Direction Okazaki, Japan - Yamasa

Studying Japanese at the Yamasa Institute in Okazaki, Japan

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:07:29 +0000

I had quite a few chuckles when I read that article about Studying Japanese at the Yamasa Institute In Okazaki, on a site called “Associated Content”. Just read the part about the Student Village. Really, now you can understand why I moved from there after a month. Like it is explained in the article, the Student Village is nowhere as clean as it was showed on the Yamasa Web Site. I even wrote about it in 2006, in my post called Another review of the Yamasa Institute: The Student Village.

I still recommend to AIJP students to consider another accommodation than the Student Village. If you can, even Leopalace 21 is a good choice.

Hello world!

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:51:49 +0000

Just moved to a new server. I need to clean again the french post because somehow the caracter encoding is not set properly. I indend to do a survey of the internet looking for new Yamasa Blog very soon. Summer is comming soon after all and I expect a lot of blog to be made.

Flower Spring Cleaning

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:13:50 +0000

Can you believe that in Nagoya the temperature is around 10 degrees? You probably noticed the new banner at the top of this blog. I was thinking I was due for dropping the “direction” from the blog name. But still Okazaki has a strong meaning for me, being in communication every morning with Skype to Japan. Even watching streamed live japanese TV. We really live in great technological times. Mindless tv shows accessible to masses

It is kind of nice to think that I started this blog around this time in 2005! I had a picture of a warehouse I was renting. Time does fly fast.

State of the Japanese economy

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:03:41 +0000

There were talks of inflation at the end of summer in Japan. Some were quick to jump to the conclusion that this was desirable outcome. But this inflation was driven by outside force, namely the price of imports such as oil. So while the cost of goods increased, people’s salaries did not. This wealth such went outside of Japan. And now that Japan is in a confirmed recession one has to wonder about living in Japan. You wish to be an English teacher? Thing are not like they used to be. With the demise of Nova, a surge of qualified teacher hit the streets. Combined with a demonstrated reduced interest in learning English and you have one of the worst time ever to go to Japan. With the Japanese Yen (JPY) at an all time high it seems risky to plan a move until the end of 2009. Even Yamasa, the school I attended still has opening this late before the start of the new semester of spring 2009 in the AIJP program. How will you be able to sustain yourself? Can you put this burden on your families? You are better staying at home.

No explanations

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:53:22 +0000

I like starting to write again, without explaining my purposes and reasons. I like to confuse and mystify. Keep in doubt and disguise. Why reviving this blog, which was supposed to be short lived and temporary? Why throw away such a great accomplishment. I could finish something that was unthinkable. I went to Japan and stayed 18 months. I came back with a piece of it that I should cherish. Don’t try to understand or follow what happened.

Ai to iu nano moto ni

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:47:32 +0000

We watched the first five episodes of “ Ai to iu nano moto ni “and we are moderately interested. Featuring Suzuki Honami who appeared in my all time favorite Tokyo Love Story and Eguchi Yosuke. She recently appeared on a press conference announcing her return to TV after her absence since her marriage. The style and acting is starting to date, but it is just pure enjoyment for fans of old Japanese drama.

Sites and blogs about Japan: an update

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:10:22 +0000

You can see my update to my list of Sites and Blogs about Japan

I haven’t updated this page in 2 years. Now was the time.

Se faire passer un virus

admin — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:35:36 +0000

En vérifiant si x3dt avait fait une mise à jour de son blog, j’ai découvert que j’étais taggé pour un classique du web.

3 artistes que j’ai appris à connaitre cette année

Oda Kazuma, l’icone des années 80 90, chanson thème de “Toyko Love Story”

Koda Kumi, bannie temporairement des télés japonaises pour avoir dis des betisses.

Ayumi Amazaki, je suis en train de faire une Namie Amuro aigue alors faut changer le mal de place

3 choses à ne pas oublier

Mes Kanji

Préparer mon été

Faire des plans pour 2012

3 foirages de ma part

m’avoir inscrit a facebook (j’ai pas envie d’être ami avec chose que j’ai dis 2 mots en secondaire 2, je suis plus inscrit)

L’année est encore jeune…

…

3 choses dont je suis fier

Mon appartement

Mon auto

Je suis encore capable de comprendre le japonais

3 choses que j’ai achetées

Une voiture

Une webcam

Un fax

3 personnes à qui je refile le virus

Le virus arrête ici

Dans un autre ordre d’idée, je suis un peu triste de découvrir que Joel de Corée a décidé d’effacer tout ses billets sur son blog. Il trouvait que beaucoup de gens était au courant de choses qu’ils ne devrait pas. Moi j’aurais mis un mot de passe à sa place. Effacer 4-5 d’écris c’est un peu domage.

My piece of Japan

admin — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:10:06 +0000

Out with the depression, now that Japan is back in my life. I can even buy some useful Japanese ingredients.

Tsuyu is particularly important for the traditional tamago for bento. It gives its unique taste.

I have been eating healthy since my “spouse” arrived in Ottawa.

In January I received a DVD teachers made at Yamasa. It was from our monogattari presentation from end of June 2007. You can see me play the part of an old man. Actually I had a strong fever at that time and came back to school because I had promised to attend that event.

The sad thing is that I could not understand what I was saying myself, but had no trouble understanding my class-mates. Did I learned Japanese for nothing?

Let’s talk about anime: YuYu Hakusho

Its much more better than Naruto. Frankly I am starting to get bored of Naruto. I finaly managed to watch the episodes after Sasuke took a hike. Very boring, except for the part where you can see Hinata developing strong new skills.

My girlfriend told me she enjoyed wathching YuYu Hakucho when she was young and decided to give it a try. The story is so much more better. Lots of sad and humorous moment with those ecchi “fan-service” parts. We are now both enjoing our evening.

What is even more funny is that I often claimed at Yamasa that I did not liked anime. It is true that I dont like robot fighting and cooking anime. But classics such as Lupin and Conan are enjoyed by every Japanese so it must be normal that I liked them too!

Un petit acro

admin — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:16:23 +0000

Il semble que nous ayons eu un petit acro, le theme du site ayant disparut suite a une mise a jour de wordpress. Une simple erreure dans le fichier wp-config…

Dans les nouvelles il semble que le Japon vienne à moi dans 2 semaines. Machine à riz et bagettes seront au rendez-vous. Et bientot la tournée des musées d’Ottawa.