世にも奇妙な物語 ~ New Perspectives Towards Marriage

It all started this autumn, when I stumbled upon a Japanese SP on "世にも奇妙な物語" also called "世界奇妙物语" or "Strange Tales in the World". The SP consists of 4 short stories, each lasted only about 20 odd minutes. Very short, concise, short and sweet. I like! You probably already know that though I am a drama addict, I am quite picky about the dramas I watch. For instance, I don't really like long dramas. I like dramas which wrap up under 20 episodes. Actually, 15 is a nice number, as I usually find plots draggy halfway.

Back to "世にも奇妙な物語". It is a series by Fuji TV. And it starts way back from 1990! It has more than 10 years of history! The stories may be fantasy, sci-fi, horror, romance... but something in the story is definitely out-of-ordinary. Some are really awesome. Unexpected endings. Touching. *sniff* Or intriguing. *sets me thinking* All these action under 20 odd minutes. :D

Recently, there is quite a number of online commentaries and discussions on low birth rate, low marriage rate and even low dating rate in Japan. Whether it's true a not, it's quite controversial (referring to dating rate). I guess universally, developed countries all face the same problem of falling birth rate and later marriages. Singapore alike.

And the following 3 stories which I stumbled upon, actually brought some interesting insights or new theories on the topic of marriage. Something for your mind to chew on...

世にも奇妙な物語 2013 秋の特別編 仮婚
When we talk about marriage, we must first find a life partner we would like to settle down with. Mmm.. what is your ideal spouse like? No idea? How about having a role-play first to find out which type you are compatible with?

I like the twist in the ending! Unexpected!


Start from 2:23.



世界奇妙物語 2012 秋季特別篇 同坐一桌的戀人

Next, you have found someone. But is she/ he really "The One"? The following story sheds some light on how to identify him/ her.

Pretty touching. Like! Ah.. if only identifying "The One" is as simple as that in the story.

世界奇妙物語 2000 結婚模擬程式

Found him/ her. Now, we would like to embark on our next chapter- getting married. But first, let's get a wedding planner. Wow.. their services are so varied nowadays that they even provide simulation service of marriage life. But is it good to have a peek first? Mmm.. I wouldn't even if there's such a service in reality.

What's more! Takashi Kashiwabara 柏原崇 is starring in this story. I missed his dramas, since his work as 入江 直樹 Irie Naoki in "イタズラな Kiss" in 1996.

So what are your thoughts?

Actually each short movie tells a story behind the marriage/ dating scene in the society then. 肉食女？ 素食男？ 离婚？ 爱情长跑？What's our role in a marriage? It led me thinking for a while. Hope they have brought new perspectives to you too. (^_^)

读心人？Mentalist? いるんですか？

One of my favourite hobbies when I was still in Japan was to catch the thrice-weekly dose of Arashi 嵐 via the television variety shows. Back in Singapore, it became almost impossible to catch them. But coincidentally tonight, I managed to catch a past episode of 嵐にしやがれ in Japanese.

For every episode of 嵐にしやがれ a mysterious guest will be invited to share some of their best skills/ knowledge with 嵐. It's fun, mostly because 嵐 will not know who will be invited beforehand. Hence, it is quite interesting to watch their reaction and how they rise to the various challenges as the show progresses.

Umm.. I digressed. Back to the topic. For this particular episode I watched, the guest was DaiGo. At first, just by looking at his name, I thought he would be the singer, Daigo. But nope, the guest was the mentalist, DaiGo, instead.



The first impression he gave me was.. oh.. he's a magician! But nope, he was quick to correct that he is not a magician, as a magician performs tricks to surprise people. But he performs tricks to make people relax before him, and therefore allowing him to accurately read their behaviours and subsequently their minds.

I find what he taught in the show very intriguing. Here are some tips he share, in the chronological order as the show progresses:

DaiGo commenting on Aiba's and Jun's standing postures as he watched via the monitor before he entered the set:
1. When 2 people behave very similarly, (How do they rest their hands? Posture? Where do they shift their weight?) we can tell that their relationship is very close. Most likely, they would be couples.
>> Ah.. I draw relevance to 夫妇脸. Don't they always say as the relationship grows stronger, couples tend to look alike too?

DaiGo explaining that everyone can be a mentalist like him, while performing the fork trick:
2. With observation (closely monitoring the body actions), understanding the human psych, clever use of optical illusion, physics and various science laws which he rattled on, everyone can do it.
>> Umm... seriously, I think if you give me another 100 years, I wouldn't be able to fold a fork into a flowery ornament like he did. That fork trick seriously had me thinking he must have some form of psychic power.

DaiGo commenting on why Nino gave the slip:
2. Our mouths tend to slip. Even when we consciously not speak. Unconsciously, when the particular word/ phrase is mentioned, our mouths will move slightly, hence hinting the mentalist that that is the answer.
>> Another one I have heard is about the eyeball movement when one speaks. If the person looks up towards the left, he is likely recalling a past incident, hence speaking the truth. But if he is looking towards the right, he is likely making up. Hence, telling a lie.

DaiGo sharing the meaning behind colours during the sushi guessing game:
3. Blue colour does not induce appetite; red colour is too close to the colour of tuna, hence he picked green, which contrasts best with tuna.
>> I'm going to keep a lookout for the colours used for sushi plates when I next visit a sushi restaurant!

Kusano-san commenting on how he keep his cool before DaiGo:
4. Maintain a neutral stand. (DaiGo explains, as Kusano-san is a quiz MC, he has many years experience on maintaining a neutral stand. Once he is in a work-mode, consciously and unconsciously he has discarded his thoughts and hence, guests on his show cannot guess the answers from his expression) Kusano-san also clenched his left fist tight even though his right fist is the one which held the ring. This is to give the impression that both his hands are holding something.

If the bending of fork, and eerily correct guesses of the games does not freak you out. The last game probably did for me. Without looking, he managed to guess the seating arrangement of Jun, Sho and Ono. He explained that that he did that by actually coercing them into the seating arrangement unconsciously.

That is one scary 读心人.

怖ぇ～

Why you will fail to have a great career - My 3-cents worth

Have you watched the TEDxUW video starring Larry Smith on the topic of "Why you will fail to have a great career"?

Of course, the main reason why I was drawn to the video was because of the title, and the facebook shares by my friends. When a video is being circulated amongst my facebook friends, it shows that the video is worth watching.

Indeed. It prompted me to share my 3-cents worth as well.

First, let's listen to Larry's theory:



I liked Larry's delivery of the speech. Very animated. Entertaining, especially his punchlines. It would have been great to be taking Economics classes under him! :P

And I totally agree with his assumption of why a person will fail to have a great career, is because he did not pursue his passion. But it is based on the assumption that he knows what is his passion. Passion is not an interest. Like he has said, passion is the one love out of 20 interests. We don't propose to our sweethearts, saying I want to marry you, because you are interesting. (One of my fave out of his several punchlines in the video) What is that one great love?

After identifying the passion, next is the guts. The guts to drop the normality and pursue the outlier life. But of course, not all passions end up as an alternative life. But then, if passion is that easily achieved with the normality of ordinary life, I guess there shouldn't be that many inspirational videos and self-help books in the market.

Because it is radically different. Because it poses great opportunity cost. Or maybe perceived opportunity cost. That is where we hold our horses.

But, on the other hand, with risks, comes the possibility of great rewards. Doing something I am passionate about will probably bring unimaginable amounts of satisfaction in my life.

So, how should we proceed? I am a very practical person. A true blue Virgo-nian, as one might say. With each decision comes a consequence. Rather than hiding behind the "what-ifs" and lament at every bad day at work on why I did not pursue my passion. I would weigh my supposed opportunity costs and potential benefits. Unveil the uncertainties. Often, it's the perceived costs that stop us from taking a step further.

Certainly, I do not wish to one day tell my kid that, "I had a dream, but then you were born." (another of my fave out of his punchlines in the video :P). But I wish to proudly say to my kid, "Go for it! Mummy has done it too."

And I did. I had a very fulfilling year in Japan under the JET programme.
At the very least, I did fulfill a dream.

Make a calculated decision. Once decided, go ahead!

Making small steps in the right direction is definitely better than making big steps in the wrong direction.

Transition....

The first name I had for my blog is "QQ's Sandbox" as I would like it to document with my life experiments, my life experiences, the little knick-knacks, knocks, triumphs in life.

But to say it in layman's term, I was probably a mere lifestyle blogger. Pretty random topics, mostly about my interest, photography trips.

Then came the dream, "QQ's Adventure in Japan", and the blog lived up to its name. I was an avid blogger, and practically blogged every week. That was my highest frequency. I travelled widely (umm.. within Japan) and tried to share every tip I deemed useful for anyone who wished to work/ live/ DIY-travel in Japan.

And.. then... now. I am back in Singapore. For good. It's a transition. I still feel like I am on a homecoming holiday, instead of the real feeling of settling down back at my hometown where I missed so much while in Japan. Everything is so familiar yet if you paid more attention. Some things are not the same anymore. Just a year. Yes. Just a year, but the details have changed. People. Buildings. Stuff. Since change is the constant variable in life.

So... I guess I will rename my blog as "QQ's Transition".

All for the better! 頑張ります！

Last Day...

Last day, in my house. Last day, in my little town.

Tomorrow, I will embark on my last trip on JET to Hokkaido, and then back to Singapore, officially. I shall blog about my Hokkaido trip from home, my Singapore home then.

Seriously, time flies. One year just flown by, just like that.

And to me, it all sums up to one word- DREAM.

It is a dream come true for me,
I finally had a chance to live and work in Japan.

The whole "QQ's adventure in Japan" is like a dream;
I can even imagine myself waking up in my bed in Singapore one morning, blinking and yawning, and wondering if the JET adventure was actually real.

Japan, thank you! I have learnt lots, loads, plenty, while I am here. You have helped me gain so much confidence, especially on my road of Japanese learning.

I think I am changed, regardless how small, you have changed me.

This adventure, is a dream, but even dreams can be lonely at times. Nevertheless, thank you so much!

The only thing I would change if I were to restart this again?

Maybe, I should not be so apprehensive and hesitant, and should have plunged right in, back in 2008, when I first got to know about the programme. Looking at fellow ALTs here, that's the most important lesson I have learnt from them.

We can never be thoroughly prepared. We just need the leap of faith at times.

お世話になりました！またね、日本！I will be back to visit the rest of the other prefectures, which I couldn't cover in this year.

P.S:
I have visited 14 out of 47 prefectures;
took the aeroplane 10 times in one year;
Never had I travel so much in a year!

And... I will miss being called Q-chan!

Stepping into the digital era

On 24 July 2011, 12 noon (Japan time), Japan has officially crossed the analog border and stepped into the digital era. All television broadcasts, (other than those in the Tohoku earthquake affected areas) be it via CRT TVs at home or the navi-cum-TV in the cars, have gone digital.

Actually even before I came to Japan, I have already heard of this analog-to-digital change. So the government have actually taken many steps encourage the public to discard their CRT TVs for digital TVs. :P

Weeks before the actual change, the corner of all TV programmes is plastered with a message, which counted down to the actual day.

And then finally on 24 July, the countdown to the actual moment began.



And then at 12 noon sharp, my TV screen turns to this ;'(



So... my CRT, perhaps 21-inch (estimated) TV has retired. Thank you for serving me faithfully every day of my one year in Japan!

P.S: By the way, the countdown message is not available for digital TVs (of course!), so I am one of the lucky ones to be involved in the countdown. LOL

What happens when the garbage collection days are over?

This is my current challenge. How to keep my apartment sparkling clean, free from all garbage for the new owners of my home, and also for the impending apartment check, which... very cleverly is set after all garbage collection dates are over.

Maybe, I need to explain the context to my Singaporean readers, as you may be wondering what's the big fuss over it. I can easily just packed in a big trash bag and throw at the local rubbish collection point, no?

Yeah, no. I can't. Japan is not like Singapore, discarding garbage is not so straightforward, unfortunately. ;(

• To throw burnables, I can can only throw on Tuesdays and Fridays.
• To throw plastics, I can only throw twice a month.
• To throw other refuse, I can only throw once a month.
• To throw big refuse, I need to call someone. Umm.. maybe the local city office, or the recycle mart. Luckily, I do not need to do that! *victory sign*

So, back to the schedule. My last plastics day is over. My etc refuse day is tomorrow, and the last burnables collection day is this Friday.

I am staying till this Sunday, so I consider how to dispose the garbage accumulated after I left.

Here's a brainstorm:

The easiest option is, of course, ask my neighbors for help! But I really would like to keep them as the last option, instead of dumping all my trash on them, since they are really nice to me.

Burnables
Discreetly, throw at the burnables bins at convenience stores, train stations and huge department stores. Shh...

Plastics
This is a very complicated issue. Plastics are divided into:

1. Pet bottles
2. Clear plastic and styrofoam plates (from groceries)
3. Bottle caps
4. Plastic bags

For items 1 to 3, I can dispose them at the supermarket. But the last item, plastic bags... I do not know how to dispose them otherwise. (>_<)

Cans, Glasses

Since I am moving, I have to get rid of all remaining sauces, etc, so I will have quite a number of glass items. Luckily, my supermarket and department stores do collect these.

TIP
Bins near vending machines also collect PET bottles and cans. *hint hint*

Other weird refuse
Example shoes, household items, etc, other than selling them to recycle mart, I do not know how to dispose them after the big trash day too. (>_<)

So, I will be cracking my head over when and how to effectively spring clean and pack, so that I have a way to dispose of my trash after that.

Wish me luck! *keeping fingers crossed*

What I hate most about Japan.... Spiders

It's official. I simply hate the 梅雨 (tsuyu) season and mostly.. the spiders that comes with it.

As a tropical gal, I know how to coexist with bug life throughout the year, since we have summer all year long. Or so I thought.

I was so wrong. Wait till you get to the rainy season in Japan, also known as tsuyu in Japanese. The bugs are ever so energetic in this season.

Probably because they missed out on winter, and maybe spring and autumn, so they are bent on making the most out of summer. I do not have any bug problems in my apartment in the other 3 seasons.

And with bugs, comes spiders. And they are HUGE! The smallest I have seen so far is probably 5cm in diameter.

I have never seen any spiders more than a diameter of 2cm in Singapore, so imagine my shock when I first saw a huntsman spider, the infamous gigantic, yet common spider in Japan. That was last summer, when I first arrived, I met the mother and child pair outside my neighbor's apartment.

But they were outside the house. As long as they were outside the house, I can coexist with them. I thought.

The next time I met a huge spider was recently- a 6cm diameter spider in my living room. Totally unprepared, I spent about 10 minutes staring at it.

It eventually escaped. They move so fast! Which is actually not surprising since I think they have more than a pair of eyes on their body. They can probably watch me with a 360 degrees surround view.

I panicked, and of course started to research, started to ask my Japanese colleagues, ask my neighbors, etc how they deal with their spider problems. My American neighbors were as freaked out as me, too, since they have spotted two in their bedroom too, and were too looking for solutions. We all have tried crowdsourcing for solutions, by tapping on our seniors' expertise over the very popular social network, facebook. Spiders are just tricky fellows, they are faster than our sprays or slippers.

The Japanese however, time and again, assured me that these spiders, especially big ones, are harmless. At least to humans. They are the good guys. They eat the bad bugs. And they are really common during the summer season, especially the rainy season, in Japanese homes. They tell me that all Japanese homes will have some spiders. They just leave them alone.

My colleague even told me to look on the bright side. Since I only have a few visiting spiders and not other more horrible buggy problems like cockroaches or rats. She has a cockroach problem at her apartment. Now that's way worse off than me. And btw, Japanese cockroaches can fly. Eeeks. Just for record, I have not seen any cockroach at my place, and would like to keep it that way. *cross fingers*

But why do these huge hideous spiders invade our private space? Besides on a lookout of food, one other reason they like to hide in our houses is because they are seeking dry shelter from the rain.

After my Japanese colleagues and neighbors' repeated assurances, I had tried to coexist with spider. I thought that if they didn't intrude in my life, I don't mind them feasting on whatever bugs in and near our apartments. We could live in harmony. But living in harmony is so difficult! These are hunting spiders, thick legs, huge bodies, scary patterns on their body... They look so intimidating!

The last straw came last night, when I spotted a 5cm spider in my bedroom. I was warned by my predecessor before, that she had seen a palm-sized one beside her bed once, and she drowned it with insecticide. (Yes, drowned. Not kill.) So, I shouldn't be that alarmed. Eventually after dressing in full battlewear (gloves, socks, armed with my latest -85 degree Celsius bug freezing spray- (it freezes the bug and not poisons the bug), me and the spider had a long fight, in our, ops.. my, bedroom. First, I chased it around, trying my best to spray at it, but it is just too fast, too hardy. Next, I need to trap it, and finally after chasing it across 3/4 of my bedroom. It is all curled up and froze to death.


My best helper, the freezing spray.

I do not know why, but despite repeated assurances that they are pretty harmless. I do not like the idea of them invading my private sanctury, especially while I am unconscious. Yup, they do not attack. Usually. What happens when one happens transpass my bed, and at that exact moment, I turn and rest on it?! I can't imagine!!!

And what is more depressing is that regardless of how much I clean my house, they are still there. I do not know where they come from. Since I have never seen them in the last 10 months in my apartment since I was here.

So here's how I am coping:

1. Continue to keep the place as clean as possible. Rid them of their food source, bugs, mosquitoes, whatever.
2. Only open the windows with the wire meshes on. Otherwise, keep windows closed at all times.
3. Keep a freezing spray near me, at all times.
4. Stay positive. At least I have spiders who police my apartment and not such other beastly pests that feast on me. Eeeks.

TIP
The freezing spray is really useful. There is no lingering smell after use, and the white spot that appears when you spray continuously at disappears after a while, which means it's likely water. It is said to kill by freezing and not by poisoning. I actually hope there are such sprays in Singapore to kills roaches with. I hate the smell of insecticides.

I don't know if I can ever coexist with them. But definitely it is a kill-all order if it invades my bedroom and bathroom.

No, spiders, you can't get near me where I may be vulnerable. But I have to agree. My bedroom did become void of mosquitoes after that one and only spider visit.

I am so glad 梅雨 is finally over now. I deal summers better without the constant awful stickiness feeling. *cross fingers* Bug life did seem to be a little less active as well.

KTVing in Japan vs Singapore

KTV is probably the 3rd thing I missed most after I left Singapore.

Surprised? Japan is the so-called motherland of KTV or karaoke. This very popular hobby originated from Japan. So... how can I not have KTV-ed since I came in last August? Yup.. all the way until my last month in Japan did I had my first Japanese KTV experience. ♫♫♬

So how different is Japan's KTV from Singapore's?

On and off I will compare with Taiwan's and Indonesia's, based on my personal KTV experiences there, too.

I went to Shidax and Round 1 KTV lounges in Japan.

Food
The variety of food is huge! It is like Taiwan's 钱柜. Unlike Singapore's which is more of finger food variety. Both KTVs I visited in Japan have a wide range of main courses too.

Rooms
There are different types of rooms for us to pick at the Japanese KTVs. They are of different theme and decor. The one I went to at Shidax, is the usual ones, like the ones we have at KBox and Partyworld. The second one I went to at Round 1, had a stage! And we have props, even drums, for us to accompany our friends' singing.

Technology
Without doubt, Japanese technology is the most advance of all.



They use touchscreen remote controls. And I can even search for songs by year, by my age, or ask the system to recommend songs for my gender/age/preference.

Another feature which I like a lot is the categories of search- Pop, drama and movie OSTs, anime OSTs, English, etc. I especially like the category "Drama and Movie OSTs"! I am a drama-otaku, and most songs I listen to are OSTs. This category is so useful! Songs not only display their title and singer, they are tagged to the dramas or movies as well. This is non-existent in Singapore nor Taiwan.

Their techonology is much more advanced that our simplistic song title/ language/ singer search.

They even have Chinese songs! I sang 五月天's, 周杰伦's and 梁静如's songs. Though not complete, the selection is pretty extensive I thought. I could find 《离开地球表面》，《恋爱ing》, 《说好的幸福呢》 and 《没有如果》!

TIP
To search for Chinese songs, look for Chinese/Korean songs category, and type the hanyu pinyu of the song title/ singer to look for songs.

MTVs
This is the most disappointing part of my Japanese KTV experience. They have so few real MTVs. There is no real MTVs for Johnny's Entertainment groups. So that means we have to contend with fake MTVs while singing 嵐's, SMAP's songs etc. (*´д｀*) Copyrights are taken very seriously in Japan.

Of course the Chinese songs I sang to, are accompanied by fake MTVs as well.

I miss singing to real MTVs. We can find real MTVs for Korean songs though. For example Girls' Generation's MTVs for Gee, Genie, Mr Taxi, etc are all real. On the other hand, I remembered that when I KTVed in Indonesia, some MTVs are actually ripped from online video websites, with their logos still intact. It is not a chain though, but a privately run KTV lounge. The lyrics at Japanese KTV also may run on the whole screen, covering the entire screen, thus blocking the MTV. Drinks In Singapore, KTV are mostly fixed to about 2 drinks per session, and with a plate of fruits and some snacks. Japan's slightly different. The two KTVs that I went to, I had free-flow of drinks. (I can change the drinks.) For Round 1, we had to order a food item as well.

Taiwan's KTV is quite similar to Singapore's system.

Nevertheless, I still miss my K-lunches. Nothing can beat K-box's 3hr of singing with lunch and a drink at about $13. I hope they still have K-lunches! Looking forward to it when I return.

Overall, I enjoyed my experiences at Japanese KTVs a lot! And it was pretty cheap as well, slightly over 1000yen for 2hr and 4hr sessions at Shidax and Round 1 respectively. But then, that was probably with member discounts and coupon discounts, so it may not be an accurate gauge.

And nothing can beat the range of Japanese songs... of course. Haha... And it definitely improved my speed-reading of Japanese.

Remember to KTV if you can afford the time on your next trip to Japan!

Nationality = Birth Country?

Often, new Japanese colleagues would ask me if I was originally from China, after I self-introduce myself as a Singaporean Chinese. I would usually explain that I am born in Singapore, so my nationality is Singaporean, but my race is Chinese.

But sometimes, they will still have a puzzled look.



At that time, I didn't quite get why they are puzzled. To me, birth country = nationality, and that was the best explanation, or so I thought.

Yesterday, my Japanese friends enlightened me. In Japan, birth country may not always equate to nationality.

For example, if the parents of the baby born in Japan are both non-Japanese, the baby is not a Japanese citizen. He will be listed under the same nationality as their parents.

If one of the parents is a Japanese, then the child will have dual citizenship. He will then pick one when he is 20. 20 signifies entrance into adulthood in Japan.

Interesting...

****

Thanks to Victor! I finally realised that the rule applies to Singapore, too! Silly me!

Did a check on the statute "Constitution of the Republic of Singapore", if both parents are foreigners, the baby will not receive Singapore citizenship by birth. One of the parents have to be a Singaporean, with some exceptions.

How do Japanese wives manage the household finance?

By coincidence, I came across a TV program special, 『がっちりアカデミー』, on how Japanese wives manage the household finance. It was so interesting that it triggered my urge to blog about it.

Before I came to Japan, I heard from friends, that the Japanese wives typically controlled the finances at home. Husbands will hand over their salaries, and wives will then give them allowances.

It is a bit hard for me to imagine, as young families in Singapore are dual-income. Typically, the couple will have a joint account for household expenditures, whereby contribution proportion would have been discussed beforehand and decided. We usually do not have the practice of the wives controlling the household finance. It's a shared responsibility.

Or for more traditional families, like mine, the breadwinner will pull the purse strings. Not my mum. My dad does. So it is a bit stretching for me to visualise the said scenario in Japan.

Then I came across this TV program. The crew surveyed 1200 couples randomly, and from there picked a few couples as representatives to show us the different ways of managing household income.

After the husbands hand over their salaries. What happens next?

1. Wives will decide the frequency and amount of allowance for husbands.

Some examples I caught from the program:
-Daily 300yen (about S$5)
-Weekly 5000yen (about S$80)
-Monthly 30,000yen (about S$460+)

TIP
It is recommended by the program to set the allowance as 10% of the salary. Yeah. 10%?!

2. Where do the other 90% go to?

This will be for the household expenditure and savings.

TIP
Set aside a few envelopes which indicate the different kinds of expenditures. Eg. Telephone bills, Utility bills, Children's expenses, Grocery, etc.

Fix a maximum amount and the household cannot spend beyond that amount. The rest will be savings. Anything not spent will be savings as well.

It works for Japan, as it is still very much a cash society. I am used to direct bank deductions, and cashless payments, so bounderies drawn by envelopes doesn't really help though. :( But I do like the idea.

3. How to curb spending?

For example when going grocery shopping, bring only the minimal amount in cash, and spend within that, to curb oneself from buying needless wants.

Again, it only works if it is not cashless payment. :(

4. Small change does matter.

Diligently clear out the wallet and set that as savings once the day ends, and top up with the new allowance set for the day. A family actually managed to use that piggy bank of small change to exchange for a day of family fun at an amusement park!

5. Set goals.

Have goals, so that saving money is more achievable.

TIP
Long term goal is not enough. Short term goals are needed too.

For eg. one of the families' long term goal was to build their own house, and because of that Daddy's allowance was a mere 5000yen per week. But he had short term goals. Every day he saved up his allowance and spend it on gatherings with his friends and colleagues, limited to 3 times per month. Short-term goals will keep the discipline towards long term goal.

6. How to survive on the meagre allowance?

Daddys in the TV program, will buy cheap lunches at the convenience store, or only from cheaper vending machines, or even better, bring Mummys' homemade bentos to their workplace. With that lunch money is saved. Need drinks? Drink from the pantry water dispenser/ cooler.

7. Control splurges. Give and take rule.

One of the daddys' hobby is collecting expensive jackets. So Mummy allowed him to splurge once a month. But in return, every time he buy a new expensive jacket, he needs to give up one old one, for Mummy to sell.

Lastly, to share on my tips:

8. Compulsory savings

Once salary is received, set aside a fixed amount as compulsory savings, which should not be touched, regardless. With that, at least a minimal amount is saved every month.

9. Shop on days with discounts

In my neighbourhood, supermarkets have sale on every Tuesday and Wednesday. It is the same for MaxValue, Seiyu and Apita. And for my most commonly-frequented MaxValue Supermarket, on 20th and 30th of every month, there is a 5% storewide discount.

For some drugstores, they also have daily specials, eg. For Mondays, rice are on sale.

It is not restricted to only shopping, even eateries like Dipper Dan sells all crepes at 290yen only on every 9th, 19th and 29th of each month.

10. Make use of Loyalty Cards

The loyalty card system is very popular in Japan. Most stores have them. Their benefits include:

• Redeem points for money rebate.
• Special discount coupons for members only.
• Special discounts for members only on certain days.
• Redeem a free item at the nth stamp.
• Redeem gifts with points.

On the TV program website, they also did an online special on tips contributed by audience on how to cut spending.

Some are really jaw-dropping for me... like pitching a tent in the apartment and sleep in it, to cut down on heater usage during winter and wearing magic wipes as indoor slippers (killing 2 birds with 1 stone!) (ŐдŐ๑)

マル・マル・モリ・モリ！

可愛いね！This is the theme song for the Japanese drama マルモのおきて, currently my favourite jdrama for this season.

It is a very heartwarming series about a single guy adopting his friend's twins. After his friend had passed away, the relatives decided to raise the twins separately, which broke the hearts of the twins. After the twins ran away from their respective homes one day, the guy, Marumo, adopted them.

Every episode, there is a little lesson or moral. I learnt quite a bit from the twins and their daily interactions with their new dad-cum-mum.


The twins in the drama, 芦田愛菜-chan and 鈴木福-kun, on SMAP x SMAP!

But that's not the only heartwarming part. Drawn by the catchy ending dance, young audiences are also trying their hand in joining the twins in the dance.


The spontaneous dance at home...


A pretty professionally done video.


A real pair of twins! 5-year-old Tai-kun and Ai-chan.

and many more...

There is even a campaign to encourage viewers to submit their videos to Universal Music Studios. Dance steps are included, too.

Though they are supposed to submit in the form of hardcopies, it didn't stop other enthusiastic dancers and parents to upload their videos to YouTube. :)


Sample video by Universal Music Studios

Mmmm... I liked the song a lot... and watching other children dancing to it makes it even more heartwarming. :)

Nice idea from Universal Music Studios! Now more people, even those who didn't watch the drama series will know about the song. But then, it wouldn't had been successful, if the song itself wasn't so catchy and simple that kids can easily follow and dance to.

Maru maru mori mori... *dancing*

How to cancel NHK subscription?

Back to blogging some helpful tips for JETs or any foreigners planning to stay/ work long term in Japan.

Counting down to the last few weeks in Japan, I am now busy with the 'uprooting': packing, discarding, cancellations, farewells etc. And of course, it includes cancellation of NHK subscription of the television fee.

Cancelling is pretty easy.

1. Call 0120-151515 (toll-free) or 050-3786-5003 (9am-9pm for weekdays, 9am-8pm for weekends and Public Holidays).

2. Request to cancel your TV fee. If you are returning to your home country like me, cite 帰国 (kikoku) as the reason. And let them know when you are leaving Japan.

TIP
It is best to call NHK at least 1 month before you leave Japan.

3. NHK will send a cancellation form and the last bill to your address.


4. Fill up the cancellation form. We only need to fill in our name, and the reason why we are terminating and stamp it with our hanko. Mail it back to NHK.

5. Pay the last bill.

Done!

Random Numbers

Decided to do a blog post on some random figures associated with my one-year adventure in Japan as a memento. This post will be an on-going post.

Had a snow day in Hamamatsu :) This only happens once in 10 years! The last one was 10 years ago. :P

My first speech contest... and it's in Japanese! Glad I made it through, it is definitely one of my personal milestones.

This year's pollen is 10 times more than less year. A pretty bad time for those with pollen-allergy. That's why you will see many Japanese wearing masks. Luckily, I am doing not have 花粉症 (pollen-allergy). :)

I built my first snowman! In Nagano prefecture, when I visited the snow monkeys at their onsen haunt.



That trip was my first 一人の旅 (overnight trip). A very refreshing change.

11 March 2011, Japan met her largest ever earthquake. Then she was plagued with tsunami, nuclear plant explosions, radiation pollution problems. During this time, I was in Japan, too. Then, I had my first tremor, at school, and luckily with other teachers.

15 March 2011, I experienced my first earthquake, alone, at night. M3.0 at Hamamatsu. M6.4 at the epicentre, this time, originating from Shizuoka Prefecture, my prefecture. Only one word to describe. Terrifying. Being alone is terrifying.

I took 8 months to finish a bottle of 1-litre cooking oil. I cook about 7-8 meals a week though. Pretty lasting, huh?


Mochi pizza- this dish probably used a lot of oil. :P As every ingredient was pan-fried.

5 Lessons I Learnt from the Japan Earthquake

It has been a week since the Japan Earthquake. *Sigh* What a long week. For the first few days, with the continuous bombarding of bad news like earthquake, tsunami, nuclear plant explosions, and finally a M6.4 earthquake in my own prefecture, Shizuoka, the period has been pretty trying for me.

To tell the truth, I had not been sleeping well, since the earthquake in Shizuoka. Guess, it is much harder for a newbie (to earthquakes) like me. That was my first earthquake alone.

So based on my personal experience, mostly drawn from the Tuesday's incident (the earthquake in Shizuoka did shaken up things a bit for me), here's 5 lessons I would like to share:

Lesson 1
Prepare an emergency pack right from the start, and know the drill of what to do when an earthquake happens.

If you are like me, a total noob to earthquakes, then maybe you can share my sentiments. When the Shizuoka earthquake struck, I had just finished skyping with my family. Then my apartment shook, my furniture shook, everything shook. Me included (out of fear though). That was my first time. Shock. Blank out. I did not know what to do. The only thing I did at that moment was to find someone to talk to. (I was alone. I had no one to say "Earthquake! Was that an earthquake? omg...." to.) I tried skyping again (my family did not pick up the call), I started facebooking, tweeting, sms-ing my neighbors... At that moment, I needed someone to talk to.

That was such a wrong move. Lucky for me, it was a small one (according to the locals. To me, it was so scary! Buildings don't move. If it did happen in Singapore, it means it will topple the next second!)

The correct thing to do is to hide under a table, off the gas tap, and leave the house when the tremors stop, as there will be aftershocks. But for this time, it was only M3.0 at my area, so according to the locals, people do not leave the house for such a scale.

So how to know when to evacuate? Watch the news.

Here's a list of emergency pack items and what to do and lots of other useful information.

I did not have a proper emergency pack, too. I cleared away the expired food items which my predecessors had left, and did not replace them, nor check if the bag had all the required items. Only after the Japan Earthquake happened, I started to work on the bag.

Lesson 2
Get earthquake notifications on your handphone.

I got my iPhone application,ゆれくるコール, from this article. It also gave instructions on how to activate one for other Japanese phones.

I do regret not getting an iPhone in Japan, though. My iPhone is the one I brought from home, Singapore, so it does not have 3G connection in Japan. My earthquake notification application can only work at home, when I have wifi.

I highly recommend JETs to get a smartphone instead of a local phone. Well, if you do, then you should have a regular line. For me, because of Softbank issues, I had to switch from a regular line to a prepaid card, and hence, I do not have access to Yahoo! and so, I can't activate the earthquake notification on my local handphone set, just like the other locals. :(

Lesson 3
Check the sources of the news you get.

Sometimes, overseas news sensationalize the news, and loved ones at home get so worried about our safety. Most of the time, just reading the headlines are misleading. They often just write "Japan", or quote the worst figures, to grab readers' attention. But if you read further, more likely than not, it is only affecting a few prefectures and not the whole of Japan.

But in reality, most of us in unaffected prefectures, life still goes on. Nothing much has changed. For my case, school is as usual. My neighbors still farm. But there have been some cases of hoarding, like I heard from my JTE and other ALTs have difficulty finding toilet paper, tissue paper, milk, bottled water, etc.

Hence, this stresses my first point, which is to prepare the emergency pack early.

Lesson 4
Get your re-entry permit, preferably, the multi-entry one, early.

From the news, there had been a rush by foreigners to the Immigration Office to get their re-entry permit, so as not to lose their visa should they make a trip home.

There are 2 kinds of permit: 3000yen for single trip only and 6000yen for multiple trips. I would recommend the multiple re-entry permit.

Lesson 5

Be as resilient as the Japanese.

Overnight. Mass destruction. Ironically, most of the destruction are not caused by the M10.0 earthquake, but the deadly black tsunamis. And like Murphy's Law, another disaster followed, explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plants. Today, the incident level of the nuclear plant has been raised from 4 to 5, from a scale of 1 to 7.

But the resilient Japanese did not slum into despair nor chaos. Looting, which was common in natural disasters like these, did not occur. Instead, look at how they took it all in stride, and carried on their lives with dignity. They continued to queue. No one snatches the rations. No one took a second serving. In other 9 prefectures, scheduled blackout was carried out for these days. Each group had a blackout of 3 hours rolled out. When trains are affected, they queue, wait, cycle or walk. Gas and water may not be available for the 3 hours. They prepare beforehand. Gasoline is now a rare commodity. It's ok, they will queue for hours to top up. The rest of Japan now work towards energy conservation.

Unbelievable, isn't it? I believe if such a disaster occurred in Singapore, supermarkets would be empty. Food hoarding is totally expected, given our kiasuism, which probably stemmed from the fact that Singapore is not self-sufficient, so if any mishap should happen, our food supply will be cut. And that encouraged our selfish behaviour. Such a huge contrast to the Japanese, who believed in a group mentality. Yes, it's a double-edged sword. Many have criticised and said that the Japanese society is such that, the one who sticks out will be hammered down, everyone has to conform to a certain standard. But, it is also this characteristic, that gives them confidence to rely on each other (everyone will conform, no one will 'betray'), and rebuild them lives. Just look at this example of how efficient they are at picking up the pieces and rebuilding again.

If these have not touched you, then maybe the story of the Fukushima 50 and other many small heartwarming stories featuring selfless individuals like me and you would. Indeed, instead of criticizing, why not look at how selfless the Fukushima 50 team have been sacrificing their lives for the rest of Japan, or even the world. Why hoard those potassium iodine pills when you are thousands of miles away, when you have a team of 200 people rotating in groups of 50, exposing themselves to the radiation in the plant, trying to save the plant, trying to save everyone. They are the ones who really need those pills.

A very cute video explaining the nuclear issue.

The one thing I can't do, yet, would also be how well they can hide their insecurities, worries and fear. My colleagues have been leading their lives as per normal at work. Right after the next day of the earthquake. Me, on the other hand, was totally in panic mode. All I could think of is... is Tokai Earthquake coming, too? I don't want to die in Japan! I haven't drawn up my will! But when I talked to them privately, they told me, they are worried, too. Maybe not the little earthquakes that shook me both literally and emotionally, but more of the nuclear radiation leak, as this is something unknown to them as well. They also have relatives who live in the disaster zone. And they do complain to me that some forms of hoarding are happening now, and they find it frustrating not being able to buy toilet paper for daily life, or bottled water for emergency packs. But most of all, they told me, they can't be afraid, because Japan is their home. They have no place to run to. And it will be their destiny. Come what may, they can only embrace it bravely and overcome it.

Indeed. I am afterall, a gaijin. Japan is not my home. My home is Singapore. That's why, I would want to return to Singapore. I have a choice. My heart still lies there. My family and friends are there. But... will Singaporeans stand by Singapore should a disaster strike? I really hope, so. We need the Japanese spirit, too.

Worry looms....

School continues over here. Everyone seems to be back to normal. There aren't any real damage here. Thank goodness! Apart from the tremors from Friday, I had not felt any real tremors since. Other than a few which I am probably been hypersensitive to.

Tsunami alerts are also cancelled, so my area has no real impending danger. But now, what I am afraid of most is the nuclear plant explosion and the potential radiation pollution. Chernobyl disaster, just mentioning the name, terrifies me. (I just read the wiki article btw.) But according to the latest official English update on the nuclear plants, the authorities acknowledged the partial meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 and 3 reactors, but they said there should be no core explosion. They had been using seawater to cool them. The other plants are either shut down or precautions were taken. No impending danger. Phew.

The Japanese are resilient. As shown on TV, tweets, etc, they do not fall into chaos even in such a devastating situation. You can read more about these heartwarming stories via this facebook note. I was reading them this morning, and was so close to crying, and smudging my makeup.

Like what a friend said, "When nature is at its worst, human nature is at it's best." But this is not to be taken for granted. Through this event, personally, I have seen some wonderful sides of people as well as some ugly sides too. It's really a choice on how we react in disasters like these.

Blackouts are scheduled to conserve energy, starting from today. The schedule is only out for today, and it will affect 8 prefectures and 1 city. My area is not affected for today's blackout rollout. Not sure, if my area will be enlisted for scheduled blackout in future. As I heard from twittersphere, to transfer electricity from the West (which I am at) to the East (where the reactors and disaster areas are at), they will need to convert the frequencies, but they currently do not have the capacity to do that. So, we are not sure when the West will be affected by the blackouts, too. Nevertheless, we will continue to do our part in conserving energy.

Blackouts, not necessary mean just no lights, no electrical appliances, it might affect water supply, gas supply and definitely train systems. We have been relying on electricity so much, that I simply can't imagine how crippled I will be without electricity.

For now, all TV channels, for 24/7 have been reporting on the japan earthquake news live without stop. There were no commercials too. So, everyday, I would watch some news (continuous watching is depressing), switch to facebook, twitter etc. Sometimes I do get worried, as I am not exactly that proficient in Japanese to understand all the news that are reported on TV, and hence will have to rely on twitter and online news report to verify. Thank goodness, everyone has been very supportive, and the twittersphere had been pretty accurate and of course, very timely. In fact, the blackout schedule was shared on twittersphere, just a few minutes before they were announced on TV.



I recommend English readers to follow these 2 twitterers, @DanielKahl and @survivingnjapan for timely updates on the Japan Earthquake.

What is truly scary about the Japan earthquake is not the quake itself. But the after-effects, the tsunami, the nuclear explosion, aftershocks (probability of 70% with magnitude of 7.0) and insufficient energy... food panic? Water pollution? I really don't know...

But for now, I will watch news, monitor tweets every day. I have prepared my emergency food pack, though not sure if it's sufficient. Bottled waters and cup noodles are going fast in my local supermarket. I will probably be blogging my backdated entries from my Nagano trip, just to keep my mind off the earthquake. Ay...

Stay safe, everyone! 頑張れ、日本！

----

Updates as of 11.30am. There has been a hydrogen explosion at Fukushima 1 unit 3 nuclear reactor.

Gosh... 心情十分沉重

I'm safe and sound!

Dear family and friends, who have been worried for me, first, I must thank all of your love and concern. *HUGS* It's really in hard times like this when I truly feel all the love. And yes, I will continue to update on facebook and twitter whenever I have internet access.

Don't worry! Where I live in, Hamamatsu, we are not affected by the quake, not as in the way the TV depicted. Now news 24/7 are on the huge earthquake, and all the scary images, videos, interviews with worried survivors, are not helping. And the tweets are equally depressing, too, I know.

When the earthquake happened yesterday, I was at school. It was 2-3pm+, and the desk shook, it trembled. We felt tremors. Then I felt giddy and nauseous. Teachers started to gather at the pantry, and we switched on the TV and watched the news. Earthquake, and tsunami with height 6m predicted. A few minutes later, it became 7m. I managed to get a free shared computer terminal and started to report my safety on facebook and twitter. A few minutes later, I heard commotion from the pantry. Images of the devastation of earthquake are shown. Tsunami predicted was then 10m. It was the biggest earthquake ever, I heard my colleagues mumbled. Yup. It's true. It is the worst Japan has experienced. It measured the magnitude of 8.8. The epicentre was so far from us (near Sendai), so many miles away (Hamamatsu is more towards the southern Japan, and the epicentre was in the northern Japan), and yet we felt tremors, it was that strong. Next I knew, I heard sirens, tsunami alerts, in my area. Hamamatsu coasts are under very high tsunami alerts. I also hear helicopters hovering around as well.

A nice colleague was worried for me, so she sent me using her car nearer to my place, so I could walk home from there. Lucky for me, as I was supposed to have a sleepover at my friend's place that night, I did not spend my first earthquake night alone. Phew.

On the first day, the network was jammed, I had problems making calls, texting and emailing, hence the delays in reporting my safety to my loved ones.

But rest assured, I am ok. :) We have high tsunami alerts on the first day, it dropped one grade today. As I am not near the coasts, I should be quite safe. The only thing I worry about is the shake. Some of you may have known that my 30-year-old apartment shook once during a heavy storm. That will be pretty scary for a gal experiencing her first earthquake.

I am however, now more concerned with the nuclear plant explosion and the possible radiation pollution. Seriously, I can't imagine what the stray radiation may lead to. Definitely nothing good. And of course, I hope there will be no panic on food shortage as well.

From facebook updates from other JETs, there have been shortages of bottled water and instant ramen in supermarkets as well. Via facebook grapevine, it seemed these resources are being channeled to the much-needed disaster-hit areas. Electricity from other parts of Japan will be channeled to Tokyo too, it seems.

Gosh. I do not have an emergency food pack for earthquakes. :X I hope I can stock up something tomorrow.

And... I heard, no SJETs in my batch were injured as well, including Melissa, who is in Sedai, one of the worst hit areas. Her email was also reported in the channelnewsasia article. Some of us are hiding in shelters. I hope things will be better soon.

If you are concerned with the latest earthquake developments, besides following the news on TV or news sites, you can follow updates via the 2 twitter channels (which I am following as well): #JPquake (tweets in mainly English) and #jishin (tweets in mainly Japanese).

And for foreigners living in Japan, who are clueless about earthquakes like me (this is my first earthquake), you can visit this website, which translated some important steps to take in case of earthquakes. They are offered in 17 languages.

Ganbatte, Japan.

Do you know...? Trivia about Japan

This will be an ongoing post, as I collect more trivia along my adventure in Japan.

Trivia 1

Do you know... the green lights for traffic lights are called 青い (aoi) which means blue, instead of 緑 (midori)?

Trivia 2

Before exams or competitions, Japanese will eat カツ丼 katsu don, because it sounds like winning 勝つ (katsu).

Trivia 3

Japan follows the American way of abbreviating dates: 31 January -> 1/31. I did a check with other ALT friends: New Zealand and England uses the same abbreviation as Singapore's which is 31/1 though.

Trivia 4

Japanese, almost in all situations, will have shoes on (or at least socks). That's why, there are two sets of shoes, outdoor shoes and indoor shoes. When we reach school, we have to change our outdoor shoes for a pair of indoor shoes. The same is applied at home, ryokans, restaurants with tatami seats, etc.

Trivia 5

"Oosu!" The first day when school opened, some students and teachers greeted each other with "Oosu!" And I had been wondering what it meant... Oosu is actually a shortform for Ohayogozaimasu, Konnichiwa, Konbawa, etc. And mainly used by guys, especially those in sports clubs.

Trivia 6

Do you know... the lines on the circumference of the 500yen coin are actually slanted? Take a closer look, and you can spot them. Most coins have straight lines, so it is pretty special (and also very trival, I know :P) that the 500yen coins have slanted instead of straight lines.

Trivia 7

When marking, the Japanese uses circles (丸, maru) instead of ticks to represent correct.

This will be an ongoing post, as I collect more trivia along my adventure in Japan.

Do share with me other trivia that you know of :)

Coupons... and I don't mean the discount ones

What I find interesting is, Japan has given coupons another meaning. Coupons to me, are advertisements with dotted lines for us to cut out, so that we can redeem a discount or a gift during our purchases. But it means more in Japan.



For my bentos and bus rides, I have to use coupons too. Here's how it works:

Bento
A bento company provides the lunch bentos for the employees in the school. If you would like to subscribe to their service, then...

First, you have to select which kind of bento (advantage--means L size, normal, light--means S size, if compared to clothes sizes), and then base on the bento type, buy in advance the bento coupons. I order the light lunch, which is 6000yen for 21 bento coupons.

Second, just a day before, circle on the namelist that you would like to have bento for tomorrow, and deposit a bento coupon in a metal tin.

And collect your bento the next day!

The bento is different every day, but you don't have a choice of what bento you want. So you can choose whether to order for the day or not instead.

Bus
Of course, I can pay with coins. But if you buy coupons, it is slightly cheaper. 1000yen for 11 coupons worth 100yen each.

Then when I alight, drop the 整理券 (serikan, ticket which you collect when you board) and the coupons in the money box. (More about taking a bus in Japan)

Wonder if they use coupons for other services too?

Maybe I wished for too much snow?

Woke up this morning, and had a big surprise. There is about 1-2cm of snow in my area. Very rare for a place where snow doesn't stick, it usually gets blown about in the strong winds and melts before it reaches ground.


Taken at 6am.

Then, happily, humming a little tune, I cycled to my bus-stop. On the way, I saw a pair of parents excitedly taking a video of their son scraping ice off their car, and at another house, a little snowman was built on a car. Some Hama neighbours are enjoying the snow as much as I did. That was nice to know.

Then... at the bus stop, we waited for the bus. Waited and waited. 20ish minutes passed. This was unusual. Buses are usually on time, never beyond 1-2 minutes late. And I kept hearing ambulance sirens; there were accidents nearby.

Some of the passengers who were waiting patiently like me, started to call the bus company. Services were late. That's what we were told. Next, I called my special school too. (Today's my monthly visit.)

And yes, services were postponed due to snow. Accidents had occurred this morning. Hama residents are not prepared for snow, their cars are not equipped with the special chain tyres. Many of them were driving exceptionally slowly, for fear of skidding. Some cars were emitting weird noises from their engines as well.

Actually, while I cycled, I almost skidded as well. It is best to cycle on the snow, rather than the road, cause it had frozen.

Mmm... the unexpected snow in Hama today is like what my colleague had described to me. She told me about 10 years ago, Hama had snow, somewhat like today's, and everyone had a mini panic, and many were late for work.

Meanwhile, the wait continues. I am still waiting for instructions from my school...