As previously mentioned, we will be living near Waseda University in Shinjuku-Ku in Tokyo. However our date has changed to probably an August 13 departure and our apartment has moved to the other side of the campus. It’s marked on the above map with an “A”.

We’ll probably be using the Takadanobaba Station more now as it is under a half mile away (instead of over half a mile away from the prior place were we thought we would be living). We will also be close to Nishi-Waseda Station on the new Fukutoshin Line which will be convienent for hops down to Shibuya.

Posted on June 12th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: Tokyo. Comments Off on Slight change of plans

The above photograph is from Kiyomizudera (清水寺) in Kyoto. The boards to the right are ema. Below I have a picture of one close up.

Normally these wooden plaques are written on in Japanese and contain a wish or request. This one had some rare English and is used more as a memorial than the typical desire or prayer.

Posted on June 10th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, ema, japan pictures, kyoto, sakura. Comments: 1

The eye is naturally drawn to the Geisha, Maiko, Geiko, tourist, or whatever you want to call her, but this picture includes some other interesting looks and gazes as well. Be sure to check them out once you are done looking at her.

Posted on June 8th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: geisha, japan pictures, kyoto. Comments: 1

The plan was (is?) to land in Japan two months from today. However, I was just notified that it would take 8 weeks for Japan to process my “Certificate of Eligibility.” Once this is approved in Japan it comes to the US and requires another week for processing in the US before I have my visa to travel and live in Japan. According to my calculations we, therefore, won’t be landing in Japan two months from today. I asked if there was a way to expedite or rush the process and was told “no.” They did say some people get their visa in less than 8 weeks though. 6 weeks was given as an example. Frustrating. It isn’t fun when your life’s plan is held in someone else’s hands, or more accurately sits on some government official’s desk for some indeterminate time period, like 6 or 7 weeks.

Posted on June 7th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: Travel. Comments: 2

Nihongoup is a little program you can download for free to help you master hiragana, katakana, particles, and kanji on the JLPT 4 and JLPT 3 exams (the first few hundred). For $4.99 more you get practice exercises and JLPT 2 and JLPT 1 (I think). I haven’t actually paid the $4.99 so I’m not sure exactly what you get. The free program only works for 15 days.

The free download features games of balloons falling from the sky. You type in the correct pronunciation of the hiragana, katakana, or number of the correct kanji displayed in the balloon.

I figured out that to type ん you need to hit n twice. How do you type ぢ or づ? I tried ji and dzu but neither worked.

Overall I’d say this is a nice little trainer for beginners in the Japanese language. It doesn’t help much with writing, speaking, or listening though; mostly it is just character recognition practice.

Posted on June 6th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: japanese language, Japanese Language Study Methods, japanese links. Comments: 2