Facts of Life #21

FoL #21: Tokyoites

We just got back from our Tokyo trip. We’re a bit backed-up with blog posts since we’ve traveled to three different cities in as many weeks. Here’s our weekly Facts of Life though. Look for our posts about Kyoto, Ise City, and Tokyo in the next week.

A Tokyoite:

1. A person from or living in Tokyo.
2. Extremely busy.
3. Dedicated to work, their company and their own achievement.
4. Fashionable and functional.
5. Comfortable with pushing, shoving and doing whatever it takes to get on the train.
6. Comfortable paying high prices for food, clothes, etc.
7. Despite being all of the above, s/he is extremely kind, helpful and personable.

Merry Christmas from Tokyo!

We’re in the Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo. The intersection around the corner is one of the most famous intersections in the world. It’s the Times Square of Asia. So far our trip in Tokyo has been wonderful! We started off the trip by meeting Alyssa’s old roommate. We joined her at a fabulous dinner with some her friends. It was a pre-Christmas Eve dinner that will be impossible to forget! We were welcomed with open arms into a cozy house full of cute kids and lots of food. Since then we’ve done lots of shopping seen the sights and experienced the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. It’s truly incredible in both size, breadth and speed. We love it! We’ll write more later about our travels! For now: Merry Christmas! Christmas Day is almost over here!

Ginza..Intersection of Light

Facts of Life #20

FoL #20 Christmas in Japan

When this is posted it will be Christmas day in Japan and we’ll be in Tokyo. We wrote this before hand because we’re not sure what internet access will be like while we’re there.

Merry Christmas to YOU!

1. Christmas is most often written and pronounced X-mas. It has nothing to do with taking Jesus out of the season at all. It just happens to be that way.
2. X-mas Cakes are huge. We’ve seen lots of advertisements for these the past few weeks.
3. Ask someone if they are putting up Christmas lights and they’ll get confused…but ask about illuminations and their face will light up. Even though technically Christmas illuminations are no different than Christmas lights it threw us off the first time we heard it.
4. White Elephant gift exchanges are very peaceful. Unlike Americans who like to steal, take and strategize Japanese are happy to keep the gift they open even if something else better is on the table.
5. On Christmas day kids wake up open presents and head to school. It’s not a national holiday here. (Gifu-ken, where we are, is one of the few prefectures that still has school during this time. Other prefectures don’t have school on Dec. 25 but it isn’t on account of Christmas).
6. For us Gaijin (foreigners) December and Christmas brings an unfamiliar sound English! English songs are everywhere thanks to the majority of Christmas songs being in English. We’ve enjoyed being able to sing along to the songs wherever we go.
7. Christmas is a minor holiday. New Year’s is the big one and gets the most attention of the two holidays.

Telephone Pictionary

Even though we use this for fun in the classroom it is a great game for any occasion. We played for the first time 3 years ago at a Christmas party. We’ve heard it called Crazy Cats, El Gato, and Telephone Pictionary. We’d love to know if you have a better name for it!

At one of my schools I (Alyssa) decided we would play telephone pictionary. I had no idea the commitment I was agreeing to…

1. I had to cut out 8 small sheets of paper for every one of my 300 students.

2. I had to come up with the easiest way to explain the rules of the game (Christmas Carols don’t make logical sense to a student who knows limited English).

3. Last I had to explain why the game was so fun at the end of the 8 turns.

I think I lost a few of my students but most enjoyed the game throughly.

TELEPHONE PICTIONARY

Players: Strangely enough, an odd number is best. 7 is perfect; 5 or 9 works OK, and 6 or 8 is manageable.

Materials: A blank sheet (sheets) of paper and a pen/pencil for each player.

Setup: Everyone writes their name at the bottom right of a sheet of paper. Then on the top, write a phrase or sentence. Song lyrics, sayings, quotes, or random thoughts are all fine. (I used Christmas Carols)

Play: After writing the sentence, each player passes the paper clockwise. Upon receiving the paper, each player draws the phrase or sentence as best as possible.

When finished, that player folds the paper so the original sentence cannot be seen—only the drawing. The paper is then passed to the right again, and the next player has to interpret the drawing as a sentence. That player then folds the paper so the drawing cannot be seen—only the new sentence—and passes it again. Repeat passing the paper, writing a sentence or drawing, and folding until the paper comes back to its originator. (With an even number of people, skip the last drawing.) Unfold the paper and be amused at how your sentence changed as it was interpreted and re-interpreted by your fellow players.

Below is a gallery of the T.P. games my students played. Most are in pencil and are a little difficult to see. You’ll have to click on a picture to make it bigger and visible.

Facts of Life #19

FoL #19: Traveling in Japan

1. 18 Ticket: We mentioned this for Wk18 too, but its worth repeating especially since many living in Japan don’t know about it. The “18 Ticket” is a heck of a deal costing only $115 for 5 trips. It can be used 5 times, but can be used for more than one person and allows you to get on and off of JR trains as many times as you want during the duration of a day. Each time we travel with it we get it stamped twice (once for each of us), but so far we’ve saved over $150 in travel costs. It’s incredible for day trips because you can go there and back for the same price. You can read more about it here on Wikipedia.
2. Write it down: If you want to see something make sure you know where it is and how to get there. Too often we’ve seen an incredible picture and travel to a city nearby and then realize we don’t have any information on it. Always write down your key interests with enough information to get there on your own or be able to ask pointed questions once near.
3. Non-reserved seating: JR trains often have Reserved seating and Non-Reserved. As Gaijin its no big deal to find yourself in the wrong place. You will be asked to move though and knowing this before hand can save you a lot of work. Non-reserved is, obviously, cheaper and usually plentiful.
4. Bring a bag: Although a pain at times, our medium sized backpack has been a life saver. We stuff warm clothes in it to prepare for cold days. And on hot days refill it with clothes to cool down. We usually pack some water too.
5. Food: Bring food, snacks, anything to keep your stomach from attacking you! Usually we try to find a specific restaurant that has been recommended and we usually fail. During the interim (of trying and failing) we try to snack so we don’t attack each other out of frustration and our stomach’s prompting.
6. Be Friendly: Smile and talk to people you see. Every now and then you’ll be surprised by someone that speaks English (some incredibly well). People can really make a trip memorable. On our trip to Kyoto we met a few people and talked shortly, but it gave our feet a break and we enjoyed the conversation.
7. Relax: I (Tyler) get so stressed out when it comes to catching trains and trying to find this-or-that. Alyssa is the Queen of Calm and manages to make me relax. No matter what happens you’ll be okay. If you miss a train you can catch the next one; if you go the wrong way there will be another way back; people are friendly and they will help you; and you’re traveling it is supposed to fun!