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UBER-NOTE: EXTREME PARDON MY SLEEPY INSANITY! I'm, uh, not normally a noob...!


As some of you may have observed, I have finally come back from my trip to Japan. blaugh

As even few of you may have observed, I actually came back from my trip about 6 days ago. At this point, I'm still too tired and lazy to actually count, so shut up. mad

*ahem.* That's right. A trip. TO JAPAN. The REAL Japan. With REAL Japanese people SPEAKING REAL Japanese! -*OMG*- *.*

Japan is an incredibly incredible place, to make an understatement, and you'll all be able to hear about it- and see all 615 pictures I took (actually, only the ones I feel like putting up on the internet mad )- of my 10-, technically 12-day trip to the land of the risingmmmmmfeh no I won't say it. xd
Well, at least you'll be able to see it once I feel like putting it up on the internet. Which will take a while. And it will also take forever to complete. And then it will take forever to look at because most of you guys's computers will screw up when you try to go to a tripod-hosted site... sweatdrop eheh......... mad

NOW GETTING MORE TO THE POINT! What this thread is about is Japanese in Japan. And just Japan, cause Japan is cool.

BUT!

You will get a SNEAK PREVIEW of my trip! You will get to hear about all the exciting times I actually USED JAPANESE.

And here I go!

The first time was, other than the basic phrases like 'thank you' and such, after our day at..... uh... I think it was Akihabara... but I'm too sleepy to remember. So, anyway, we were hungry and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We saw a Shakey's Pizza in Harajuku the day before so we said "LETS GO EAT PIZZA OMGZ!" cause we were hella crazy. So we rode the subway alla way to Harajuku and ate pizza there. And I ordered in Japanese OMG WOOOOOTZ! (pardon... the sleepiness...) Okay, so like, this is the first point: If you're going to Japan, DO THE WAITRESSES (cause they're ALL waitresses...) A FAVOR AND LEARN TO FREAKING ORDER IN JAPANESE! surprised Okay, so like all I really had to do was say "koka kora o futatsu onegaishimasu" and point to the pizza we wanted, but that's okay.
The second point for Japanese you should know comes up in Asakusa, where there were FREAKING SOUVENIR SHOPS, MAN! They were EVERYWHERE! But like... the only words I said was "kurejitto kaado mo ii desu ka?" and I'm not even sure if that's correct Japanese, but I didn't know if they took credit cards, so...
The third big point again comes in getting food. At Yokohama, there was a FREAKING FLEA MARKET. And so I got a chocolate-covered banana, and some yakisoba and some takoyaki, and sometimes you didn't even need to use Japanese. You'd just hand them like a Y500 coin and they'd give it to you : P...
And, sadly, I can't remember any fourth point right now. Give me more time... cause like... I'm sleep-deprived even though I slept for 16 hours this morning cause some nights I can't sleep and some nights I... ug...
IF YOU GO TO JAPAN, BE PREPARED FOR JETLAG! xd xd

NOTEHS: any questions about Japan or my trip or whatever you have, ask me in this thread!! It would make me very happy to answer them! And I'll put a link in my first post once my site's done in 2018 : P

Thanks to the beauty of 自動販売機 (jidouhanbaiki or vending machines) order requires a minimal knowledge of Japanese. Near my appartment there are over 8 vending machines within a 30 second walk. Sasuga nihon domokun

Convience stores are also great but if you have to pay bills (yes, you pay your bills at the convience store) or buy tickets (also can be done at convience stores) it requires a wee bit of Japanese. Props to you for ordering in Japanese. There are too many foreigners who don`t give at damn about speaking Japanese or try to use their crumy "Lets pick up girls" Japanese to order. surprised

hahah, the people are great. They are very helpful and a people that value their morals. As a result, the crime rate is very low (but you can never be too careful of pickpockets on those crowded streets...). Many public places require you to take your shoes off before entering, but you're fine unless they have little shoe cubbies (you won't have to worry about your shoes getting stolen, no) and everyone's running around with their socks on. And just remember, if you're looking for a translator, high schoolers are your best bet. Since English is a required language in high school, they'll probably know it better than anyone else, though airports, hotels, train stations, etc. tend to hire English-speakers for obvious reasons.

The japanese are crazy DD: they strap meat to women and set lizards on them, they make their celebs get hit on the head with by a bucket and crap themselves watching horror films....apparantly that new film 'Hard Candy' is based on a real event that hapened in Japan where a bunch of girls killed a phedo~ D:

To add, private schools often have year-long exchanges. Year and a half does seem to stretch limits, but especially if you are from a country that already has visa waive rights, you can always reapply once in Japan and stand a fair chance of extension approval.

I know that I have to get a visa renewal for my student visa just about every year and renew my test waviers (I'm still undergrad but the rules are different grad students). Visas over 1 year with renewal periods are rarely given out because of the cost and the fact that immigration in Japan is pegged at one precent of the population instead of various economic, population, and other factors like in other countries.

Also, don't forget that a long term study in Japan means that you have to prove that you have a significant amount of ready cash in you or your paretns possesion and the longer you stay, the more exponentially expensive it gets. Unfortunately the, "i'll earn money when I get there" choice isn't an option. God, I love Japanese immigration rules stressed

Actually I have to be here for 10 years before I can apply for residency and naturalization isnt`t usually an option for non-refugee status visa holders. Recently it became a lot harder to apply for residency because of new "anti-terrorism" immigration rules rolleyes

i said when you can