Darlo's World

Before you start watching, click play and listen to the music.

I’d just writen a long blog entry, but somehow I’d clicked the back button and now it’s all sodding gone! I’m not going to write it all out again, I really can’t be arsed so here’s a summary of what I did write, and will continue normally at the bottom.

• You’re listening to Life is Like a Beach by Rie Fu – I’ve come to think of it as my theme song.
• On Wednesday realised was just wasting time by coming home and not doing anything nightly.
• Went out drinking.
• Went to darts bar in Umeda where I (and a friend) played darts and spoke in Japanese constantly.
• Came home at 4 am instead of studying for big religion exam.
• Bombed Japanese kanji quiz (that’s bad).
• With a loss of motivation, I didn’t study for the religion exam and slept instead.
• Finished writing exam 15 minutes into it.
• Came home and slept.

So today we had our weekly Japanese language test and I’m almost certain of failing that also. My lack of motivation to study hasn’t just limited itself to religion. Afterward I went and hung out in the Ajisai room where a friend and I made a little game out of flicking 1 yen (0.8p) coins into a box. Sounds boring but it actually became quite interesting, with me kicking buttock left, right and … hmm … three buttocks … ok, not centre.

On the way home a few of us stopped by an arcade where we spent (blew) some money on some games of DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), Time Crisis 3, some guitar game (not Guitar Hero T_T) and UFO Grabbers. I left the arcade with a new 3 inch tall Winnie The Pooh, dressed as James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (Monsters Inc), after spending … not too much money on it. Oh! And we 太鼓の達人 (taiko no tatsujin, Taiko Master), an awesomely cute drumming game.

The plan for the night is to go out and have some fun. We’ve got mid-terms next week and since I can’t go out and have fun on Sunday night, we’ll do it tonight instead. Finally a hello to Lauren, a fellow Osakan, who’s looking for the Osaka Monopoly.

So this is quite a few days late so sorry about that. On Sunday I had the pleasure to go to a flea market. It was a bit of a reminder of home because it reminded me a lot of the Sunday markets I used to go to. As well as a variety of foods and drinks for sale from vendors, there were also a lot of fabrics and knick-knacks from various stalls.

Actually to be honest there’s not really much to add >_<. If you're heading down to Osaka and want to go, it's every month on the 21st ... in the region of Nippombashi!

Yeah it's a short one, but besides studying (and getting feeling like I've rapidly developed narcolopsy) I've not really been up to much. So to sing us out, here's the Japanese version of Hakuna Matata

So yesterday I woke up with an odd shaking and feeling of wobbliness. I’d originally put it down to me just being plain old knackered (seeing as it was about ten to seven in the morning), but it wasn’t until I went down for breakfast I was told what had really happened.

At roughly that time an earthquake occured in the Fukui Prefecture, and we felt it here in Osaka. Some people at Uni (living in Kobe) also felt the quake. Not a big one mind you, in fact with a lot of people sleeping through it and what appeared to be no mention of it on the news, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this never happened. But it did, my first earthquake in Japan and it barely made me budge. Not like the one in Leeds last year. So far I’m two-for-two then.

As part of my Education & Culture class, yesterday we went to a Japanese high school to both ask and be asked questions by students, and also to observe a homeroom period. The only times I’ve seen a Japanese school prior to this were from media resources, and of course they were fictional. Films such as Battle Royale and anime such as Myself, Yourself and Azumanga Daioh, had given me some insight and prior knowledge of what they might be like, but given this comparison you could also claim that you can tell what London’s like just from watching Eastenders.

The school building itself was ironically very reminiscent to those titles mentioned and I found myself liking the building and atmosphere more and more as time went by. It was rustic, there were cracks in the white, (well … dingy grey) walls, and due to a lack of a central heating system it was frickin’ cold, but they were some of the aspects I found quite indearing. Though truth be told I was thankful when we ended up in the AV room and found that it was warm.

Throughout the time there I spoke to four groups of 3-4 students in different environments. The first group took myself and another Konan student for a short tour of the site. Due to us having only ten minutes or so, I can honestly say that it was shorter than a stereotypical Japanese mini-skirt. However in that brief look around we did get to see areas such as the lunch room, sports ground (no grass of course, just gravel … goodluck there football goalies) and some of the class rooms also.

Everyone then re-assembled for a short period of general chatter. As well as finding out the opinions of the high-schoolers about their schools, I also learned a few things about my fellow Konan student.

The next stage of the visit was to break into other groups where we’d be interviewed individually by groups of three students about our experiences in Japan. During my interview sessions with the two groups I came to realise how little I’ve actually accomplished since landing in Japan, especially in comparison to things I’d wanted to. However, this is also countered by doing things that non of the other 留学生 (ryuugakusei, exchange students) have done, like the Okamoto to Juso walk for instance.

The final conversation was in a room with refreshments (woohoo! Fanta and biscuits!) where we chatted with three more students, only this time I was joined by another two Konan students. Again this conversation was quite open so we talked about whatever things popped into our heads. Unfortunately my dead goldfish in a sieve type memory means I can’t remember a lot of the conversation, but I do remember that we discussed that they liked, and were rather proud of, their uniforms, the fact that they’d all been to Taiwan … oh wait, that was the first group … and that there are some teachers they don’t like.

When compared to the UK, Japanese schools are very different, and since the visit I had the liberty of reading a little bit more about them. Unfortunately the only things I read were how they differed from North American schools, but from what I can tell one of the main differences is the number of years of compulsory education. In the UK, starting with infant school (or primary school if your infant & primary school years are combined) you have 11 years of compulsory education, with the option to leave (and hopefully get a job) when you’re 16, unless you were born later in the academic year. However, in Japan you don’t have to start school until you’re six years old, with the option of leaving at the age when British students begin their final year, giving just 9 years of compulsory learning.

Wanting to save myself a tidy 180 yen (£1.33) I chose to walk from the school to Okamoto train station, and put that money to my food on Sunday. The walk took longer than expected by about half an hour or so, but oddly enough I arrived home at the same time as if I’d have stopped in Konan’s Ajisai room until it’s closure at around six.

I’ll end this by saying that I didn’t sleep much last night. I was compelled to watch the end of Higurashi No Naki Koro Ni (Kai) (about 10 episodes I think), which kept me out of bed until about one. By which time I was in such a state of awesomely smily happy joy that even though I went to bed I kept running through various aspects of the story in my mind. Seriously folks, if you must watch any series for the sheer experience, this is the one. Won’t spoil any of it by saying what happens, so maybe I’ll write a review one day.

Oh and in other news I finally found my student ID … in my bag.

私の日本人友達によると、私は日本語でこのブログを書いていません。それでは、始めましょう！
(watashi no nihonjin tomodachi ni yoruto, watashi wa nihongo de kono burogu o kaiteimasen. Sore dewa, hajimemashou!)
(According to my Japanese friends, I don’t write this blog in Japanese. Well then, let’s begin!)

今私はアジサイ・ルームにいます。たくさん人がいないので、皆は自分のものを勉強しています。私、このブログを書きながら、漢字を勉強しています。
(ima watashi wa ajisai ru-mu ni imasu. takusan hito ga nai no de, minna wa jibun no mono o benkyoushite imasu. watashi, kono burogu o kaki nagara, kanji o benkyoushite imasu.)
(Now I’m in the Ajisai Room. Because there aren’t a lot of people, everyone is studying their own things. Me, while I’m writing this blog, I’m studying kanji.)

今日リーズ大学の冬休み前作文の採点をもらいました。パッスしたけど、採点をまた知りません。
(kyou ri-zu daigaku no fuyu yasumi mae sakubun no saiten o moraimashita. passushita kedo, saiten o mata shirimasen.)
(Today I received my result for the essay we had before the Winter holiday. I passed, but I still don’t know the mark.)

日本語の授業の後で、先生は私にチューターをしてくれました。いつも面白くて、私の日本語が上手になるために、違うことを話しました。例えば、今日の昼怖い話を読んだり、私の新しい漢字を書いたり、週末にした事を話しました。
(nihongo no jugyou no ato de, sensei wa watashi ni chu-ta- o shite kuremashita. itsumo omoshirokute, watashi no nihongo ga jouzu ni naru tameni, chigau koto o hanashimasu. tatoeba, kyou no hiru kowai hanashi o yondari, watashi no atarashii kanji o kaitari, shuumatsu ni shita koto o hanashimashita.)
After Japanese class, my teacher gave me some tutoring. It’s always interesting, and in order to improve my Japanese, we talk about different things. For example, we did things like read scary stories, write my new kanji and talk about things I did at the weekend.)

日本語ですから、この日記はとても短くて、すみません。
(nihongo desu kara, kono nikki wa totemo mijikakute, sumimasen.)
(Because it’s in Japanese, this journal is really small, so sorry (my bad ^_^).)

Water’s in my instant ramen, so while dinner’s cooking let’s blog on shall we.

Today was my friend’s 24th birthday. Due to some tradition we heard on a trip to Kyoto, because he’s turning 24 it’s not a lucky year for him, especially for marriage. Whether or not he’s planning stuff like that is something I don’t know, but I’m definately glad to be turning 25 this year. Not that I’ve not had many sporadic luck moments as well as kicks in the gooch.

The plan was to meet in Umeda with some other friends and head to a maid cafe. Yes folks after cutting yesterday’s blog short …

“Oh, and yes Nippombashi has maid cafes … no, I haven’t been in one … yet. ¬_¬”
quote from Valentine’s Day Cock Ups

… we decided to celebrate my friend’s birthday in style.

However, doing a quick Google search indicated that there seem to maid cafes in Umeda, which was a bit of a pain. I don’t want to go on record by saying for definate that there are none at all, but we couldn’t find any. With that in mind we made a change of plan and decided to head back to Nippombashi.

I left the dorm first in order to make a trip to Softmap to buy my friend’s birthday present, unbeknownst to him of course. The DS game I intended to buy for him was ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat, which appeared to be a simple RPG, of course in Japanese. However I never made it to Softmap.

Following my usual routine of walking to Umeda in a new way, at a traffic light I, like everyone else, was approached by various people in vary elaborate Chinese clothing. She, and several colleagues, were handing out flyers for a traditional Chinese dance show that was happening in Umeda. She then took this as an opportunity to practice her Japanese skills as it appears we were on roughly the same level. As time passed and various elements of English and Chinese slipped into the conversation as well as us being joined by one of her friends, I had to try to break from the conversation so I wouldn’t be late to meet the others. I wouldn’t have time to go to Softmap.

Arriving at Umeda station I was a bit annoyed to see that only two of the other four were on time. After waiting for almost an hour, we were soon joined by everyone and on our way.

Arriving in Namba (after deciding to walk to the ‘maid area’ from there), I swiftly led the group of 5 (myself included) men from 5 different countries on a mini walking tour of the area, as I followed my own footstepsfrom yesterday. After doubting myself on a couple of corners and knowling walking in a circle, we found ourselves in the area where maids were handing out leaflets for their respective businesses.

This is where our day of complete confusion began. None of us, including our Japanese friend (for the record we were from England, Japan, America, Germany and Colombia) had been to a maid cafe before and had no clue how to spot ‘a good one’. After a little bit of fannying around I eventually went to go and ask one of the maids. It turns out that not all the people giving out leaflets for the area were from cafes, as the one I’d asked worked for a ‘maid massage parlour’ instead.

Meanwhile, one of the group was also enquiring with another maid, this time one who did work for a cafe. With a smile on her face and full of enthusiasm she took us down an alley and into a lift. When the doors opened we were greeted warmly by two maids who were already bowing. After being shown into the main room we could see various maids with various groups keeping up the enthusiam.

This is where we hit a stump. My group of friends and I clearly had no idea of what to do and what was going on as some of the girls did a short song and dance routine for us before joining us in our seating area. Added was the fact that none of us had ‘maid cafe experience’, and only one of us spoke Japanese to a fluent level; he also struggled to explain what was going on in English at times, but kudos to him for giving it his all.

From what we could all work out it basically comes down to this. When you’re there, you can buy a range of food and drinks (hence the ‘cafe’ part), but you can also pay for certain extras. Fella’s pull your eyes back into their sockets and pick your tongues off the floor. Services included them sitting with you for conversation, playing games (of which Uno seemed to be the popular choice) and having a photograph with them. Obviously for their own protection taking photos of the girls is forbidden.

Not really wanting to spend too much money we settled for a photograph, the cheapest service on the menu (yes, there was a menu for services on the back of the cakes menu). Unfortunately this led to another problem, and one that I don’t really know the outcome of. The cost of a photo was 800 yen (£6.04) for one polaroid. However, depending on how many maids you wanted in the photo the price went up. I’m not certain but I think it was also more expensive depending on your group size. We ended up with a photo with two maids and our whole group.

After drinking up my ‘Melonade’ (officially called Melon Soda, but Melonade sounds better don’t you think?) and casually distributing my cake to my friends (it was made of cream >_<), we let the girls know our intention to leave. Before being allowed to make our exit (after paying the bill), we were given another performance of singing and dancing.

The atmosphere of the maid cafe that we visited seemed to be very welcoming, but at the same time kind of tense. It could well have been down to the fact we were all first timers, the language barrier (good ol' scapegoat), and the fact most of the group towered over the girls height-wise, but it could also be that because we didn't fully understand what maid cafes were all about, the girls may have had trouble communicating in the subtle ways that they might have done with their regular customers.

I wouldn't chock this down as a bad experience, but I won't say that it was a great one either. I think once the girls had left us to our own devices after the photo we were able to relax a little more. Ironically it did feel at one point like we were the one’s ‘on show’. Walking back we did pass another style of maid cafe (which time forbade us to stop in), where it seemed to be a typically normal cafe, where it just so happened that the staff members wore maid outfits. Maybe next time.

On the walk back I wanted to make a detour. For you see I got in touch with home last night and I was right in that I was asked to bring back a Japanese version of Monopoly. So after heading back to the table top store I mentioned yesterday, which it turns out was a part of the huge toy shop it was in front of, I parted with 4500 yen in exchange for the Osaka version of the game.

Looking on the back Osaka Monopoly has a lot of the features I’ve come to associate with the city I love (obviously), such as the Glico Man replacing Mayfair as the most expensive land, £220 Fleet Street being replaced with the HEP Five at 220 “man-yen” (£16,588), and the ever faithful Old Kent Road swapping ironically with the Osaka Business Innovation Centre. Old favourites just as Free Parking and Go To Jail are still there in their original forms, and we were having a bit of a joke about how Jail should have been Kamishinjou.

After arriving back in Umeda I took a quick trip over to Softmap to pick up my friends birthday present. I have no idea if the game’s any good, but if it is I might grab one for myself at a later date.