.

You've gone to Japan? Get on IRC so we can discuss it.

Wow, you're there! I enjoyed your post, IceCream; keep 'em coming!

Nice Ice! I didn't know you went to J-land! That's great!!! I am really excited you are getting to put all that work/study to practice. Like Groot said - keep us updated on your experiences.

For those wondering, she told me on IRC that she got an internship at Kyoto University. She's temporarily there right now, but she'll study primates for 5 years close to Nagoya later.

Lucky broad, that one.

IceCream Wrote:*Also, it turns out that Japanese is still incredibly easy to tune out. I didnt think it would be so much, but lots of times ive tuned out only to realise there was a conversation going on. This also seems to have an impact on doing anything at all at the same time as listening to japanese. Even just eating seems to make it incredibly difficult to listen, like i cant concentrate on both things at once, so one thing gets turned off. So, maybe practising doing japanese and other stuff at the same time is good...

If you stay in Japan for a while, one thing that will surprise you on going back to the US is in the airport, you can suddenly understand all the incidental conversation around you that you're not focusing on.

yudantaiteki Wrote:If you stay in Japan for a while, one thing that will surprise you on going back to the US is in the airport, you can suddenly understand all the incidental conversation around you that you're not focusing on.

God, I miss that so much. And not just the incidental conversations, since I don't really care what strangers have to say, but just the ability in general to rewind something I wasn't paying attention to in my head and then know what's going on.

Also, stuff I've learned from Japan: I spend almost all my time hanging out and talking to girls when I'm out in a group, simply because the Japanese they speak is so, so much easier to understand than that mumbly crap spilling out of guys' mouths 24/7. Hopefully I don't end up sounding too girly in the long run.

Oh, and conrats IceCream. I didn't really mean to hijack your topic just to talk about myself, but I ended up sympathizing with so many of your points that it was hard to take myself out of it. Good luck with your vague academic related goals that I don't know too much about!

Kyoto? Howdy neighbor! I work on the corner of Shijou and Karasuma.

Yay, Icecream I'm so proud of you, I could just eat you up
As always, the comments are ingnorant, missing the point of the whole thing: did you go alone? Man, you have some balls I wouldn't dare to go so far to a foreign country, without any connections to it, or something...it's just too far even from Hungary, not to mention England....so the obvious question is: where did you get the courage to do it? And what if sg goes wrong? I guess it's a lot harder to get any kind of help over 13000 kilometers.. At what level is your japanese? At JLPT1 already (I guess you didn't take JLPT but you could still ballpark it, right)? Or even above? Anyway, congratulations, not just because of the language, but because of the courage. But since you've aleready mentioned that you've travelled before, I guess it wasn't such a big deal for you...keep it up! What kind of primates are you going to study? What background do you have related to this field (just curious)....

I'm also a Kyoto-ite, been here for the last two years. If there's anything you want to know about the city let me know!

Good to hear your enjoying your time in japan ice cream. I haven't been to japan just yet, but I intend to travel there for first before I set a course to work there. I feel that working there is a huge difference from traveling there for a few months.
My jp friend said, you should travel for 1 month. But I said might need to stay longer, to me it will be interesting but since you've been there so many times it's a different matter for you. What do you guys recommend for vacation, like how long should one stay there for there first time. 1month? 3months? Thanks in advance!

P.S. I still have one year left for my school, so estimate a 1 year and half before me traveling there for my first time. In total by that time, i will probably be studying japanese for almost 2 years. Hopefully by then my speaking skills will be at least functional. I expect my reading/understanding to be fine/good. But speaking is one thing I gotta get up to speed along with my other skills.

What is the name of IRC channel and which network ?

it's great that you've come to Japan. Enjoy this overwhelming feeling of excitement and wonder. It lasted about 3 months for me and then things got real. Hopefully you can keep it much much much longer!

That's freaking awesome IceCream, really happy for you. You really do sound extremely happy! It seems that even in the short time you've been there already, you've been thinking hard about how to use the experience to improve as much as possible. Great attitude, you'll fit right in in Japan (がんばって!).

What's the research you'll be doing with primates? I'd love to know more about it. I also think it's great that you're coming into the field from a philosophy background. There's plenty of science to catch up on, but what you already know will give you an important perspective, ethically and in terms of how you approach research. Happy to help with any biology stuff.

From what I've read about your studying and general attitude and inquisitiveness on the forums, you're perfectly suited for research work.

You've actually made me think it might be possible to get out to Japan and get paid to do what I love. I'm doing an internship at Kew gardens next year doing plant research, and I'd love to go from there to work in one of the Japanese universities or botanical gardens. I'll have to catch you on IRC some time.

ta12121 Wrote:Good to hear your enjoying your time in japan ice cream. I haven't been to japan just yet, but I intend to travel there for first before I set a course to work there. I feel that working there is a huge difference from traveling there for a few months.
My jp friend said, you should travel for 1 month. But I said might need to stay longer, to me it will be interesting but since you've been there so many times it's a different matter for you. What do you guys recommend for vacation, like how long should one stay there for there first time. 1month? 3months? Thanks in advance!

P.S. I still have one year left for my school, so estimate a 1 year and half before me traveling there for my first time. In total by that time, i will probably be studying japanese for almost 2 years. Hopefully by then my speaking skills will be at least functional. I expect my reading/understanding to be fine/good. But speaking is one thing I gotta get up to speed along with my other skills.

The longer the better, if you have the time and money to go there for 3 months, I would recommend it. It simply takes a long time for it to really sink in.

祇園祭 is in Kyoto this week so enjoy one of the three biggest festivals in Japan! I get to watch it from my office window

Many of my students are research professors at 京大 so we will know many of the same people.

IceCream Wrote:The people here are unbelievably kind, and so far i haven't found any of the stereotypes to be true at all. Not one!!

When you reach Kyoto, the hot J-girl stereotypes will be confirmed (not that you will notice)

Wow, that's awesome IceCream. Before I started posting I was lurking quite a bit and really found your posts on how your Japanese studies were going pretty motivating. Maybe one day I can get there too. T_T

Congrats and enjoy Kyoto. When I was there for a brief visit it was bloody hot, but really beautiful. I ate a lot of one of your relatives, shiso sofuto kurimu, to keep cool. ^_^

Tobberoth Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:Good to hear your enjoying your time in japan ice cream. I haven't been to japan just yet, but I intend to travel there for first before I set a course to work there. I feel that working there is a huge difference from traveling there for a few months.
My jp friend said, you should travel for 1 month. But I said might need to stay longer, to me it will be interesting but since you've been there so many times it's a different matter for you. What do you guys recommend for vacation, like how long should one stay there for there first time. 1month? 3months? Thanks in advance!

P.S. I still have one year left for my school, so estimate a 1 year and half before me traveling there for my first time. In total by that time, i will probably be studying japanese for almost 2 years. Hopefully by then my speaking skills will be at least functional. I expect my reading/understanding to be fine/good. But speaking is one thing I gotta get up to speed along with my other skills.

The longer the better, if you have the time and money to go there for 3 months, I would recommend it. It simply takes a long time for it to really sink in.

Thanks that's good advice, I was always thinking of staying for 3months, as the longer it is the better.

atreya Wrote:What is the name of IRC channel and which network ?

It's #rtk on Rizon.

bizarrojosh Wrote:it's great that you've come to Japan. Enjoy this overwhelming feeling of excitement and wonder. It lasted about 3 months for me and then things got real. Hopefully you can keep it much much much longer!

That's right. At some point the excitement will go away and you'll start seeing things you DON'T like about Japan, things that are annoying, things you miss about your home etc.
So enjoy it as much as you can (^-^)

I'm envious!! I don't live near Kyoto, so I only can come there every now and then and there's still so many things I wanna see!!!
I've been to Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Nara a few times and really love the area there

Welcome, Kyoto is like a 20min train ride away from my place in Osaka and i love it every time I go there.
But apart from that, all people I know, me included, were totally excited when they came to Japan for the first time... so the first impression is probably not the best one.

IceCream Wrote:btw, did anyone else realise that those low tables actually have holes under them?? Like, to put your legs in. So, it's exactly like a normal table but lower!! i thought everyone had to sit cross legged before...

a ho ho ho...
My dear, dear IceCream. This is not at all places. If you're referring to restaurants, I have been to more places where you sit on the floor than those that have the hole in the ground. I don't know any statistics of what is more common, but no...there are definitely places where you DO sit like that.

IceCream Wrote:btw, did anyone else realise that those low tables actually have holes under them?? Like, to put your legs in. So, it's exactly like a normal table but lower!! i thought everyone had to sit cross legged before...

Don't worry, there's plenty of restaurants where the low tables don't have space for your legs. If you're that eager for cramped, cross-legged eating, you've come to the right place.

And I sure hope you don't sit at the table with your legs crossed. Not a very acceptable way for girls to sit in Japan

IceCream Wrote:there's something i really wanna know about Kyoto.
WHEN WILL IT STOP RAINING!?!? i am so lazy in the rain, hardly seen anything and theres so much to see T_T

July is the rainy season. Come August we will all be wanting for the rainy days of July. Tourists visiting Kyoto in August from Dubai will often be overheard complaining, "Damn, it's hotter than a camels balls here!"

IceCream Wrote:@bodhi: hmmm, i looked, but i can't see much difference between girls here & girls anywhere else in Japan. Maybe you are obsessed? :p

Yes.