Random things I've learned about Japan over the past year

Its hard to believe its been over a year since I made that leap of faith to the land of the rising sun. At the same time its amazing to think of all the random things I've learned about Japan. Here's a sample:

(WARNING the list is completely random)

• There is no such thing as a garbage can outside. That thing that you think is a garbage can right outside of the store is actually a place to put the cover for your wet umbrella. Made the mistake and not even 2 minutes later our trash was gone. 
• Japan is the land of umbrellas. Like Toby the Fire Truck (grapeseed humor) they are used in the sun rain or snow. 
• If you  don't look Japanese you will be stared at everywhere you go.
• Its very quiet on the subway even at rush hour.
• There is no such thing as insulation so your apartment will always be freezing and you can hear your neighbor breathe.
• Japan has the best fruit ever created especially the peaches, strawberries and apples. They are 10 times better than anything you can find in America.
• Don't Tip the waiter
• If you park in someones spot in an apartment complex you might as well have ran over their pet poodle. I just learned this the other day. Literally 10 people were standing outside including a lady holding a baby waiting to yell words we dont understand at us. 
• Japanese people as a whole are honest. Probably the only place in the world you can drop your wallet downtown and have the police get it back with everything in it a day later. Also after the earthquakes, I heard there was little to no looting. Compare that to hurricane Katrina.
• The local bank ATMs close at 7PM. If you want to get money out later you need to go to a convenience store. If you want Japanese money you better do it before 10PM. 7/11 is pretty much the only place to use an international debit card.
• Life stops at 9PM unless you go to out to eat. Good luck finding grocery stores open much past 8PM except for Max Value. Even the random ones open past 8 will be nearly cleared out.
• Meat is the cheapest right before grocery stores close. 
• Wheat bread is hard to find later in the day comes in packs of 3, YES 3. 
• Japanese is nothing like English
• When in doubt its prolly got Mayonnaise on it.
• Beans are a "delicious' dessert
• In summer time "Coolish" is the sweet nectar of the gods
• Most businesses have English words on them only because it looks cool. Once inside the place, most things are not in English and most people that work there speak very little English (at least in Sendai).
• If you want to get full you gotta pay a lot more.
• There are 4 days  a week for trash and it may be the most confusing start of your life in Japan. Luckily they have a novel that explains everything.
• If you want a good burger, go to Mc Donalds. Its tastes better than back home. Also I recommend the Shaka Shaka Chicken with the cheesu sauce.
• Most schools and youth hostels have less ambiance than Guantanamo prison.
• Except for Meysen. That school looks Great!!

I could prolly go on and on. Its been an interesting year to say the least. Can't wait to see what I can add to the list.

Surviving the Drivers Test in Japan

 American people that have lived in Japan for a while always seem to have stories about the times(plural) they took their Japanese test.

First rule of thumb is that you probably will fail no matter what the first time if you are from America. I don't care how you good you think you did. They will find something wrong. I read somewhere that about 35% of foreigners pass the drivers test the first time. Is it really that difficult? No. They just fail you (because you are an American) to teach you that you should not become too overconfident in driving.  Also, they make money everytime you re take the test. Here is the step by step process for anyone that plans to take the test. I'll roughly translate the money into USD.

Step 1: Give about $40 to get your American license translated and wait about two weeks.

Step 2: Go to the DMV at 1PM (yes only then) fill out obscene paper work. The DMV itself  looks like a huge prison cafeteria. People are lined up a million different directions. Basically, organized chaos.

Luckily, we had a translator. They literally go through every single stop on your passport and check every single time you enter and leave any country. I have no idea why this is pertinent to your driving ability.
Secondly, they go over your driving history. I had to answer questions like: When did you take your drivers test? Who taught you how to drive? How much did the  test cost? How many questions were on the written test? What kind of vehicle was it? What was a passing score? What did you get?  For me this was about 10 years ago so I just made most of it up. I felt like one of those kids that just likes to make patterns on their test answer sheet.

Then you wait... for about an hour. Then you get to pick a date to take your test.

Step 3: You come back on your designated day at 1PM. You pay $30 to take a written test. Its pretty common sense but isnt translated the best.  Then you go back  to the counter and pay about $40 to take your drivers test. Then you go back in the room and take an eye test. Then you get a number. Then you wait about 90 minutes.

Step 4: Finally, you get to take the test that you will probably fail. You get loaded up like sardines in a converted taxi as the instructor who speaks only Japanese takes you around the onsite course. The only Japanese you really need to know is the numbers and lefts and rights though. Then you get to take the road test usually with another person. I got to go second so I saw this random guy from Michigan take the test. I actually thought he did well but he failed.

I then got in the car. Basically, you have to be beyond cautious. You have to look out for random ghosts to cross when you have a green light. A lot of it is basic turn signals and normal stuff you should know. The infamous part is the CRANK. Picture trying to get a hummer to navigate through a  go-kart track at the local putt putt course. You have just enough room for the car to make 90 degree turns through this short maze. If you hit a bumper on go off the road you automatically fail. I actually had no problem with this but I hear a ton of people do. I must have just gotten lucky.

Once you make it through the course the instructor tells you everything you did wrong. For example, I made effort to get close to the middle line when turning right (its opposite of America) and the corner when turning left but it was not enough. Also I went slightly over the white stop line when breaking. FAILURE.

Rinse and Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until you pass. Once you finally pass. You have to go back to the office and take your blue ticket to the people. Then you go pay about another $40 for your drivers license. Then you wait about 2 hours until you get your picture taken. Then another 30 minutes to have it processed.

Yatta! youre finished.


For me, it was a little nerve wrecking especially knowing I was going to fail the first time. Before my second time another teacher passed after her second time. Since I'm sexist (jk) I would feel horrible about my manhood if I failed after she passed. Luckily, I nailed it and got the pass to move on.

Also, the bad part of this whole thing is that I have to be at work at 2 everyday so I constantly am missing some work for this test. Its a huge pain. To top it off, since I got my new drivers license less than two years ago they interpret that as I'm a new driver. Therefore, I have to put a special sticker on my car everytime I drive to warn people that I'm a new driver for the next year.

Ironically, I've been driving a year without any real Japanese drivers license besides the international drivers license. But after a year, I now have to prove that I can drive, which makes no sense. Also, British, Australians, Koreans, Canadians and some others dont even have to take a drivers test. They just take a written test and get their license. Discrimination I tell ya! 


All in all its a huge pain and waste of time to jump through these hoops but it feels like your 16th birthday when you get that license.

My New Apartment

One of the first things you'll notice when you come over to Japan, if you're provided housing, is that its pretty small. I remember when I first moved into my apartment going ok this is nice but where is the rest of it. During those first couple weeks where I had no clue what to do or where to go, I felt like I was going stir crazy. 

After a while, I just got used to having to eat on my lap while watching TV on my computer. Its easy to realize how little space you actually need. Which is what Japan is very good at. However, as I decided to stick around for one more year, I wanted to feel a little more at home with space and actually feel like I was living here and not visiting. So I requested to move to a bigger place. Luckily for me, MeySen does all the work. I don't need to try to figure out all the Japanese and try to translate etc. Basically, a huge headache is averted. They came through on an apartment that at first glance seems similar in size but has a loft where I can put my bed. 

I still have some things I want to buy. Its crazy how a relatively cheap move turns into a ton of money. I've also gone through and made a lot of mistakes on buying things I dont like. Here are some pictures of my slightly bigger apartment:

moving in

new closet without a rod to hang shirts

The kitchen

The bathroom with a tub that can automatically  fill water to a temperature I select. 

heated seats, sadly no bidet haha. 

My loft. Sorry mom I didnt make the bed. 

Mostly set up with my new TV

The ladder I'm afraid of falling off from. 

Visiting America and Skiing in Japan

The last time I posted about my vacation. I had crazy tales of ziplining through the Philippine mountains, kayaking into caves, riding elephants, visiting Filipino Doctors; exciting stuff. I thought about not posting about my time home because the 7 people that read my posts will be let down by my lack of adventures. But, I think its important to talk about why I would choose going home over spending the same money seeing a place I've never been and going on new adventures.

Going home, I knew I wasn't planning on doing anything extravagant. It was actually hard to believe this would be the 3rd time I've been home since moving to Japan less than a year ago. But it was the first time in about 6 months. When I got there, the first thing I really pick up on is the noise. I felt like I had super sonic hearing because I could listen to conversations people were having across the room. Its not really that I could hear more its just that I could actually understand what they are saying. Where I live in Sendai, you just don't hear random people speaking in English naturally.

The interesting thing about the food is, when I'm in Japan I just crave random things we never get here, like mozzarella sticks, good pizza, breadsticks, Arbys, Taco Bell, etc. But when I got home, it was all at my disposal and I never really cared that much. I got Arby's and Wendy's but that was about it. One big difference that you get reminded of is the portions. In Japan Tinkerbell would be starving after getting a large fry and the drinks are so small they evaporate before you take a sip.The standard American size is the "oinking out" fries with the drink that comes with the optional diving board. I ordered the medium combo at Wendy's Drive Thru and had to open my door because the window wasn't big enough to slide the drink through.

The other thing you notice is the roads. After driving in Japan the roads seem gigantic. You can't even fit half the standard American cars on the road in Japan.You also have an easier time drawing a straight diagonal on an Etch-A-Sketch than finding a straight road in Japan.

Right away, my friend Ashley picks me up from the airport and my body starts freaking out because it feels like she's driving on the wrong side of the road especially when turning. Luckily, I didn't drive from the airport.The interesting thing though is that when I started driving, I had no problem with the correct side of the road. It was like muscle memory as soon as I took off. Parking is also great in America. In Japan, you've got to back into a spot that was already too small for your car. Coming from Japan, I felt like I could park a Hummer parallel in a regular spot.

Jet lag also dug into my time in America. Everytime I've gone home. I haven't been able to sleep well. I get a few hours then wide awake at night. Christmas I woke up at 2AM wide awake but was exhausted at noon. Pretty much every night I stayed awake till 3 or 4 AM. I'd sleep for a few hours in the morning then a few hours in the afternoon when I got a chance. Coming back to Japan, my biggest issue is I get tired early at night and usually wake up around 5 or 6 AM which isn't always a bad thing.

Even though, I may not have "done anything" it was great to be back home. I got a chance to see a lot of great people that I haven't seen in too long. When I was home it sometimes felt like living in Japan was just a dream and I was back to normal. Its really good to have that place that you just genuinely feel at home. Sometimes it even beats the adventures. I'm just not ready to give up all the adventures completely yet haha!

**Also for the first time ever, I had no issues flying back to Japan on time with power. For more on my traveling woes check here

SKI TRIP

A day after I got back, I went on our high school program's ski trip to Eboshi. Its about an hour away. I have skied all of 3 times in my entire life. Each of them was a relearning experience. Last year, right before I got to Japan I got the chance to ski at Cannonsburg in Michigan. By the end of the night, I felt like I had kinda gotten the hang of it. Boy was I wrong! We spent spent Saturday teaching the kids (and me) how to ski. I did great at the starting and turning but I couldn't stop. On a mountain, gravity just won't do it for ya.

After Skiing, we all watched Cars 2 before dinner.  They have some great Japan references. It was really interesting to  to hear the Japanese students laughing at different parts. I wasn't sure what they would actually get.

At night the students made Kamakura. Basically a Snow  Fort they put candles in.

My kids made the Sendai Samurai.

A Monster

The view From My room at 6AM

Day 2 we got up bright and early to ski at 9AM. We got to Eboshi and the place looked like a lot of other ski resorts I'd see in America. We spent the first several minutes grouping kids by experience. Then I went with my students to some more easy practice. Finally, we went on the hill. This was my first experience skiing a real big mountain. With me falling every few minutes. It took about 30 minutes to go up and down the hill. It was a lot of pain and a lot of fun.


**Side Story for those that are still reading. I was riding the plane home when half way to Chicago the girl that sits next to me asked me if I taught at MeySen. Turns out her school uses GrapeSeed (our Curriculum) and got trained at our campus just before the earthquake. To make things crazier, on the way back I sat next to the aisle. In the aisle seat directly next to me was this exact same girl. The funny thing was it wasn't even her seat. A lady asked if she would switch. Small world!

MeySen Christmas

Christmas is probably one of the busiest times of year here at MeySen. It starts right about the day after Halloween, much to the demise of those NO CHRISTMAS till after THANKSGIVING people.  We start in teaching our kids Christmas carols on a daily basis.

 The first stop in the Christmas extravaganza is Caroling through the Ichibancho. When I told my kids about it, many of the boys groaned saying, "people talk in Japanese saying what is this funny club singing in English." But I think they secretly liked it. I definitely enjoyed spending the last few minutes of class singing Christmas carols for several weeks. The actual event was great though it was shortened due to heavy rain. The Ichibancho is this mile long shopping district that is covered in most places. We gathered our kids at fixed points to sing songs essentially to their parents who followed us around. There were also the random international looking people that you you could see pause and go: "Japanese kids singing in English?" The kids rocked their carols and sounded great.

just one of the tables of desserts

A week later, I went and checked out the kindergarten Christmas party. This is probably one of the biggest deals in the immersion program. All of the kids from both campuses get together to sing, act and play games. It it is like your average American public school party/Christmas pageant on Muscle Milk. During the 4 hour ordeal, The students process in and sing Christmas carols in a Tree formation on stage then go through games and more songs. I swear every little thing that happened on this day was better than watching babies giggling while holding kittens dressed like Santa Claus; the cutest thing you will ever see.  These kids also had talent. Part of the singing was in Japanese and students got to have solos (yes Im still talking about 4 and 5 year olds). The kids with solos had beautiful voices. On top of the singing there was a Nativity play and traditional Japanese dances. I wish I could show the videos I took on here cuz its just something you've got to see. After everything, there was the biggest smorgasboard of desserts known to man laid out and set up in about 2 seconds. All the parents, brought desserts to pass for everyone. The kids ended the day on N'Sync's "Merry Christmas Happy Holidays." It was just plain great.

Unfortunately I didn't get a ton of pictures dressed as santa.

The next day we had Christmas cheer day which was essentially a bunch of games with our campus and a video to get the kids pumped for their version of the kindergarten party. That weekend, 1st and 2nd grade and HS had their Christmas parties. On top of that I taught a normal Saturday for 3rd grade so I worked from 8AM-8PM straight. The first and second grade party was the kindergarten party on a smaller scale. The kids played games for prizes including a Christmas present pinata filled with candy. Also for the party, yours truly got to be the big man in Red.

Apparently in Japan, Santa does not need to be fat. The Santa suit is actually pretty slimming. From my experience, I give those mall Santas a lot of credit. My job was to help pass out presents and sing carols with the kids. I had kids tugging my beard, hanging on my leg, and a baby crying at me.  Outside of that, it was pretty great to feel like the star (my brothers and sister can attest to my need for attention). Several of the kids kept trying to guess who I really was. Most of them kept guessing that I was one of the other teachers. One kid was convinced then I showed him the other teacher and he goes "Santa?"  One girl was only convinced I wasn't the real Santa after she saw my shirt sleeve under the costume. After carols people were constantly asking for pictures with their kids. I think between helping with pony rides last summer and pictures Saturday, I'm going to be in a ton of random Japanese photo albums.

By Saturday night, I was pretty exhausted with the two four hour Christmas parties. The high school party was actually a walk down memory lane for the kids playing games they did as a kid.It was all kind of a blur because I was pretty tired but it went well.

With less than a week left, the Christmas season is still not over, this Thursday we have the 3rd and 4th grade Christmas parties which is the same as the others but without parents. On top of that, we are having a little Christmas party with other teachers Wednesday and a staff party Thursday.

The only downside to all this Christmas celebration is that it just doesn't quite feel like Christmas over here. No matter how many days in a row I blare Christmas music, something's still missing for Christmas here in Japan. The first real snow of the season Friday was a nice touch. Sunday night we went to check the lights out downtown and the was the first time I actually kind felt like Christmas is coming up.

I'll Be Home for Christmas!

**note this was written before I made it home

This year the world was my oyster for my Christmas break. One of the perks of this job is the ability to travel all over during vacations.  I could choose to go anywhere but North Korea for this holiday break. I really started thinking about Australia, one of my top places I want to go. But as I really started to think heavily about what Christmas time means to me, there's really no place Id rather be than home for Christmas.

 I can't imagine not waking up to the living room full of presents, the ensuing wrapping paper fight, "A Christmas Story" playing in the background without ever actually watching it all day,  my mom slipping and falling on the wrapping paper while carrying a tray of cinnamon rolls through the living room.

On top of that, I thought, when will I get many chances to fly across the world to surprise my parents for Christmas. Luckily the stars aligned. MeySen usually still runs on Christmas but it fell on on a Sunday with the emperors birthday on the Friday so I got the chance to fly out the 23rd. On top of that, I got a free roundtrip flight to use as I wanted as long as I signed for a second year. Since September, I've been setting it all in the works to make it home for Christmas and pull off the biggest surprise for my parents.

I had to let my sister in so someone could pick me up from the airport so she's the only one in my family so that knew the entire time. I've also been telling friends as I've been able too. I told my mom that I would be traveling in Japan for the break. Which technically is true, I have to travel to Tokyo to fly home. I've given a lot of vague answers that were not technically lies if she ever had a transcript of the conversation haha. She was under the impression that I would be coming home in March but I only said it was a possibility which is true but not likely.

My plan was to fly home the 23rd and stay at my friend's house then have my sister pick me up from Grand Rapids and meet my mom at church for the Christmas mass. From there, I would have my sister send her on a hunt to come find me.

UPDATE: Everything worked out perfectly as I'd planned. My biggest fear was that she would have known somehow before I came home. Here is the video of the surprise. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

There truly is no place like home for the holidays.

Its official, I've been Outsourced for a Second Year

As I signed the contract today, I started thinking about what I could post. I could go into detail about all the thought and worrying that went into my decision to stay but that just wouldn't be true. To be completely honest, I really didn't give it much thought. Now some people could say wow this is a huge decision and everything but to me it was simple. Actually, I  had to answer two simple questions that everyone should about there job:

Do I enjoy what I do and the people I'm surrounded with?

Do I make enough money that I don't have to worry about money?

Of course, there are more questions you could ask here but for me it really was that simple. Of course, it will be hard to be away from home for another year and I will still miss my family and friends but I am lucky to have found a job that I truly enjoy going to work everyday for.

To be honest, I never really gave much thought into my original choice to come here either. I just came because I happened to go to a teacher fair that just happened to be on a day I could take off from my long term position where I happened to meet a very friendly recruiter who happened to give me a flyer. (still following?) Then in June, I just decided to fill out the application just for the heck of it. Boom got the job and went for it. Didn't really know what I was doing at all. I just went for it because it sounded like a fun thing to do. Most of my friends thought I was crazy.

Looking back I haven't been disappointed. I probably went through one of the craziest experiences most people will never have in their lives with the 9.0 Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear meltdown within my first two months here. Coming home then was the only time I can say that I had any doubts on being here. When I came back, I actually was thinking well Im just going to finish out my contract and come back home ASAP. To my amazement, things went back to normal within a month of getting here. Huge earthquakes slowly dissipated and the crazy experience became a memory.

On a daily basis, I get so caught up in the routine of life that its really hard to believe that I've been here this long already. I can see myself slowly losing track of time. I just assume everything stops in America while I'm gone and will pick up where I left off when I get back. Obviously, that won't happen but I'm cool with it.

A few highlights of my highlights of I can't believe I'm getting paid to teach here in Japan:

• Friends Day, I was paid to walk around with a pony giving Japanese toddlers rides.

• I went camping and river hiking with high school students and got to climb a waterfall and jump off a cliff.
• I got to set up and light off some of the best fireworks I've ever seen for 1st and 2nd grade camp. 
• For Halloween, I got to dress up like spiderman and play games with my students 

• Last weekend, I went caroling down the Ichibancho (A mile of road just for shopping) with my 3rd grade students. We sang Christmas songs to people that probably didn't even understand the words we were singing. 

I still get a lot of those random moments that just crack me up. Like today, I was teaching basketball to the 3rd graders. One of the boys insisted on not going on offense because he wanted to guard the other basket like in soccer.

I've also met a lot of great friends and have done a lot of crazy and fun things with them. 

All in all, I honestly can't complain. I feel truly blessed to stumble upon this job and can't imagine how my life would have been without this experience. I can only hope that next year is even more amazing!

PS HAPPY HOLIDAYS!