Tokyo International Film Festival

On Thursday after school we went to Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills to enjoy Tokyo International Film  Festival. Due to lack of free tickets for most of the movies we took "In Another World" film. It is a document about worker from Italian Alps. The film was rather boring. However, the atmosphere and meeting with director was really great.

Afterwards we went to Roppongi  to have a dinner with friends.

Roppongi Crossing. One of the most famous districts in Tokyo.

 

     Our food ;)

After School..

This and next week the classes are in Ueno, Akihabara International Language School instead of EU centre. Although around the school there are many interesting places, it takes me half an hour more to reach it from my house.. Anyway, we got used to go somewhere after school. Ueno Park is a good choice to relax ->

There are also some picturesque streets with lots of  shops. Mainly see-food and everything related to this.

The next day there was a lecture about Japan history at EU centre. 

 

Katakana spelling. This alphabet is supposed to be used with American words. So, every English word can be translated into katakana and used in Japanese. They do it often. However, it consists of different sounds so the words you hear are quite funny and many times unrecognisable.

 

Rush-hour return home. There is no free space in a car. I am tall so it is let's OK to me. Anyway I like strategy how Japanese people get to the car when it is full. It is awesome.I will try to put some clip about this one day.

 

Tokyo, school, lectures at EU center..

This week I had one of the best lectures! Finally somebody was able to speak English.. and in a very interesting way. The lecture was about (see the picture). She explained the differences between Japan and rest of the world. So here are the main rules that I have remembered or found out by myself about Japan:

1. 
   
   When you ask about sth and they say that it might be possible, may be possible or they are not sure. It generally means NO! It is impossible.. but they won't tell you that face to face.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   When you ask about sth and they are hesitant but still are trying to answer.. don't waste your time, they won't answer..
   
   
   
3. 
   
   When YOU are unsure about sth and they don't give you any clear answer.. Just Do It.. there won't be any problems.
   
   
   

A tak poza tym nigdy tutaj nie wycieraj nosa w husteczke! W miejsach publicznych wszyscy "wciągają".. :) Może i dziwnym się to wydawać ale tak jest. A jak jesz makaron to siorb tak głośno jak tylko potrafisz, wszyscy tu tak robią.

The next day there were lectures with my best teacher OKA. She always makes us laugh and cry happy tears. This day she wanted to teach us te-form and dictionary form of verbs..

In the evening there was a party and dinner with my friends. A cook gave me extra an NTT Pizza after I had told him that I am going to have a traineeship there. It was really nice.

Izu Islands (Ohsima)

Having three days off we went to Izu Islands (Ohsima Island). Izu islands are generally volcanic islands in a line from Tokyo. Ohsima is a nice almost tropical island just one night by ferry from Tokyo. Directly after school we went to harobour..

 

First day we decided to climb a volcano. However, walking 3 hours up the hill is not a good solution. That's why we took a bus instead. It was just 15 minutes to get to a bottom of volcano. Then we had to climb sth like 45 minutes to reach a crater.

We spent there most of the day hanging around the crater, taking picture and searching for a good place to sleep for a while. Having done a trip around the crater we went down the hill to a city close to a cost. There was an amazing Onsen (hot springs) on a cliff with a picturesque view on Pacific Ocean. It is a place where you can really lay off.

The next morning we spent at a beach, taking some sun bath, resting and doing nothing. The beach was awesome due to its black sand. I have never seen sth like that. There were also many volcanic rocks everywhere. Anyway the sand was soft like in most European beaches.

Afternoon we took a ferry back. It was also a great time sitting on a deck, eating food and taking more sun bath.

In the night we arrived to Yokohama. And what was there? Oktoberfest!! ;)

Rest of the picture you can find in Picasa gallery.

Askausa..

We studied generally Japanese last week. There was one short excursion to a disaster prevention centre. We had to fight with fire,  undergo earthquake simulation, handle AED etc.. There were many nice simulations  that everybody could try. However, later, we went to visit Askausa district and its Shrime..

 

 There were many people like always. Some of them made us a lot of pictures. Why?

 

We had a lot of fun there ;)

There was a lecture the next day. Really boring..

in EU Embassy.

After the lecture we went to buy ferry tickets in Tokyo Harobur to one of Izu Islands. Those are mainly a big volcanoes with some small cities in the bottom.  

 

Second part of the first month.

Due to Melor I have free time to write more about first month..

Ueno - part of a Tokyo, where you can buy almost everything except of electronic which is mainly in AkiHabara . There is also main part of our Inter-cultural School. 

This is one of our teachers. I think the most funny one. All of us like him because usually he makes funny noises..

View from my flat. Quite nice comparing to that one you might have seen in some films  (e.g. F&F Tokyo Drift).

EU - Japan centre after lecture. Some people got used to Japanese live style ;)

I did once a trip around my flat. Here are also many amazing things to see. There are many temples, shrines, parks etc. This water is supposed to clean your hands and probably also soul. I don't know exactly it works.

One day our teacher took us to national museum. It was rather boring but some of the expositions were really nice. More pictures about museum and rest of the first month you can find in Picasa albums to the right.

That day in the evening we went also to see sumo matches.

AkiHabara - electronic town. Here is possible to buy every electronic device, stuff whatever supplied by electricity. Many huge shop moles only with electronic and much more small shops with reasonable prices.

For sure FPGA is also here..

An then came Silver Week - one week free. Three of use decided to go to the north of the main island. We went to: Tokyo -> Sendai -> Matsushima -> Hiraizumi -> Morioka -> Hachinoche -> Oirase lake -> Aomori -> Hirosaki -> Akita -> Yamadera -> Yamagata -> Tokyo.. The most expensive was transport like always in Japan. Pictures from the trip are in Picasa Album (http://picasaweb.google.com/tytan2050). We have visited many temples, cities and mountains. I was swimming also in Pacific Ocean. The speed of the trip was amazing, some days we were in three cities.

We took many times Shinkansen, buses and regional trains. The most awesome was Tsubasa Shinkansen with many Pokemons.

 

Later the school started again and of course more lectures about Japan culture, economy, businesses, companies etc.

 

This is my first essay in Japanese. Of course with many mistakes I suppose.  It was much more easier to write my master thesis than this..

And of course more lectures. I like them because they teach us how to deal with Japan and its society.

 

Tokyo tower in the morning.

As for now there are also many other things I have done but the most important are presented in the blog. I will put here anything interesting that will happen here. I will try to add also polish version. Anyway it will be nice to see you here and maybe read some comments from you :)

Melor's day

As I supposed yesterday there is no class today thanks to Melor Typhoon. It hit Tokyo during the night and still hangs around. We were told that Melor is one of the most powerful Typhoon that hit Tokyo for last 10 years. In the morning it was really windy, gale, downpour etc. Now it's almost perfect, sun, and just a little bit windy. I hope I will be able to go to city quite soon..

Let's start..

It's high time I started my blog about one year trip to Japan with Vulcanus programme (you can read about this program on wiki).. So it is over one month I am living in Japan, precisely in Atsugi city, next to Tokyo. Probably like most of the 83 milion habitants of Tokyo Megapolis I am every day in the centre. It is not so far by the way. However, the big advantage of living outside of Tokyo are flats. I have got a huge one comparing to people living close to the centre. 26 m^2 with balcony, living room, kitchen annex, toilet and beautiful plant thanks to people who were living here before me. They have furnished my room totally and I would like to thank you for that. The flat is also really close from NTT Communication Science Laboratories (around 5 min by bike) where I am going to work starting from January. Nowadays, I have Japanese classes in EU-Japan centre for Industrial Cooperation next to Hanzomon subway station. We have to spend there 6 hours everyday. However, it is worth to do because everyday I can learn some new words, grammar and try to extend my "conversations" in Japanese. It is really funny language but no so hard as I supposed it to be. What happened during that month in pictures:

The most important thing in Japan: toilet. There are many of them, with different controllers. There are even some with remote control! It is my first day in Hotel.

First dinner -> Tempura, one of the traditional dishes. Deep fried food in the centre of Tokyo.

This is my flat. Maybe half of it. Later I will try to make a brighter photo. After some cleaning ;)

Welcome reception at EU-Japan centre with all EU ambassadors and EU delegation. They promised to give us justification for absence in school in case we need it :) Anyway, it was also a good time to get to know many people from previous programme. They gave us a lot of advices on how to deal with Japan.

Emperor's palace after lectures.

Tokyo city with the most uncomfortable shoes to walk..

Pachinko -> the stupidest game ever. I have tried it once and no more. You watch just how the balls are falling down. You can't do nothing to change their way. Sometimes you win some extra balls but it just extends your game. You can't win any cash. You are probably always supposed to lose. I don't get how they can play this all the evenings. OK, gambling is forbidden here (no casinos) but still..

Everyday live in metro. You wait in exactly 3 lines for each door. You know exactly where the doors are going to be. Everything is painted. Anyway, it is crowded everyday. Having a place to sit is like winning a lottery but possible!

TBC..