap iron anywhere either), and a pole to hang clothes on to dry (no dryers for clothes here in Japan, everything is hung outside to dry). World Porters (which I had been to a couple of times already earlier in the week) is the main shopping mall in Yokohama. I tried to search for some things there but I still can't find a cheap iron or curtains (gah!). Changing subjects, I lucked out. This month there was a Ghibli Matsuri (Ghibli festival) on TV this month. Every Saturday they played a different Ghibli movie for 3 weeks (in celebration of the new Ghibli movie opening on the 19th). This week was Neko no Ongaeshi (or The Cat Returns), one of the few Ghibli movies I haven't seen and really wanted to see. Next week is Gedo Senki (or Tales from Earthsea), another Ghibli movie I have been wanting to see. The week after that is My Neighbor Totoro (I've already seen it so I may skip it). Tomorrow, pictures.
7/6 Sunday:
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| From Japan: Day 097 |
My Summer home (I live on the 1st floor), and my work place.
So I finally took my camera out and took pictures of my neighborhood/outside my apartment. First is my front door, the hallway in front of my door, the security door outside the hallway (locks automatically when closed), the front door of the apartment complex (it says "Evergrace Shonan" on the right), the apartment complex itself (only 3 stories), and then the road in front (garbage/recyclables are placed under the blue netting on the left near my apartment). Now I follow the path I always take to get to work. I walk past this area that has blue netting covering trees (apple?) which I thought was interesting. When I reach the main street I walk past 31 Baskin-Robbins (so tempting). Looking to the left there is a Lawson Station on the other side of the street (these things are everywhere). I turn right at Baskin-Robbins and walk down the street to the closest Grocery store: Fuji Garden (though they are usually more expensive, so I don't usually shop there). I also walk past TOYOPET (hehe) a Toyoto car dealer (who wouldn't want a TOYOPET). I eventually reach the main intersection (taking a left leads to the Shonandai station). Across the street at the intersection is a neat cultural center, to the left is some park (usually find kids skateboarding there at night), and there is a pedestrian bridge over the road which I got a nice view of the cultural center and then the road I came from. The Shonandai Culture Center was pretty neat, I got several pictures outside (though the birds with hands for wings was kinda creepy...). I also took a picture of a map there (I live somewhere in the upper left corner of the map). Next is a picture of the Shop 99 (99 Yen shop aka 99 cent shop). Most everything there is... well... 99 Yen... go figure (and yes, that is a cigarette vending machine outside). Sotetsu Rosen is another grocery store I would sometimes go to. It also has a 100 Yen shop upstairs I bought a lot of stuff from. Daiei is the main grocery store I would go to (prices were usually best there, plus they usually had better stuff to eat/choose from). It also has a couple of floors with things like cosmetics, clothing, childrens toys, and even a small gaming arcade (for kids). Next to the subway station is a Pachinko and Slot machine Parlor (with a gaming arcade in the basement. It may look big, but it's actually only pachinko on the first floor and then slots and the gaming arcade in the basement. Notice that all the people in the pictures on the Pachinko Parlor are white women... just thought that was interesting. Of course, there is a KFC (although, sadly, no Col. Sanders outside). There is also a Denny's (first one I've seen in Japan). And of course, a McDonald's (I've seen more McDonald's in Japan than I've ever seen in America, then again I've traveled more in Japan than I have ever done in America). Next is a picture of the intersection outside the subway station in Yokohama I get off at (hmmm... IMAX Inc. is here). Some more pictures of the road I walk down to get to work (and some random buildings). The 3rd building I took a picture of here is the building I actually work at (5th floor). I took a picture of the front entrance but didn't want to really get in trouble trying to take anything closer inside (I didn't want to seem suspicious). Walking down the street to the left is another intersection which you can see some neat buildings from. Taking a right at that intersection leads towards World Porters (crossing over water). To the right of World Porters are some old buildings I'll check out some other time. There is also a neat pedestrian walkway that circles around the whole intersection. On the other side of World Porters is a famous Farris Wheel (I hope to ride it sometime). You find a lot of American eating places around here... like Cold Stone Creamery, first one I've seen in Japan ("Life is Peachful!!" I couldn't agree more). One of the floors in World Porters is very broadway-esque (heck, it's called Yokohama Broadway), same floor the movie theater is on. I decided to go see Speed Racer since it just opened (movies open in Japan on Fridays). I really enjoyed it (apparently it got bad reviews, not sure why). Movies here are expensive (1800 Yen, about $18), so I can't go as often as I would like. Some things I noticed: American movies will usually have both a subtitled (in Japanese) version and a Japanese dubbed version playing, and just about everyone stays through all the ending credits of the movie. Movies I plan to see: Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Japanese, new studio Ghibli movie), Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna (Japanese, new Naruto movie), The Dark Knight (can't wait for this), and Nekonade (Japanese, if I can find it). Well see if there is anything else interesting. Anyway, more pictures. Some random neat buildings I saw while walking back. And Hooters! (OK, different Hooters). Work again tomorrow, probably won't really have any pictures during the week... I'll try to figure something out.
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