Justin Nihon Ryokou

Batting Outing! =)

2008-12-02T01:02:00.001-08:00

This is the promised post about the Cool batting place that i have near my Kaikan. Since its like NEVER seen in Singapore, i thought that i would do a short post on it just to let all my friends see wads its about! and to help me remember it in future! =)

ABOVE: This machine on the right is the 'Batting Coin Machine', you can choose to buy one coin for 300yen, or 4 coins for 1000yen. The coins are below!

So you move into the batting area, and then just put the coin in and select your intended speed... grab your Bat and get ready to swing@!! =) haha... the pictures are generally self-explanatory so just check them out! =)

BATTING was SERIOUSLY fun! and each coin lasts about maybe 2 to 3 mins, within which the balls just keep coming at you! haha... the screens that you see at the other end, have these life sized pitchers throwing the balls at you and its really rather realistic.!! BUT... sianz... i'm like totally suckzzz at this game lohz... haha... have never played this before... the first few times i played... like think only hit 10% of the balls lah!! haha... but as you play more it gradually gets better lah... =) If anyone ever have a chance to try, make sure that you do! =)

Crusine Night!!

2008-12-01T23:59:00.001-08:00

I'm going to name this post the crusine night!!! haha coz its actually about 3 different groups of my friends cooking their special country dinners and me being invited to each of them!! =) i was literally running around and eating a bit of everything!. wahaha... the food was great! THANKS PEEPS@!!!! =)

-------------------------DEEJ LONDON MAKAN-------------------------------

Okie then... the first invitation was from Deej from England Manchaster! =) she wanted to cook some omelette rice for all her friends and she invited us to try out her cooking! =)

ABOVE: Yeji acting as if she did the cooking (when she actually just picked up the pan! wahaha ;)... And Diego from London too! but he's not in the JTW course, he also stays in the Kaikan and is a student in another course. He's rather close with Deej so that's why he's here! =)

ABOVE: The chief of the Day! Deej!

ABOVE: The final product... haha... ok i know that it does not really look that appetizing BUT it tasted good! =)

ABOVE: This is Alice from France, she's a cute petite sized gal that's really good in Japanese! =)

------------------------HONG KONG MAKAN----------------------------------

Next up was Hongkong Chiefs doing the cooking! haha... these 3 ppl below (Joel, Kristin & Dav) were making a feast for dinner! woohoo!!!... look at the amount of food that they have prepared... and they even bought a rice cooker! haha POWER!

ABOVE: Kristin acting like a Serial Killer... (I think she can never be one.. zzz) wahaha!

---------------------------KOREAN SIMPLE DINNER--------------------------

And the final crusine selection was Korean FOOD! haha... for tonight it was just some simple food that Hyun A, JungWon and Sunny (the guy in the pic) Prepared. They brought their food back to HyunA's rooms and had the makan there. This is actually one of the common things that the Koreans do! =)

And this ends my wonderful crusine night post... i'm actually getting really hungry now! haha... think i'll start thinking about making some dinner myself! haha chaoz! =)

Official JTW Opening Ceremony...

2008-12-01T23:30:00.001-08:00

The Program was officially started with this ceremony... To be utterly frank... the ceremony was damn boring lah!!! shit! haha... We were all told before hand that we had to 'dress up' coz it was a formal event and the President of Kyushu University would be there etc and so the few days before it, everyone was thinking about what they should wear and whether it was formal enough out not... and the worst thing is that in the END!!!!! the ENTIRE THING ONLY LASTED FOR LIKE LESS THEM #) MINS~!!!!!!~!~! @#$%$#@#$% haha... i have to admit that i actually spend some time worrying about what to wear sia... but in the end... some people even just wore their everyday dressing... zzz faints...

ABOVE: Harvey from the philipines... He is said to be the most handsome Asian guy in in the entire JTW program. =)

NEXT FEW BELOW: Pictures of me and friends!

BELOW: KOREAN group photo! =)

BELOW: Hong Kong Group Photo! =)

BELOW: Random Guys Photo!!! =)

Buying A Handphone!!!

2008-12-01T23:05:00.001-08:00

This was the outing to purchase my Mobile Phone! =) WAhahahaha... a few of us went together and we asked one of the tutors (Natsumi) to follow us coz we needed a good translator! =)

ABOVE: Just Look at the range of Phones that are available! haha!!! really cool, and many of them actually even allow you to watch the local television shows on them. (But of course due to budget constraints, i didn't get one of those!)

BELOW: See the 'deck' card like stuff on the right of the pic. Those are like the telephone numbers that you choose from. Its just like choosing a sim card back in Singapore. But this number will be permanently programmed into your phone and unlike a sim card, you cannot simply remove it and replace it with another. This is also one of the reasons why Japanese phones are not seem in the other parts of the world coz the system is totally different!.

ABOVE: The helpful staff that tried her best to help me coz i couldn't speak japanese and she couldn't speak english and it was really amusing with the both of us trying to communicate BEFORE Natsumi was available to help me. =)

At the end of the day! i finally got my JAP phone! haha... it was a cool black one and maybe i'll take a pic some time to show it! =)

JTW Welcome Party

2008-11-27T02:12:00.001-08:00

A few days after the orientation and after everyone kinda settled down, a welcome party was held for all the students in the JTW program! I was actually looking forward to the makan.... Coz we all paid like 3000Yen Each for a buffet with free flow alcohol BUT in the end... the food turned out to be CHINESE CRUSINE!!! WTF!!!... its like the stuff that i eat all the time in Singapore lah!... haha... but in the end, it was also more for us to mingle and drink and have fun so i also not too pissed lah... =)

ABOVE: Just the 3 in the front of the picture, from the right. (1) TARO - Japanese Tutor, really helpful person!, (2) MASA - Japanese Tutor, he really damn funny kind... his face always had a smile and when he talks he just tickles me... haha... and finally the last on the right (3) Kathrin from Belgium... She's really soft spoken and sweet and its always great chatting with her!!! =)

This gal next to Kathrin is named... KAYA!!! haha... exactly like the kaya that we have in Singapore!! wahaha... She actually just came back from a trip to Singapore and she showed me some of the pictures that she took in Sentosa etc!!! =) Its actually quite cool hearing someone else's experience of your home country, give's you a whole new perspective. [Ehhh... actually its just more like you keep thinking how tourist seem to seriously enjoy the stuff that we all just take for granted since we see it everyday! =) ]

KAWAIIII =) Jap Tutor - Misaki!!! =) Unfortunately that was the first and last few times that i managed to have a chat with her =)

ABOVE: Other then myself, from the left (1) Joyce from HK, she's super hk-ish but her japanese is really good! haha... (2) The other guy in the picture, Soonpeel from Korea, this guy here is a real talent, he has some of the most creative 'juices', playing the piano, dancing etc... (3) and the last gal on the right, Yeji from Korea - She's a really interesting babe from korea, she always seems to be strong headed but when you know her better, she has a really gentle and sweet soft side haha... =).

ABOVE: Me and another tutor - Sayumi!! =) She went to Singapore with Kaya so we kinda when through the same routine once again! =)

ABOVE: Tian Ran and John Paul, a.k.a 'JP'. He's the guy that did the meditation in the orientation! haha =) he has certain concepts that feels a little too abstract for me thus didn't really get to know him well =(...

ABOVE: After the dinner, the whole gang of us stood outside the resturant contemplating the next 'move' and the funny gal that you see in the centre of the pic is DANA - from Philippines, Dana is like the life of the party and everyone will definitely know when she's around! i swear, her laughter can reach sound levels that no human can naturally endure! =) (in a good way of course!)

ABOVE: Check out Woong and Natsumi - Jap Tutor, They are both already tipsy and kinda drunk and Natsumi was really kinda gone! haha...

BELOW: The MOST RIDICULIOUS thing is the name of the 'disco' that we went to... check it out!!! OMFG!!! i laughed my head off when i saw it!!! haha... [HAPPY COCK - International Bar] Who the hell names their bar HAPPY COCK!!! it just advocates something that i rather not elaborate on here... haha... please let your imagination take over... (AND BTW... the name of the bar did NoT describe my feelings at the end of the night...)

ABOVE: Some of the Gang right outside the bar...

From here, i did not manage to get any more photos coz i had to place my belongings into a locker before getting into hte groove on the dance floor... In general the club was kinda small, and i simply felt that is was catered more of the foreigners in Japan, [Mainly only the WHITES and the BLACKS] coz we, the 'Chinese-skinned' blend in too much and it was kinda weird... as though we were Japanese trying to act like foreigners... zzz anyway, since the majority of the people there were JTW ppl, we just kept to our own groups and enjoyed ourselves =).

Applying For Alien Registration Card & Buying A Bicycle!!! =)

2008-11-25T10:48:00.001-08:00

As i mentioned before! the Bicycle is the MAIN for of transport here in Japan! haha.. check out the first picture of the 'Bicycle Stop' right outside the Subway entrance! haha (MADNESS!!!) i can't imagine looking for my Bike is that load of mess!!! =).

This post is mainly about the trip to the Higashi Ward Office to apply for our Alien registration cards! PLus right after, we all headed to a nearby mall called 'BoxTown' to get our Very own wheels! (Kinetic-ly powered though...zzz)

ABOVE: From the right - (1) Nayeong, (2) Woong's Tutor (Tatsuya), and (3)Woong.

Check out the Ward office, bustling with activity... !!! actually, eh... i didn't know where to head to initially when i first entered... so many ppl all over... but then i took a look around then realised that there was an area that was totally POPULATED by either foreigners or my own JTW people!... from there... even an idiot would know where to go! =)

BELOW: The few of us with (1)Jungwon right next to me.

Each of us took turns to fill up these forms and i realised exactly easy it was for Singaporeans to handle their foreign applications. In comparison to my Korean counterparts, they all had to look through a Korean - Japanese Dictionary and translate their home addresses to Japanese Kanji / Katagana, but it was actually ok for me to just write the whole load in Romanji (English).

The registration took almost about a total of one and a half to two hours for all of us to finish everything. They told us that we had to return to the office again in a weeks time to collect the card... zzz faints... need to come back again... it was already so damn boring that i nearly fell asleep. BUT what really shocked me about the office was that is seemed to be really 'MANUAL' - meaning that everyone was still like using pen and paper and writing on forms and clips etc... and this slightly changed my impression of Japan being such an advanced country! =)

BICYCLE TIME!! WOOHOO!!! after the largely boring part of the day, we proceeded to the more interesting and anticipated event of the day! =) TO BOXTOWN to get out bicycles!... if you look at it clearly, the place was actually like a super market [pic directly below]... and they actually sell bicycles in the super market!!! haha weird japanese culture! =)

Choosing the bicycles was a serious chore! haha... but eventually i just took the cheapest one... It was one of those AUNTY BICYCLES that you see in Singapore but i think that the most important thing for me here is the price and the comfort of riding everywhere THUS my eventual choice! the bike costs around 5800yen which translates to about $S80 so it was really rather cheap!

Finally After all the hassle!! check out my proud AUNTY BIKE!!! wahahaha! KAWAIIIIIII =) (actually its not that kawaii... but i still love it!) hehe...

So i finally got my wheels and this wheels are really going to serve me well in my coming days in Fukuoka! from this day, literally EVERYWHERE i went i rode my bike! like downtown(about 45mins), everyday to sch (30mins) and to nearby convenient stores (5 to 10mins). i dare say that this is the cheapest most convenient transport system that i could have possibly chose in FUKUOKA... [Just think... a bus ride to my sch costs about S$3 and a ride to downtown costs about S$5 so its just absolutely ridiculous to take a bus everyday!!!] I'M JUST IN LOVE WITH MY WHEELS!!! haha!!!

STILL ON ORIENTATION: Day 3

2008-11-24T02:39:00.001-08:00

Were were supposed to go to Mount ASO today BUT due to really bad weather, we had to change plans and head to 'Daikambo Observation Point' instead. Look at the wonder view!! (This was the view when the weather was BAD... just imagine what it would look like if it was on a good day!!! wahaha... )

ABOVE: This here is my friend Anna Graham - from Germany! =) She's a really sweet gal that's soft spoken (yes.. not all Germans sound overly masculine) =)

ABOVE: Group Photo!!! =) we are all actually blocking the Big stone with the name of the place we were at!!!

ABOVE: Miki and Mitch - [from Australia] fooling around!. Really funny cool guy! haha, ya can't really see his face here so just check out his back first!

BELOW: More photos of the area, it was really windy and the view was MAGNIFICIENT!... kinda makes you think about the extreme extent to which nature can create and destroy (coz we were looking at a volcano crater...)

ABOVE: Crazy ppl all getting into the photo!! =)

ABOVE: This here is 'Tian Ran' a.k.a Yoko! [from China] she's those kind of super sweet gals that a lot of guys will like! =)

BELOW: Check out the next few pictures of my friends and myself.

ABOVE: from the left - ME | Miki | Jing Wei | Hemi

BELOW: Photos of the place =)

After spending come time at 'Daikambo' we continued to our next destination - KUMAMOTO CASTLE!!... Actually hor... i've been there before already, last year with my family! haha... so it was a little weird that i'm going back there. BUT anyway, this was the last destination for the orientation and even though i have been there before, the experience this time was really different coz i was with friends!

ABOVE: Two of the Tutors that followed us to the orientation trip. They are the true blue Japanese so the guys that are interested, check them out ok! haha...

ABOVE: The whole gang of us walking to the castle.

BELOW: The next few pictures are of the castle and the 'museum' that they have inside. We have to actually walk up the castle floors and each floor will have some exhibits for us to see.

And we reach the TOP of the castle!!! check out the view from here!! the last time i came with my parents, they were doing some renovations to the top floor so we didn't manage to get up here, so it was 'technically' my first time up there! =) THE VIEW WAS REALLY NICE... wanted to just hang out there and look down for a while.

ABOVE: Two tutors (Masa - top and Shin - bottom) and Two Thais (Miki - left and Mickey - right).

ABOVE: This here is Deej, from England - Manchaster. She already has several Singaporean friends and was actually able to shoot some 'lah, leh, and lohs' to me just for fun!

And finally, the last group picture! =)

AND this final paragraph officially ends my posts on my orientation days here! It was a really fun experience and this was when all my friendships with everyone was 'forged' haha.... or maybe i should use initiated! anyway... really had fun those 3 days! =)

MY ORIENTATION!!!!! Wahaha... days 1 & 2!!

2008-11-01T23:04:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah... the post that everyone is asking me to do (coz they wanna see the other humans that are here!!! wahaha... ) okie then... here it is...

hmmm i'm going to start with the boring First day of orientation (which was just going to school for some kinda briefing regarding academic matters and some 'living' issues... really nothing much... zzzz

~~~~~DAY 1 OF ORIENTATION ~!~!~!~!~!~~~~~

I finally got to see the people in my JTW course =) haha... the remaining of the day was spent with hours of briefing and by the time it was over, most of us were too tired and headed back to the kaikan to rest for the activities the next day! =)

~~~~~DAY 2 OF ORIENTATION ~!~!~!~!~!~~~~~

This day was the beginning of all the REALLY fun days i had in store!!! wahaha... okie so as the pic above shows... the first thing we did was to gather in the kaikan office (the pic below!!) Shows all my friends!!! =)

The whole group of us gathering before the trip... during this time i still did not know anyone well. so i just started my introductions with anyone that i met there. =)

Traveling on the bus that was supposed to 'shuttle' us to the venues was an interesting experience in itself. haha... the bus actually had these fold out seats that allowed people to sit along the aisle and i happened to get one of those seats! to my right were (Dav - From Taiwan & Kristine - from HK) both of them could speak Cantonese and i generally conversed with them using as much Cantonese that i could come up with... hehe...

And to my left was (Miki - from thailand & Joel from HK) I had a wonderful time chatting with them!!! haha...

The group of us, with me in the UNusual center seat! =)... thinking back now i think that i was actually lucky to have got that seat coz it allowed me to stick my 'head' around and chat with more people! =)

This is Hemi - from Korea. She's really nice to talk to and she actually stayed in New Zealand for a year so her English is the BEST of all the koreans!!! She's a really straight forward person and i enjoy chatting with her! =)...

We stopped at a convenient store to allow for a toilet break and for people to purchase some stuff that they might have needed.

Here's Jing Wei - from China & the one sleeping is Hyun-A also known as Heather from Korea... =) both these gals have like boyfriends that they are super attached to... haha... think Jing Wei had been with hers for like 8 years already and she says that once she goes back to china and graduates, she'll get married!... As for Hyun-A, she has all these rings and accessories that she wears to remind her of her bf. Hyun-A is an extremely nice person and her mother always sends her food from korea. She always cooks and invites me to have meals with her and the koreans! =) PLUS i call her sensei coz she always tries to help me with my Japanese =)

Actually, our first stop for the day was to a water fall that was really nice BUT as the weather was not that good, i didn't want to risk bringing my camera out into the rain thus i just went without it... any way... the pic below is from the 2nd stop and i'm sure you guys can see how bad the weather is...

They distributed rain coats to all of us in the bus and just look at us... wahaha... all so funny! This stop was to a REALLY long bridge and according to the professor, the view was supposed to be wonderful! BUT... all we managed to see was the fog that the rain created... ZZZzzz

Wahaha... this is Joey - from China, he's a real joker and does stuff that really sometimes seem to be rather stupid!!! haha... the clown that everyone will get to know! =)

Me and Miki!!! and check out the guy sleeping next to me... haha... his name is Woong from Korea... in time, he'll become like my buddy coz we hang out together a lot! haha... he's a really nice and mature person and funny too haha... great to have him around!

The 2 gals that you see behind are Nayeong and Jungwon, both from Korea!, pretty gals of the group! =) Both of them are really shy coz they do not really speak english and being shy gals they don't really want to talk too much BUT they are really nice people and are super friendly. =)

Haha!!! Woong KO-ed on the bus!!! =)

And YES!!! we finally reached our logging place for the night - KUJU TRAINING CENTRE (Has ONSEN!!!, which is the hot spring baths)!!! =). All the guys were packed into a single BIG room and were expected to sleep on tatami mats and futons. While the ladies got the smaller rooms with double decker beds - pic below!

Guys being guys.. we all started to do weird stuff in out room! wahaha. AND the pic below is the gals lodgings.

Once we all settled in, we all had to head to a briefing room for something like a mini lecture about how we should act and the differences in the culture of Japan etc (which was extremely boring after an entire day of touring!!!) and FINALLY after that , we headed to have our dinner!!!!

This is Adrian and Agar both from Poland! They are a couple and are actually already engaged!! haha... Both are really interesting people and super friendly, plus they REALLY like drinking!!! wahaha...

Kristin =) hmmm she's a sweet gal from HK, the kinda small petit person that ppl would like. =) Only problem is that she's the kind of person that likes to stick to herself and she's constantly on the phone with her BF so i really didn't have much 'extended' communication with her yet... =)

After dinner, everyone had the choice of either (1) heading to the nearby hall to get some exercise like badminton / soccer / basketball / table tennis / vollyball etc (which of course i chose) or (2) just to have a nice bath in the onsen and then have a good rest. I chose Mixed option, haha... which was to first have some exercise and then heading to the onsen to have a relaxing soak in the bath!!! =) [ I didn't take any photos for these two activities for obvious reasons so i apologize for the lack of visuals!!!]

That night! after everyone had finished their baths and were ready to rest, we expectedly all got together started chatting! Check out the orgy of people in the guys's room! haha... all forming small circles and chatting!

This unique character is John Paul aka JP. He actually started MEDITATING in the middle of all the commotion! haha... weird... after more interaction with him, i got to know that he's a really 'Spiritual' kind of person that believes in the self... etc... haha and all conversations with him then to eventually lead to something about the universe and the way it works etc... hehe... unique character of the group!

Check out the load of rubbish that we left from all the snacks that we had. (i pity the person that slept on that spot that night! - might have smelled really bad! wahaha)

Here's (from the right) (1) Harvey - From the Philippines - speaks good English and is said to be the most handsome asian in the JTW group! (2) SHIN Sei - who is actually a tutor(buddy) haha... he's originally from china and has been studying here for a while already. He can speak chinese and japanese really well and is also rather good in english. haha... i really love his character coz he's always so funny and doing weird stuff that amuses everyone AND most importantly, he very very friendly!. (3) next up is Alice - from France, haha... she's another of those petite small sized cute gals in JTW, and finally its (4) Julia - who is also from France and she's more of the french sexy dressing people who dresses up and likes to look pretty and presentable all the time. both the gals are from Bordeaux and they both major in Japanese studies thus their Japanese language skill level is ridiculously high!

Just needed to add this photo - SHin being his cute self! haha...

OMG... ok, i'm going to leave the last day of the orientation to the next post... coz its tiring business blogging hehe... =) cheers!

Still walking around (In the 'Orchard' here)

2008-11-01T21:20:00.001-07:00

hmm, this was my 4th day here... still no one ard other then my buddy... OMG... he's sooooo irresponsible... he was LATE again and by more then an hour... haiz... i'm totally giving up on him... and he even left me to find my own way to the place (without even telling me what bus to take... ) really rubbish... ok anyway... more about the place.

In general, 'Tenjin' (which is Tian Shen' in chinese) is like the orchard road of Fukuoka. I'm lazy to type too much so just check out the photos. =)

The next few photos are really interesting!!! haha... this is actually a 'bicycle parking lot!' wahaha... its basically works like a regular car parking lot except that it is for Motor cycles and bicycles. People just push their bikes down the ramps and then park in the lots below and pay the personnel there a minimal fee. (I was not able to take more photos coz the security chased me away... zzz) haha

Also came across some cute road side stores. It very custom for the Japanese to just purchase their meals and simply stand around and finish them. Actually i've been doing that in school! wahaha... =)

Wahahahaha!!! AND PRESENTING THE ABSOLUTE MOST MOST MOST amazing thing that i saw that day!!!!!!!! haha... a toilet in the middle of no where! check it out! its just like in the middle of the road and you just have to walk past and you generally see men doing their business... RIDICULIOUS!!! SO extremely amusing! omg... right opposide the urinals is the cubical for gals! =)

Ben!!! i found a BIG MAC store for ya! wahaha... but the prices about the same leh... zzz sianz...

And the NEXT amazing thing!!!... and this one was more of a shock then anything else... haha... i actually came across a 'Shrine' / 'Temple' in the middle of the busy streets! i was just walking around and smack out of NO where i see it... it was really weird for me coz this area was supposed to be like the shopping district right... but there it is... just empty... yet there... hmmm maybe it is some kind of heritage building or something... hmm weird....

Daimaru!!! =) hehe... the basement is FILLED with food, food and more food... but it was so crowded that i didn't take any photos....

And that was my day in general! haha... =) ORIENTATION is beginning soon! hoho.....

Walking Around on the 3rd Day here

2008-11-01T21:09:00.001-07:00

This was the route i took. I started from Kaikan (Hostel) and toured the area.

Right down the road there is a best Denki, so convenient for getting all those electronic stuff that you might need.

Right next to it... haha... PACHINKO Parlor!!! Its named WONDERLAND.... wahaha... so weird....

Moving on... there's Yamada Denki... and i found DAISO!!! (also known as the Haiku Yen shop (100 yen shop) here. =) This is the going to be my most frequented place for ANYTHING for the next few months... wahaha... SOOOOOO cheap!

After that, i found an entire area that was filled with amusement stuff like bowling, batting (interesting), karaoke, arcade games, table tennis and pool.

Just look at the order of the balls here!!! everything is placed neatly on the racks that they are supposed to be in... just compare this to Singapore... haha... OMG!!!!! =)

Automated Shoes rental!!! =) just put in the coins and then the shoes are "DISPENSED" out! wahaha...

Batting is just such an interesting thing!! haha... there's this electronic screen with a person throwing the ball at you. The cabins that you choose each have their own separate speeds that the ball comes at you!. haha... i'll have a post on one of our outings to it soon!.

Right next to them are the table tennis tables and the pool table which i have not tried to play yet coz i think its too expensive and the atmosphere is also not really that appealing haha... also need to have the correct ppl there to be fun! =) WHERE ARE ALL MY POOL KAKISSSSSS IN SINGAPORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MISSSSS THEM!!!!! =)

I left the place after and on my way back home i came across this rather interesting thing. haha... it was an overhead bridge that linked four corners of the road. PLUS the stairs going up all have this flat piece specially for pushing the bicycles up and over. They even have an elevator up at each corner!!! haha... so shoik... (BUT mostly the gals and the aunties use them ba)

After that, i headed back to Jusco and then back home.

Some of the stuff that i bought. I really needed a Bag both for my orientation and my 'everyday' here so i bought one... i actually looked around quite a bit for a nice one that i would like and finally... EVENTYALLY got it at JUSCO.... =)... I also got another adaptor to use in sch.!!!

WOohoo... okie... end of this post... (and i know... still no other humans... wahaha... they are coming coming... )

JTW (Japan In Today's World) Students & Tutors

2008-10-20T19:41:00.001-07:00

haha... for all those that wanna check out the people that i'm constantly with and the available tutors (buddies) that we all have this post serves that purpose! BUT let me first warn you that what you see on these pages may not represent the actual person well enough. Many of then look much better then in the photos. haha...

ok, the top two pages are the international students that i'm staying, living and enjoying all my time with! this bunch of individuals are really interesting and everyone's so nice and fun!!. I now officially have Good pals from Japan, Korea, China, London, Geogia, Germany, France, US, Taiwan, Hongkong and Thailand!! woohoo international network!!! =) Plus with different groups i tend to speak different languages! like with the HK ppl - Cantonese and the Chinese - Mandarin and most of the rest - English and i'm even learning some korean! (to Mabel - Anyoung! and jal ja!). haha... omoshiroiiiiiiiiii!!! (interestinggggggggg)

And this two pics are the tutors that are assigned to us! =) For all those that wanna check out the kawaii gals and the handsome guys in japan, this is for ya! (again... the pics you see do not really fully represent them - MANY look MUCH better!!! hehe)

Some of us have got really good tutors while others just hit the jackpot on the 'crappy tutor list', and that 'others' would include me. =( My buddy is officially MIA... he won't even answer my calls... so irresponsible! Anyway, i'm lucky i dun need him! haha, i can just follow those better tutors and my friends and settle that stuff that i need to settle =).

On the whole! i'm really having fun here!!! woohoo!!! haha... BUT!!!!! of course i super miss my friends in SINGAPORE... if only all of you can just fly over now and we can have SOOOOO much fun here! HAO XIANG NI MEN OH!!!!!! =( remember to chat whenever you peeps see me online okie!!! we'll web cam all the way!!! haha =) cya peeps soon! then we can KTV and makan all together again!!! =) HUGS ALL!!!!

Taking the Bus in Japan!! =)

2008-10-20T19:16:00.001-07:00

Woohoo haha... to all those that have been waiting for me to FINALLY do some blogging, here it is =) haha... sorry for the long wait. it was mainly due to the fact that i do not have INTERNET in my room and all the time that i am actually online is spent chatting with friends! haha... (ACTUALLY ALSO coz i'm having too much fun here lah!!! wahahahaha) =)

ok, this is my first blog using "Windows Live Writer" (recommended by YiXia). i hope that it will turn out good coz its so much easier to use then having to upload photos individually to blogger. =)

Yeap now to my experience with the Buses in Japan, as i mentioned, i said that i would do a post on the buses and how they work so this short post will serve that purpose and of course be a test for the new medium i'm using haha... =)

Me waiting for the bus to arrive! =) slacking away!!! haha...

The bus stop right outside my Hostel (Kaikan).

Pics of the board at the bus stop!, its actually quite interesting as they have the timings that each bus is expected to arrive everyday. thus they have this long list that is segregated into (1)normal weekdays, (2)Saturday and (3)Sundays & public holidays =)

This is how it looks inside he bus. There are not that many seats and all of those in the front are single seaters. Only the seats at the back of the bus are double seaters.

In comparison to Singapore, you board the bus from the back door! =)... and instead of paying once you get on, you first take a ticket from this red machine you see above. (Ticket is the blue piece of paper). I only realised after wanting to take this picture that you can only take a ticket when the driver opens the door! =) thus the difference between the two pictures above (one has the ticket sticking out!)

From there you next have to monitor this big board of numbers at the front of the bus!. if you can see, my blue ticket has the number 12 on it and i will need to use this number and compare with the fare changes on this board. As the bus moves further off, the red digital numbers will increase gradually and the number that is shown when you finally reach your destination will be the amount of YEN that you need to pay! =) quite an interesting system. But the more interesting thing for me is coming up next! haha...

This blue machine you see here is right at the front of the bus! haha... and it is a COIN CHANGER!!!! =) in EVERY BUS HERE!!! so damn interesting!, i was shocked at first when someone used it, this really makes it convenient for you when you do not have any coins to pay for the trip. How is works is that you either slot in a 1000yen note or a 500yen coin and the machine then dispenses the same amount of $$$ in coins for you... from there you then use the coins to pay... haha... although it is an interesting system, BUT sometimes when many people have to change the coins, alighting the bus will tend to take longer... and standing and waiting can be rather lachey... =)

And finally! i reach my University (KYUDAI)... =)... this is the bus stop directly outside my Uni!.

This is actually one of the few times that i will be taking a bus to anywhere in the vicinity. Once i get my bicycle! i'm totally cycling everyday! Each trip to my uni by bus costs about S$4 (FOUR SINGAPORE DOLLARS FOR A 15 MINUTE BUS RIDE!!!!) CRAZYYYYYYY it's so ridiculously expensive!!! I'm definitely going for the buy a bike at about a $100 and ride for the next 6 months!!! haha.. okie then i'll end my post here! =) Ja mata!

My First Day in JAPAN!!!!

2008-10-02T00:27:00.000-07:00

Once we moved my luggage into my C206, and the Kaikan Office Staff checked the room with me to ensure that everything was in order, my buddy brought me to a department store to purchase whatever I was lacking or needed. And the GREAT thing is that this department store is directly OPPOSITE my hostel! Haha… I just cross the overhead bridge and I’m there, less than a few mins walk! So super convenient! AND guess wad the name of the department store is……….., “JUSCO” (like Justin’s company!!) as if it was made for me! Wahahaha… Check out the pics! =)

CUP NOODLES GALORE! wahaha... all kinds, types and flavours!

My first Purchase! =) bought soap shampoo and some other stuffz

These counters are just after the cashers, everyone actually brings their stuff and then proceeds to pack them on these counters. Interesting and really efficient way to handle crowds! =)

Pictures of JUSCO from one side of the bridge

eh... haha the over head bridge

And the entrance to my hostel! haha its really LITERALLY opposite my hostel! so convenient!

Let me just cut in here and properly introduce my Buddy!. His Name is “Hikaru Miyazaki”, male, age 22 yrs, a 4th Year Law Student. Currently Single and looking for a gf, those gals the find him cute, just drop me an email @ jusdomain@hotmail.com wahaha… like pimping… anyway, here’s his photo, =)

After shopping, we realized that it was still early so we decided that my buddy should bring me to the University to check out the place. Pics below! =) Travelling to the uni was another new experience for me as it was the first time I was going to take a public bus in Japan! The procedure is rather different from Singapore and I promise to get pictures and post exactly how it goes asap!

In general, Kyushu University seems rather old and it's individual facilities are actually small in comparison to SMU, like for example its library is only 2 stories high and each floor is rather small. BUT the university in a whole is split into 5 major sections and I have not really explored it all so I think it’s still too early for me to judge. But all-in-all, the feel of the place is great and I look forward to getting some work done there. =)

Me at the entrance of the sch (its actually the side entrance)

The main area where all my lessons are expected to be held!

Here's the entrance of the Internation student Centre (ISC)
Maps of my campus!

The side entrance of my school! =)

More maps of my school haha...

After a tour of the sch, my buddy then brought me to a nearby store – “Don Ke Ho Te” (they call it Donkey in short haha!) and this store was like a mini Carrfour! It seemed to have everything, from food, to bath stuff, to electronics, dvds, shoes, watches, bags, clothes, and all packed into a single level small shop! Haha… it was like I kept reaching a turn in the shop only to see more stuff! =) the wonders of japan!! Being able to squeeze so many things into a small area! Woohoo! I’ll definitely visit it again! =). In addition, I’m adding some unique pictures! haha

Above are the pictures of DONKEY! =)

And the unique pictues that i'm talking about are below! haha this is reallu going to interest the guys! =) In japan each store has this "under 18" area, and they have all their adult stuff inside haha... obviously... being OVER 18, i went in and took some pictures - Most probably not supposed to be... haha... who cares...! Inside they have costumes, toys and dvd etc haha... unique ah! =)

Once we were done, Hikaru walked with me to the nearest bus stop, we arranged to meet up the next morning at 11am Japan time at Kyudai (Kyushu Daigaku – Kyushu University) and I took a bus back to the Kaikan myself.

The day was not over for me as I still needed a few things to purchase, and I actually wrote up a list before walking over to ‘JUSCO’ to get some of the stuff I needed before heading back to Kaikan, for a bath and an early rest from a LONG tiring day!! =)

WOOOHOOOO!~!!!! that ends my first day at IN JAPAN! wah... =)

My Expenses! =)

2008-10-01T23:51:00.000-07:00

Yupz... here's my monthly expenses for the Hostel. It actually rather Cheap if ya ask me haha...(remember i'm in JAPAN!!!) eh, ok the conversion rate is about [ 1000yen = S$13.33 ] so do the maths yourself okie =)

This is the application form for the internet connection!, hmm it cost around 3000 yen (S$40 Per mth). I think that its rather expensive, but its more or less of set by the cost of the hostel so i'm still optimistic! =)

Here's the monthly cost of my room, the rent and utility bill are about 6000 yen each and along with the 1300 yen expandables fee, the total amount should be about 13300 yen each month. SO in Singapore Dollars that translates to about S$180 dollars per month regardless of how much electricity or water you use. I'm really satisfied with that amount coz its really cheap for such a comfortable place!!! =)

hmmm, think all in all, the monthly costs will not be too large, plus i'm going to invest in a bicycle so that takes care of the transport costs as well! =) haha... as long as i control my makan costs i think that staying in Japan should not be too expensive lah! haha.. okie then thats about all for my Expenses post! =) will move on to more pictures with HUMANS in them... but for the next few posts, still gonna be places... wahaha... coz its on my first day here and etc!!...

(My Hostel!) Watashi no Kaikan Desu

2008-09-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we reached the Kaikan (Hostel) and my first impression was “OMG!! Looks damn old lah, wait kana like Joyce’s hostel in Taiwan then jia lut…” haha… plus in my pre-arrival booklet they stated that I’ll have the following items in my room -> the regular bed, desk, wardrobe AND irregular!, OWN TOILET, BALCONY and REFIGERATOR! Haha… I was thinking like rather impossible right? The place so old and run down...

This is the office Building... on weekends its totally locked... actually just a small area with a small office lah... =)

The Front gate heading to my hostel,

My block is the one all the way to the right! (Block C), there's a small exit there that leads straight to a Bus Stop(To Kyushu Uni) and an overhead bridge (To a Huge Department Store Opp)
I'm on the 2nd floor so we had to 'Gang' all my barang up a flight of steps! =)

Followed by this OLD, scary, horror movie like corridor... it can get really spooky in the evenings... i get the chills just walking through it in the middle of the night! haha...

And finally i reach my Hostel... (Woohoo! excited to see exactly how it looks!)

Oh yeah... i'm in C-206 (Blk C / 2nd Floor / Unit 06) haha... my 'unit plate'.

Wahaha... and finally!!! =) My hostel Pictures! =) once again! The JAPS SURPRISE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha… They are true to their word!!, although its small, but still it does have all the items that they said they have! =) To make it a little more interesting to view, i'm adding some before and after photos. You decide which is which! =)

-- (Before = Haven't unpacked / bought stuff to resupply)

-- (After = Cleaned up / Stocked up / Unpacked!)

First UP - the View when you enter!

Followed by the Toilet that they mentioned! (Seriously like Hotel!!, its small, BUT good enough for me!!!)

This is the view from my bed! =) all the shelfs etc... really useful to have so many compartments, and this is not all... to the left of all these is my wardrobe, with more compartments! =)

Wahahaha!!! the Fridge! (I thought they would give me like one of those mini fridges... BUT look at the size of THAT... haha... i dunno wad to stock it up with sia!)

And of course! my study desk, fully equiped with the super bright table light! haha =)

And yupz... the wardrobe i was talking about before =)

Opps! nearly missed out my bed! haha... with JJ enjoying himself at the corner! wahahahaha!!!. (I had to go buy my own Sheets and Blanket that night and i Bought the WRONG size lah!!! omg... haha... the sheets are actually too big!!! but i think i managed to fold them in enough such that they dun show right!?! =)

And Finally!, as they mentioned... my very own balcony!! where i can hang my clothes to dry! =) if you can see the little squares outside, its actually coz the wired up the entire external of the building... i'm also not sure for wad... but most prob for security reasons, in case outsiders plan to climb in =)

The rest are just some random shots that i took, just added them so everyone could see =)

Haha... JJ looks so cute lah! haha... but i think he's going to stay indoors for a LONG LONG time... poor thing... =)

Ok.... heading back to the externa-ties of my hostel, the following is the pic of the laundry room, which is located at the 'basement'...

Any my very own letter box... which i'm rather sure will be absolutely under utilised...

The bicycle parking right beside my C Block! - omg... Everyone and i mean EVERYONE from the young to the old ALL ride bicycles everywhere! haha... like in Taiwan there is motorcycles (right joyce!) in Japan, everyone uses a bicycle!... i'm thinking that i'll most prob be getting one to go to sch everyday!! haha... maybe i will... hmmm... will be so much cheaper... and can 'Jian Fei'.

And lastly! the Park right outside my hostel!, Good for jogging,! i actually went for a morning jog yesterday and the place was generally ok, not many 'facilities' to workout on (like in Singapore) but still a nice place to jog!

Okie dokky! =) i'm done with My hostel post! haha... i think that the place is just cool lah!. Hmmm, the weather here is also not bad, just a little unpredictable at times. All of a sudden, it can get at hot as Singapore, then suddenly the temperature can drop like i think 10 degrees lah! (just exaggerating) haha... but it can suddenly get cold, plus the wind plays a major factor!!! it can get really chilly at times.

I actually have many more stuff to update on like the problems with my Bank account creation, phone connection, INTERNET connection (Have to come to sch to use loh!), hoe the bus works, my exploration of the area around my hostel, and maybe more on my activities later (heading to hte city centre - 30min bus ride!, hope i dun get lost!) haha... UNFORTUNATELY i think that i'll not have the time to do it till some time later, coz from tomorrow, my orientation will be starting and its a 3 day camp thing (travelling to Mount Aso, with 'wen quan' hehe). Hope i have fun there!

MOST importantly, alls well over here and i really think that i'm definately going to enjoy my stay in Japan!!! ok then till the next time i bring myself to blog!

2008-09-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Arrival at Fukuoka Airport was familiar yet confusing… haha… familiar coz the last time I came here for holiday with my family, we also arrived in this airport, and it seems that the airport is sooooo small that they only have like 2 belts from which to collect our languages… haha… AND I actually happened to collect mine from the same belt as the last trip! (ehh… but with the odds of 50%, doesn’t seem that difficult lah…).

Anyway, I officially also did my first cock up at the airport. Damn! So fast lohz… luckily only me ard to laugh at myself! Wahaha!! BUT wait! I have to defend myself first -> The thing is that this airport is so different from Singapore!, they have so many ‘check points’ that i felt like a toy going through some kind of conveyor belt and getting different parts put on me along the way! That’s why I blur a bitz lah…

Anyway… yeah, so what happens is that first you exit the plane (in your blur just wake up state), then you reach the first check point, where you see this kawaii lady standing at the exit handing out forms to you, so you join the queue and just follow the flow (typical Singaporean), once you receive the forms, you get directed to the next stop… guess what, just 20 meters away is… ANOTHER queue… to go through a temperature scanner (that ensures you don’t have a fever), so I thought it’s a common thing where you just walk through correct? WRONG!!!! HWA!! They must make sure that only one person walks through at a time loh! Super lay-chey, maybe I just suey… dun remember having to do that the last time round. Anyway, having NO CHOICE… I just queued loh. And it seems like that JAPs like to mentally torture you coz just beyond this queue, you can clearly see what you are in for next… behold!… my 3rd line of humans all standing just after the queue I was in now… so AGAIN i joined a queue BUT at least this one was a little more logical, coz it was for the customs clearance, I just spent my time filling in the forms that I had on hand and proceeded with the usual clearance. From there, I headed to collect my luggage… and in Singapore’s context, once you get your luggage you can happily exit already correct? GUESS WAD…. IN JAPAN… PLEASE JOIN THE NEXT QUEUE!!! OMG LOH!... the queue this time was to check your luggage and whether you declared that you have brought any illegal items with you!.. (Seriously, sometimes I think that these companies are just DUMB… if I had brought like drugs would I declare it?!?!) anyway, here comes my ‘cock-up’ incident!... as per the last 3 queues, I happily joined this one too… and this queue was NOT short ok! There were at least around 20 people in front of me lah… and so I waited till it was finally my turn and just when I was about to walk through, the lady at the counter looked at me and asked me – “Sorry Sir may I have your Form Pls”… then I look back at her… and then at my hands… and then back at her… and then my hands again…(faintz)… I DIDN’T HAVE A FORM LAH!!!!!!!! So I gestured to her that I didn’t have one… and she pointed to this counter where you have all these forms and some pens for you to fill in! wha!!! I was totally sian-ed lah!!! Then she gestured that I would have to join the queue AGAIN after I filled in the form… zzzzzzzz super sian… wha, at that time I wanted to just do a Jacky Chan – kick their asses and miraculously ‘escape’ stunt… BUT… of course I didn’t lah… dots… had to drag all my stuff back to the counter then fill in the form and join back the STUPID queue (at least only left like 5 to 6 people in the queue this time, else I sure go berserk!)

And so Finally after a total of 4 queues on the conveyor belt, the toy was completed and ready to be shipped, I headed outside where my buddy and a staff member was waiting (they thought that I missed the plane coz I took so long! Haha) and then we took a cab to the Kaikan (Hostel).
Haha…. I just realized that my ‘passage’ on just the arrival already damn long ah! Haha…. Didn’t think I’ll write so long, anyway I’ll continue, and use more photos instead, in case it gets too boring to read! (coz in the airport nv take photos!)… think I’ll start a new post…

My First Post In JAPAN~!!!!

2008-09-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

Woooohooo =) my first post upon reaching Japan! Finally got a chance to get access to the internet long enough to actually do some proper blogging. haha, dun blame me ok, my Hostel has no internet connection and i have to apply wireless on my own... according to the staff, its going to take like around 2 weeks before i can get connected in my room... zzzz haha anyway... back to the post...

Before I get into the juicy details of my life in Japan – Fukuoka, I wanna say a BIG ‘thank you’ to all the people that took time off your schedules and came to send me off! Below are the pictures from my camera =) haha…

First Up all the INDIVIDUAL Photos:

Xiwen! hope you are feeling better!, tks for the lunch that day! =)

Anthony - Guitar Shen! wahaha... just remember that 'Anything that can go wrong, will!' haha ;)

Handball Representitive! haha, thanks Wei Ren for being such a buddy! =)

haha... Ziyuan!! one of the few that can msn with me in Japanese!

Lionel! how come ur legs so weird one?!?! =)

My xiao mei! Eileen!! =) Dun let ppl (you know who) bully you ah

Shili - Guitar pro! (haha next year will be in Strings Blended again ya!)

Ben!!! Pro photographer of the night! check out facebook for the photos he took!

Marcus! you seem to be overloaded with barang! =)

Hmmm Vivi... where all your barang? ;-) hehe

Cutie Meiqi! - Think i'll need your help with the blog... i suck at this wahaha!!

Dear miss Caren... ur face like kana forced to take pic with me sia =)

My Dar... Wei Wei!! Special thanks to her and Xiwen for setting up this blog for me!

Lynn Zhi! Loyal Sec Sch Friend! we've known each other for like more then a decade loh! =)

Miss Midori (Green green... dun miss me too much ok! - Everyone complaining say i bully you!)

My Dear Hui! =) do take care of yourself! Can't wait to see ya and Xia over here!

Yi Xia! =) bluff me... tell everyone that you not coming then appear! so touched! tks!

Shi Jia - Same Class from pri 5 to sec 4 lohz! haha how to find! =)

Now for ALL the GROUP PHOTOS!

My Lovely Family! =) Miss you all!!!

Merv Study Hard in SMU k! need help can still MSN me! Ness Jia you for O'levels! haha can do it one! and Both of you look after mom and Dad when i'm not there okie!

Missing ya Mom and Dad!, all fine here so dun worry ya! =)

Miss Charmaine and Her husband to be Mr QQ haha!

Random Group shot! =)
Another Random Group Shot!... Midori like little bit far away ah... dun hide le! haha...

Merv and Ness =)

St Hildas Secondary School Mates (Plus Husband to be) haha...

Hui, Cyril and me... Cyril seems a bit too tall for this pic... spoiler lah... wahaha...

WOOHOO!!! SMU people Group Photo!

Temasek Polytechnic 'Artistic' Shot by Anthony! haha

Here's the proper Temasek poly Shot!!

Qi, Xia, Me and JJ (Justin Junior - the little monkey!) Thanks Caren and Qi for the Present! =)
Hui and Cyril trying to be funny! haha...

WHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG... blogging is tiring lah.... Hmmm… I have decided to stop here for now and dedicate this post to just that, haha… the next post will be on my first 2 days in Japan along with pictures of my super cheap mini hotel!! (hostel!)... OH and btw... if anyone knows how to upload more photos at one go instead of having to constantly click on the add photos and put them in 2 to 3 at a time PLSSSSS let me know! coz its a damn tiresome process! ok! thats all for now... will post again soon... (and i realise that i haven't even blog about my life here! wahaha)

Off to the Land of the Rising Sun...

2008-09-23T09:59:00.001-07:00

Justin is flying off tmr night!

Leave a comment if u'll miss him. :)