This is sadly the last post I will be writing from Japan. I think I’ve written everything about how I feel, so I’ll end with this post as I ended in 2007. By making a list of “YKYBIJW”.

You Know You’ve Been In Japan When…

…walking more than 500 meters for a good restaurant is outrageous.

…squeezing yourself into a tiny tube with thousands of other people, completely unable to move, is just a way to get somewhere in the morning.

…you think service is terrible if personnel isn’t smiling and giving you their full attention at all times.

…it’s strange that 2 hours on a train doesn’t bring you to a completely different landscape.

…having 24 square meters to live on is pretty damn decent.

…you duck through doorways by reflex.

And finally I’ll leave you with a video, it’s a compilation of all the material I had on my computer, taken throughout the year.

Until next time! I love you Japan.

Today we started getting ready to go back to Sweden. We have another two weeks left now and the return is closing in really fast.

School Material

The picture above is school material (books and paper hand-outs) from one year of study. If you subtract the big dictionary in the middle on the left stack at least. Though what is in the picture is for two people (both mine and Emmas stuff), it’s pretty damn much!

We have so much crap in fact that we’re going to have to send home 3 boxes full of it. Extra clothes, rice-cookers and books are going home in boxes. But it’s not as expensive at I once thought. You can send home 30kg of stuff for about 2000 SEK by plane or around 800 SEK by boat. The books alone would cost more than 2000 SEK to replace and I would want to replace them, so I think it’s worth it. And I think we’ll be sending home around 30kg including all the books (we’re just bringing home the books, not the papers).

Anyway, it feels really strange to go back home. I’ve become accustomed to living here and having 10-15 good, cheap restaurants within 500 meters at all time. But there are some things I’m pretty tired of. The apartment we live in is not really ment for living in longer than this, it’s getting pretty tiresome to not have enough space. I’m also aching to do something different than this school now, they treat you very much as a child and that’s getting extremely tiresome as well.

Getting back to Sweden will be a relief in some ways, but of course I’ll be extremely sad to leave Tokyo. It’s spectacularly wonderful city and if I could get a nice apartment and a non-japanese job I could absolutely see myself living here.

I will however not be in Sweden for more than 2 or 3 weeks once I get back. Almost as soon as I get home I’m leaving again for San Francisco. I will be working full-time for www.rightrental.com for a month and then get back to Sweden again in time to start the school-year. I’m very excited to see how it is to work in SF and meet all the awesome people there. Of course I’ll try to keep the blog filled to the brim with photos and videos!

Every time I think of leaving Tokyo I get extremely sad, but every time I think of arriving in Sweden I feel relieved. I wish I could bring the best from Sweden (family+friends, bread, cheese, candy, in that order) to Japan and everything would be perfect!

Japan has a wealth of new exciting products coming out all the time for an ever growing bored market. This makes it really fun to walk around Japanese stores.

Though there are some things I can’t try myself. So I bought this product and sent to my dad, we’ll see what he thinks. Watch the video below and you’ll know what it is!

So it’s been a few weeks since I bought the iPad now. It still feels very early to give a definitive judgement on wether or not it’s worth it.

Basically what I use it for so far is still pretty much what I said before. I use it to surf in the morning. I use it to watch videos, though I’ve changed video players and do actually stream most of the content from my computer because it’s less hassle than transferring the files (I can transfer wirelessly if I want to bring the iPad with me or shut down my laptop). I really like watching video on it, it’s usually very comfortable and the screen size is good enough for almost everything I want to watch.

I’ve also downloaded the Kindle app, since I have a Kindle I have quite a few books on there and all the books I’ve bought for the Kindle are automatically downloaded to the iPad as well. It’s quite nice to read on the iPad in the dark, where the Kindle needs a light and thus is slightly more uncomfortable to hold.

Since I don’t have a second screen I have actually used it as that a little bit lately with work. I am doing something where I constantly have to look at a PDF to compare results and it fills the job as an extra screen like that very well. It’s obviously not something I would do at home, but at home there are other things I could imagine doing.

When I get back to school in Sweden I do believe it will come in very handy. I usually bring the computer with me to study because I need to look at PDF’s or look up formulas and to do some surfing during breaks. I think the iPad will be a very nice replacement for a laptop there because it fills all the functions and minimizes distractions. And obviously it’s a very good music player as well so I don’t have to drain my iPhone during the day.

There is one thing I want to complain about with the iPad so far. The App selection is significantly worse than for the iPhone. I was expecting that almost all people who made an App made it for the iPad as well. With most apps it’s really not that much more work and you get a lot bigger market, but no; that’s not the case. There is only a fraction of the Apps for iPad as there is for the iPhone. Often I’ve gone to look for something and have been disappointed in the selection. Furthermore, the price of Apps in Apples App stores seem to be directly related to the size of the screen. The average price for an app on iPhone (for apps I look at) is 7 SEK and on the iPad it’s 22 SEK or above. Even really crappy Apps that should be free are 22 SEK.

I’m still happy I bought one. I use it every day for a little something even if it’s something I could easily do somewhere else. I’d still like to hold out judgement on if it’s worth the money or not. It’s definitely not a life-changer and if you’re strapped for cash then forget it. But if you have the money laying around and want to make you’re life just slightly, slightly more convenient? I think it could be worth it.

Of course, I have the Wi-Fi version so that’s all I’m talking about. Are you on the move a lot and want to always have a good way to do E-mail, surfing or whatever else; then the 3G version could change your life.

Hello everyone!

When the iPad 2 was announced I decided I wanted one. People all around me said that it was so awesome and they used it for everything.

I still remain somewhat hesitant towards it’s use cases but I do believe it has some value.

I was going to buy the iPad on the release day here in Tokyo but because of the earthquake the release was postponed. Until today. This how I watched an episode of Community just a while ago..

However I don’t intend to use it as an extra screen for my laptop like that. I mainly had two use cases in mind when I bought it, the first was to browse the web in bed in the mornings and the second was to use it to watch video without having to have a 50 degrees warm computer in my lap when I’m not at the table.

I’ve already found two perfect apps for both those uses. You can’t surf efficiently with mobile safari so I’ve installed a browser called Mercury which does tabbed browsing and that whole thing very nicely. I’ve also installed BUZZ Player that takes any video format and handles subtitle files and embedded subtitles awesomely. I just move any video file very easily from the computer to the iPad via iTunes and I can sort the videos and play them via BUZZ!

I have yet to become fully accustomed to the keyboard, I’ve written this whole thing on the iPad now and it’s certainly faster than writing in an iPhone but also a lot slower than on a computer so far. I am getting faster by the minute though and if I can make a little less mistakes than it should be almost comparable to a computer with enough practice. We’ll see about that though..

I bought the iPad mostly as an experiment and so far it’s been fun. Lets see if It can live up to it’s name and if I actually find a real use for it!

JLPT Test Application

The time has come for another application to the JLPT, Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. Since I took the test the last time I have had my eyes set on the N2 test. But now as I’ve come closer to the end and (by tomorrow) have to decide which level to take. It seems very, very unlikely that I would be able to pass the N2 level test.

It bugs me extremely much that I have to say that I will not succeed in something I’ve tried to succeed in. A particular thing that bugs me is that a lot of people come to Japan to study Japanese to “find themselves” or just escape from real life for a year. This is absolutely not the case for me. I’ve “found myself” (if such a thing is even possible) long, long ago and I certainly do not see this trip as a vacation.

The thing is, that with only an N3 to show for it after a year, it could very well have been a vacation. According to Wikipedia it should take around 500-750 hours of study to be able to pass level 3. I have until today studied almost exactly 550 hours in class and maybe a maximum of 100 hours (almost all of that in the beginning months) outside of class during the past year. I have two months left so around another 150 hours or so will be studied in school. That means I will have around 800 hours when I take the test. 900 hours if I get my shit together and start studying now. 800 (or even 900) hours in a year means not only that I am even slightly below average if I am at level 3, it also means I’ve worked at about 40% of full-time.

I can’t change the fact that I’ve only worked slightly below half-time for a year, there are many excuses but really, what relevant excuse can exist other than laziness? However I used to feel that even if I’ve been terribly unproductive, if I managed to get the N2 then I have the equivalent knowledge of working full-time for a year as that usually takes 1400-2000 hours of study (again, according to Wikipedia). And somehow that would make up for the laziness.

Well, it’s time to face reality. If you don’t put in the work, you don’t get the results. I have to admit defeat in my quest for over-achieving and accept that most people will think I did this for the vacation.

The passing grade for the JLPT tests are usually between 50 and 60 percent correct answers. That means that even if I only know about 75% of what I should know (accounting for randomness), I could pass the test. That’s what I’ve been aiming for. Right now I doubt I will even be able to get up to 75% though and passing seems so improbable that I just see taking it as a waste of time and money.

I will finish this blog post on a positive note though. When I have the N3 and come back to Sweden, getting the N2 will act as an excellent motivator and goal for the coming 6 months of Japanese study parallell to my real studies. I have searched for a tangible goal and study plan for my self-studies and going from N3 to N2 is (I think) an excellent choice.

Update: I found a flaw in my calculations right after I posted this yesterday and thought I wouldn’t correct it because it’s not really that relevant to my point. But for the sake of correctness and my own self-asteem I will.

JLPT Levels

This is a quick little graph of the data I took from Wikipedia. For every test JLPT does a short survey of test-takes (all of them, on the application form) of how many hours you’ve studied and where you’re from. So that’s where the average study hours come from. But the results for the new tests have not been published yet as it’s not really very well established either. Though they have said some general things like the N1 is slightly more difficult and what you can see in the graph above.

This means that when I took N4 about 6 months ago, I actually took the old number 3 which requires the amount of hours I’ve studied right now. So for N4 I actually was over-achieving a little bit. And no-one knows for sure but the N3 is in the middle of old 2 and 3 so the amount of study hours should be pretty much exactly the amount I will have done in 2 months. So in other words, if I take the N3 at least I wont be below average in study speed. It doesn’t change the fact that I’ve only worked half-time this year, but it makes that half-time work a bit more fruitful.

This morning I had set the alarm and woke up to the idea of going to school. We were still supposed to have a week of school left. Soon thereafter Emma received (or made I’m not sure) a phone call and we found out that the lessons on monday and tuesday were cancelled.

I went out and bought bread which was in stock in the stores again and then when I came back I found out the entire weeks lessons were cancelled. So we’re now officially on holiday. School starts again April 11th I believe.

Things are really back to normal here. What’s not normal is all the foreigners. Foreigners are starting to act really irrationally and are starting to flee the country. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m not one of them. Not entirely of my own will but this is the case.

We are going to South Korea for 2 weeks as of tomorrow. I’ll be back in time to give an awesome tour of Tokyo to my dad and aunt and I’m really looking forward too it.

To be able to leave the country and retain my current visa-status I have to have a re-entry permit. I thought it was going to be a real fucking hassle to get this (requiring weeks of work as it took to get the original visa) fortunately that was not the case. Unfortunately; we had to wait in line for 8 hours.

That was the entrance to the immigration office. The following short clip is one I took after walking half-way down the line and realizing how absurdly long it was. Mind you, this is half the line.

After 8 hours I got my re-entry permit and we have booked two round-trip tickets to Seoul and will be staying at a decent hotel (which according to hotels.com shall include a gym).

I really hate to go along with this whole state-of-panic irrational behavior and it goes against every fiber of my body to change my mind based on illusional (delusional?) risks.

However, I have been wanting to see Korea for a while now and I’m going to see these 2 weeks as a vacation and try to enjoy Seoul as much as possible. Perhaps I’ll take in a game of Starcraft while I’m there

Today was wonderful sunny spring weather and we decided to take a break from watching the news and browsing the interwebs to go outside.

Some nice little pictures of trees.

Despite what’s going on people are acting normal and cheery and everything seems to be going on more or less as normal. We sat down in a park for a while and lots of kids playing and normal life going on all around.

The sun started going down and we started heading out to a grocery store.

I’ve seen a lot of pictures of empty shelves in the stores. That’s not the whole truth though. While there are empty shelves it’s only for bread and water. For some reason pretty much all stores are all out of bread and water.

When you look in the rest of the store it looks like this.

And then finally we went to buy a bento, sort of a finished meal in a box that isn’t really fast-food but still kind of. And they still have lots of food.

As you might have heard on the news there are some troubles with a nuclear plant in Fukushima. First of all, I live in Tokyo. Tokyo is about 300 kilometers away from Fukushima so we are absolutely at no risk where we are. They have upgraded the evacuation zone in Fukushima to 20 kilometers recently and that is to keep everyone 100% safe.

What happened was that because of the earthquake the power plant lost external power. In other words they have a blackout right there at the moment. Let me show you a quick picture from Wikipedia.

Boiling Water Reactor

This is a schematic of the type of reactor we’re talking about. A Boiling Water Reactor. When the power fails several things in this image stops working, but the only important thing is point number 16. That is the pump that pumps in water from the sea which in turns cools the water that is in the reactor. The Union of Concerned Scientists have written a good article on what has happened so far.

Basically as I said, they lost power. Then they have diesel generators on-site to provide backup-power. As soon as the earth-quake happened all the reactors shut down, but they still produce heat. What then happened was that the whole area got flooded from the Tsunami and the diesel-generators failed. To my understanding they are now completely without power (and have been for some time) and the pumps (at point 16) can’t pump in “coolant” (seawater that is). This causes the water inside the reactor to rise in temperature and pressure. The rise in pressure caused this to happen:

That is clearly not good. But it is not dangerous in itself. I’m just speaking out of my own belief there but the tank that holds the fuel and the boiling water is encased in concrete. When the pressure rises too high that causes the metal (which is flexible) to expand and finally break the concrete (which is not flexible) that it is encased in. Because concrete isn’t soft it doesn’t slowly break and give way, it builds up tension until it can’t possibly hold anymore and then releases all the tension at once. Causing what you see in the video.

However, according to recent news the inner container is still supposed to be undamaged.

There are two very bad potential outcomes. All the water inside the tank has been in contact with the fuel rods and is thus radioactive. It contains traces of a bunch of bad radioactive materials that are waste-products of nuclear fission. The first really bad thing that can happen is that the inner container breaches and lets out all that steam. Fortunately steam would condense pretty quickly and fall down pretty quickly. The affected radius would likely not be very large.

The second bad thing that can happen is a meltdown; that’s when the fuel rods stop being sufficiently cooled by surrounding water and the radioactive fuel which is normally hard material shaped in rods (number 2 in the figure above) start melting and thus dripping down to the bottom of the tank and melting through the steel container and into the underground containment facilities. The containment facilites are reported to be intact so really it shouldn’t be a problem. But having several thousand degrees warm material lying around melting through steel, concrete and earth is a large potential hasard simply because it can leak into the ground-water or it can start a fire that could be used to carry the radioactive steam high into the air and thus spread it out.

So in summary; containment tank exploding: causes local damage. Meltdown: causes no damage in itself but could itself be a cause of a third and by far worst possibility, fire.

The last thing is still very, very unlikely of happening. This is purely my speculations, as there have been very little information released on this so far. You can read this CNN article if you want to know more.