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Time passed without us realizing, and it’s been almost three months we’re here. Everyday learning while having fun, and this time our task was to do a presentation to introduce our own country.

Sounds simple huh…???

… well, except everything must be in J.A.P.A.N.E.S.E.

Each of us was required to conduct a 5-minute speech about our country, and of course, get ready to be shot by questions in Japanese.

The handsome and pretty MC of the day…

Bon-san (Laos)

Mario-san (Indonesia)

Pen-san (Cambodia)

Nu-san (Vietnam)

Raymie-san (Brunei)

Me (Malaysia)

Myo-san (Myanmar)

Mostafiz-san (Bangladesh)

Wee-san (Thailand)

With the cute Haruka-chan and Momo-chan

The three of us…

IMC の会社員

Me and the Cambodians, Pen-san and Vutha-san

The Malaysians

Islam-san and Mostafiz-san

Ban-san in his Vietnamese traditional costume

Still don’t know why we’re asked to make this posture…

With Haruka-chan and Momo-chan again…

It was a good experience and great practice for all of us, especially when we seldom apply what we’ve learned in our class into our daily life here in Japan. Guess everyone is more confident now to converse in the language. To all my AYF batch mates, いっしょうに　がんばりましょう　！！！　:-)

Ok la I know I sound funny, don’t laugh la… Now I understand why they straightaway knew I’m a foreigner whenever I start speaking… |||-_-

The past few weeks were filled with activities and visits to various places in Osaka. One of the reasons I feel pleased to be able to participate in this program is that we have heaps of opportunities to learn and experience life in Japan, which is something that can hardly be achieved through self traveling alone.

First is the Mount Koya (高野山）, which is one of the world’s heritage as declared by UNESCO. It is located in the Wakayama prefecture at the South of Osaka and was once the headquarter of Japanese Buddhism. Lots of temples and shrines were built in this area and are still preserved til this day.

Okunoin Cemetery, a very famous historical spot for tourists

Secondly, my visit to my host family. In this program, each of us are assigned to a host family, where we get to practice our Japanese speaking skill and learn the way of living in Japan. In my case, I didn’t get to visit my host family’s house, but instead visited them at my so called “Okaasan’s” shop near Mizumatera.

My Okaasan (Right), with her friend who just wanted me to address her as Obaasan (Left)

Obaasan teaching me how to make “Otedama”, a traditional game in Japan

Visit around Mizumatera (水間寺)

The cutest member of the family…

Next, the Autumn Festival of Taijiri-Cho. This festival marks the switch of season from Summer to Autumn in Japan. In Japan tradition, change of season is actually an enjoyable moment, where people get to change their life style, new clothing, their home decoration, food, or maybe change their partner as well… , etc…

If anyone has any plan to visit Japan, personally I think this is the perfect season to be here. The sun is warm and the weather is cool. Mixing both of these gives you a very comfortable sensation when you are traveling around.

Representatives presenting flowers to the organizing committee of the festival

The cute Akachan…

Autumn is also a season when the weather is quite unpredictable and changes frequently. There is a joke proverb among Japanese people, “女心と秋の空”, which simply means female’s heart and the sky of Autumn. So how true is this…?

Til then~~~

Last weekend we had our first visit to Tokyo City. At this time of writing, Tokyo is the world’s second most expensive city to live in, yet almost 10% of Japan population is here. Fortunately, we’re allocated to the Urawa Language Center during our 5 days visit, which really saved us a lot.

Arrival at Haneda Airport, Tokyo

The first 2 days of our trip was planned by the institute personnel, where we got to visit the Asakusa Sensoji Temple, Edo Tokyo Museum, Imperial Palace, Panasonic Center and University of Tokyo. Generally, personal transportation vehicles are not required as there are heaps of trains and subways to get you to every corner of the city.

Raimon of the Asakusa Sensoji Temple

A shrine for hand wash to cleanse oneself

Me and Raymie

Edo Tokyo Museum

Kabuki, a stage performance presented solely by males

In front of the Imperial Palace

Too bad we’re not allowed to enter…

Visit to Panasonic Center, Odaiba

A place displaying all the high tech gadgets and latest products of Panasonic that can never be found anywhere around the world. Too bad photo shooting is prohibited in the center…

View from Aqua City, Odaiba

Rainbow Bridge and miniature Statue of Liberty

Visit to University of Tokyo, the dream university of every Japanese student

Being the oldest and top university of Japan, most of the buildings have long history and sometimes it feels a bit creepy when you are staying alone here. The library gave me the “Hogwards” feel in Harry Potter, where you can actually experience similar design and decoration around the building.

Dinner with AYF seniors, big family…

Once again AYF Malaysia reunited

Tsukiji, one of the world’s largest fish trading market, handling over 2,000 tonnes of marine products per day

“The art of slicing”…???

No sushi or sashimi is comparable to these freshly made in Tsukiji

Tokyo Game Show 2010, the gamers’  arena

Beauties and the Beast

Anime cosplay, a popular teenagers’ trend in Japan

Akihabara, the electronic gadgets heaven in Tokyo

Shinjuku, where different cultures mixed

The famous crossroad at Shibuya

Hachiko the faithful dog

This is a story about a dog which waited his master here at this spot for 9 years despite after his master’s death. The monument is built as a token of gratitude for the loyalty and faithfulness of the dog to his master.

The Autumn Festival in Shibuya

Harajuku, Japan’s most extreme teenage culture and fashion spot.

Visit to Tokyo Tower

This is actually the old tower, with a height of about 300 meters. A new tower is currently under construction and is expected to reach a height of about 600 meters !!!

Night view of Tokyo City

Ginza, the high end shopping street that will dry up your wallet in no time...

Tiffany

BVLGARI

Cartier

Chanel

LV

These are just a few examples. In fact, the street is full of branded fashion goods’ flagship. A shopping heaven for those who don’t know where to spend their money.

Returning to Osaka with Shinkansen a.k.a the “Bullet” train

There are basically 3 types of Shinkansen, Nozomi (fastest), followed by Hikari and Kodama. Of course, the speed of the train is proportional to the ticket fee…

Everyone’s tired after 5 days in Tokyo

Mario and Wee, the classical moment…

Generally, Tokyo is a nice place to visit, but not a good place for long term living. Life here is so hectic and you can see the crowd rushing here and there all the time. Lots of entertainments, but everything here is much more expensive as compared to other places in Japan. So why is there still almost 10% of the Japan population being located here…?

Career opportunity. Most of the big companies’ headquarters are located here in Tokyo. In the Japanese working society, being transferred from branch office to the headquarter is actually a promotion and great advancement in one’s career life. In some cases, one will actually bring his/her family along with the reallocation. But in most cases, one would have to be separated from his/her family due to the inconvenience. Well, guess there are always negative elements behind the positive ones.

Til then~~~

Last Wednesday visited my prospective professor at Kyoto University, and he finally agreed to accept me under his department.

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for centuries, during the Shogun era before Tokyo. It is a place full of Japanese history and mixture between the old and new. Too bad I didn’t have enough time to explore around during my visit there.

Come to think of it, I have been going through quite some troubles for the past few months in search for the suitable university to pursue my master degree. Applied a few different universities, got rejected, search again, applied, got rejected again… bla bla bla… and finally found one that willing to accept this pity me.

However, this is not the time to relax yet:

1) The application status for master course scholarship is still uncertain. No money = no talk.

2) I have to take an entrance examination in this university on February 2011. The main obstacle now is, everything will be conducted in Japanese.

3) Among the 6 topics of the exam, I’ve only learned ONE of them during my bachelor degree.

Kyoto University has been famous for offering most of the courses in Japanese Language, which is one of the main reasons foreign students seldom favor it. Some people asked me why choose this university when I can actually apply for other universities with international course being conducted in English instead. Well I guess it depends on individuals.

Firstly, I wanted to master this language, if not mastering it, at least able to use it flexibly. 7 months here in this language training center will never be enough for me. It is hopefully that this master course can help me achieving my objective here in Japan.

Secondly, I once told myself that if I am not going to do it, I won’t even start it at the first place. But if I am determined to do it, then at least I want to be in one of the best.

My future is still uncertain, all I can do now is to start preparing for the entrance exam next year. Hopefully everything will be fine.