Human Academy Japanese Language School #Takoyaki party
1/14/17
Prior to starting class on the 13th, the language school had a special takoyaki party for short term (3 month) students. Most of the people at the party were from South East Asia countries such as Vietnam, China, Korea, Taiwan and couple English speakers from US, Australia, Canada, Russia, France. Overall there are about 8 English speakers. At the Takoyaki party there was about 6 tables and each table had about 8-10 students. The school was quite big in terms of student enrollment. The first day of school, we took an entrance placement entrance exam. The format was 200 multiple choice questions with 60 minutes, all grammar related. Needless to say the questions were in full on Japanese, lucky I had took a year of Japanese while in KCC. I was only able to complete 70 questions and give up right after 45 min. The class atmosphere is very different compared to America, for instance the teacher does all the talking and rarely ask question. She would occasionally ask students to write on the board or read out loud. During class no one goes to the toilet at all(not sure if is a Asian thing or not), there is a 15 min break during the 4&1/2 class. In my class there about 25 students, mainly Korean students, few from Taiwan and Middle-East! The class material is mostly learning different forms of Japanese words, increase Kanji knowledge and intermediate vocabulary. I find Japanese grammar very weird and confusing. For example the word tabe (eat) there a many different forms depending on how is used. Tabemasu (to eat) Tabete (offering someone to eat), Itatakimasu (keigo: the most polite form of to eat. You would use keigo when talking to a boss/professor or some higher position than you.), Taberu (eat or will eat later), Tabemashita (ate), Tabemasen (Polite form: did not or will not eat)/Tabenai(same meaning less formal/polite), Tabemasen deshita (past tense of tabemashita) and Tabanakucha (must eat) all those forms contain the root of tabe, which makes it very easy to remember. But there are many words that change root words depending on form. |
A Day In Kyoto #Arashiyama
|
1/31/17
Arashiyama is located West of the historical city of Kyoto, it takes about 45 min to get there by taking express train from Umeda station in the center of Osaka. Off the train our first stop was Arabic coffee, quite popular destination as there was long lines all the way outside the store. After filling our bellies with warm coffee we marched on the long upward trail to monkey park, as we were hiking up it began to snow by the time we got to the top it was snowing very hard. The monkeys were very friend as they wonder around minding their own business. Inside the cabin there is peanuts and apples for purchase, monkeys line up on the fence reach their hands out for a delicious treat in the cold snowy day. Shortly after saying good bye to the monkeys we headed to a nearby bamboo forest, the first impression is a quite and chilling garden with bamboos far as the human eye can see. There the only thing you can hear is the wind blowing and the leaves shaking. This felt very different from the busy shopping districts in the city, one can only imagine coming to such forest and sip on a cup on coffee after a long day of work. As our journey in the bamboo forest came to a end, we decided to wonder around the nearby neighbors and admire the beauty of Arashiyama. |
Furious Night at Nara #Mt Wakakusayama
Nara is one of the most well known attractions in the Kansai region, is roughly a 35 minute semi-express train ride from Tennoji station in Osaka. For this trip we decided to go with the usual classmates and additional foreigners from another language school. Overall, our group consisted of many nationalities such as French, Italians, Russian, Korean and local people of Nara. Nara is famous for its roaming deer's and historic temples, right away you can see more deer's than people. If is your first time going I strongly suggest you buy some food at the Nara Station, street vendors are only available if is a special holiday or festival.
Most of the deer's at the park for very friendly, you can purchase 8 piece of deer crackers for 150yen. However, I must warn you in advanced not to feed deer's near a group. This might cause them to fight over each other for food and bite your hand instead of the crackers. Or worse they will chase you down once you decide to walk away, this happen to one of my friend and she was headbutted a few times. The temple is bigger than usual, once inside you can see many god like size statues. In the center there is wooden log with the square hole, the legend says if one can fit and pass through they will have spend after life in heaven.
As we made our way to the bottom on Mt. Wakakusayama we stopped to get a taste of the local street food, as usual is filled with sweet and savory treats like hand pounded mochi, takoyaki, ika, hotdogs, stir fry noodles and many more. Is a good idea to bring cash as the street vendors don't accept credit cards. As the sun slowly creeped under the mountain, we secured our spot and began empting our beer cans. The ceremony starts around 5, the mayor gives a speech and around 5:45 the firework goes off for roughly 15 minutes. When the last firework dim the black sky you can see the burning began on the top of the mountain.
Most of the deer's at the park for very friendly, you can purchase 8 piece of deer crackers for 150yen. However, I must warn you in advanced not to feed deer's near a group. This might cause them to fight over each other for food and bite your hand instead of the crackers. Or worse they will chase you down once you decide to walk away, this happen to one of my friend and she was headbutted a few times. The temple is bigger than usual, once inside you can see many god like size statues. In the center there is wooden log with the square hole, the legend says if one can fit and pass through they will have spend after life in heaven.
As we made our way to the bottom on Mt. Wakakusayama we stopped to get a taste of the local street food, as usual is filled with sweet and savory treats like hand pounded mochi, takoyaki, ika, hotdogs, stir fry noodles and many more. Is a good idea to bring cash as the street vendors don't accept credit cards. As the sun slowly creeped under the mountain, we secured our spot and began empting our beer cans. The ceremony starts around 5, the mayor gives a speech and around 5:45 the firework goes off for roughly 15 minutes. When the last firework dim the black sky you can see the burning began on the top of the mountain.
Kyoto: the land of famous shrines and temples
Kyoto, the most traditional Japanese city in the Kansai area. As you probably seem pictures of Kyoto a lot on the internet, this place is quite popular and when I visited there a couple weeks ago. I can surely say that I was not disappointed at all!
In Kyoto, there a number of shrines and temples you can visited. As for me I only went to Fushmi-Inari and Nazenji the total trip took about 5 hours and left me sleeping on the train. If you are planning to visit more than two shrines then I would strongly suggest you book a Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese Inn.
Now, without future ado lets me explain why you need to visit Kyoto. Unlike the city life of at Osaka, at Kyoto things are quite claim and relaxing. There are less modern building, people aren't rushing as you would imagine. My first stop was Fushimi-Inari, from the nearest JR station is about a 10 minute walk. On the way to the shrine you will encounter many food vendors, I would strongly advise you to wait to eat after you visit the shrine. No matter what days you go, there will be tons of people. If you want to take pictures without anybody in the background, just forget about it(the picture on my post is stolen from google). I did not hike all the way to the top and stopped 1/3 of the way and came back down to snack on the delicious food.
The next stop was Nanzenji, unlike Fushimi-Inari there was less people and better nature scenery. We walked around and found a Ryokan and had refreshments to tame our thirst.
In Kyoto, there a number of shrines and temples you can visited. As for me I only went to Fushmi-Inari and Nazenji the total trip took about 5 hours and left me sleeping on the train. If you are planning to visit more than two shrines then I would strongly suggest you book a Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese Inn.
Now, without future ado lets me explain why you need to visit Kyoto. Unlike the city life of at Osaka, at Kyoto things are quite claim and relaxing. There are less modern building, people aren't rushing as you would imagine. My first stop was Fushimi-Inari, from the nearest JR station is about a 10 minute walk. On the way to the shrine you will encounter many food vendors, I would strongly advise you to wait to eat after you visit the shrine. No matter what days you go, there will be tons of people. If you want to take pictures without anybody in the background, just forget about it(the picture on my post is stolen from google). I did not hike all the way to the top and stopped 1/3 of the way and came back down to snack on the delicious food.
The next stop was Nanzenji, unlike Fushimi-Inari there was less people and better nature scenery. We walked around and found a Ryokan and had refreshments to tame our thirst.