what does a christian mean?

I have always wondered why christianity is so offensive. In Japan, I have missed numerous devotion time, yeah plenty. Shame on me. Sigh, it is very hard to keep a queit time here. Nevertheless, when I read my bible, I have always found it inspiring and just beautiful. I am always strengthen by it and I have to say it gives me better direction in life.

Ah, as always, the problem is always with us who claimed to be christians. I guess we are just so self-righteous and well, I guess we are just not thoughtful of others. -_-”

origin

I have always loved new things and for someone like me who always forget things easily, many things are just always new. Anyway, there are some interesting things that I gathered the past few weeks.

Last week, I learnt some new kanji from my friends on our way to Nikko. It is interesting how each station is named. I never know the meaning before because I can’t read the kanji. So, some of the station names are south bridge, north bridge, east bridge and west bridge. Sounds familiar? Yeah, that reminds me os south bridge road and north bridge road.

Today, I was looking at the map of kanagawa. Kanagawa is the perfecture where I live. From the kanji, kanagawa means god of river or something like that. When I saw the map, I noticed numerous rivers and it dawned on me how the region was originally named. The same issue with tokyo, nikko and various places in Japan. The names originate circumstancially, be it cities, towns, perfecture and surname.

If I pay carefeful studies, it is very similar with various names in the world. How the islands and cities are named and how all our surnames originate. Cool!

One more thing to  mention, I have been having fun with kanji, to look at basic stroke and kanji and how they are combined to form other characters. yeah. I am happy!

post trip

Yeah, work has started again. It has been a refreshing week, nevertheless, the reallity of coming back to work is daunting. -_-”

Anyway, just a quick update. The last 2 days was ok. The work was rather frustrating actually, but I am trying to handle it positively. Oh ya, actually today, I was invited for a party which I declined. Hmm. The reason was I need to go for Japanese class and I just didn’t want to go for drinking on weekdays.

On my way back from the class, I met a new friend from Russia. Hhehe. He is a mathematician in geometry. Cool! Anyway, he is working as a researcher at the private university around my neighborhood. Well, it was good to meet him and I hope can chitchat more with him the next time we meet.

Nikko trip photos

All photos were taken on 25th November 2007

Nikko trip 23-25 November 2007

I went to Nikko last week because Friday was a holiday, thus we had a long weekend. There were 12 of us actually. hehhe, quite a number huh. Anyway, the trip was good, I loved it. Anyway this is the breakdown of the trip.

23 November

Well, we left the apartment early in the morning as we need to go to Asakusa, Tokyo to take the train. The trip to Nikko takes about 2 hours from Asakusa. It takes 1 hour from Yokohama to Tokyo, thus 3 hours journey altogether. Once at Asakusa, we bought a 4-day All Nikko Pass. Well, just an advice if you go Nikko for more than 1 day, BUY the pass. The bus ride within Nikko is damned expensive. The all day pass will make the trip so cheap. The 4-day pass cost 4400 yen. Yeah, I still remembered the price because I bought the ticket.

The 2 hour train ride passed so fast because we talked so much along the way. Our friends from Kyoto came over. Thus, making the number 12. Once arrived, we were busy getting our orientation. yeah, none of us have been there before. We need to find the location of our ryokan. We were lost for 1 hour actually. It was understood as the place was somehow quite hard to find. The place we stayed was nice, the room is big and it has the japanese style bed, i.e. futon.

That day, we didn’t really go anywhere as the day was practically ended by 4pm. yeah, it is getting dark by 4pm and the shops and diners were closed around 5pm. Anyway, due to our numbers, the movement was slow. We just managed to take a round trip bus to the top of the mountain.

We also did a long walk as we stopped somewhere in the middle of the mountain as we wanted to see a waterfall. The last bus service was 4pm. We walked all the way back to the station. Gosh, it was damned cold. I tell you, I think the temperature is around 4 degree and below. I have prepared myself with all the winter wear, even then, it was not enough. The glove I have was not sufficient to keep my palm warm. Well, I was still in a good condition as I still wear the long john. Two of our friends really suffered as they were not properly dressed. I could not believe that they took winter so lightly. I did called and emailed them the condition before the trip.

Anyway., the day ended fast. We walked around 2 hours under really really cold temperature and strong wind. I could not believe I made it.

We had a really good sleep that nite. Who wouldn’t?

24 November

We were kiasu this time . We practically left the ryokan around 6pm. Hahhaha, yeah, we need to safe the daylight. Otherwise we could only sightseeing for half a day. So, the first destination was yomoto onsen, it was the top of the mountain. It was already snowing in the mountain, so we could see snow and played. yeah, it was the first time for me to see snow. hahhaa…. The morning was good and fresh. I loved it the most.

Yumoto onsen has a beautiful lake, an onsen and a ski area. The ski has yet opened as the snow was yet thick.

From there, we went to another onsen site and errr lost our way. At the end we found several farming area. Hehhee, it was an interesting walk. There was also an aread prone of bears. Errr bears as in real bears. Finally we find another resting place where they sold souvenir and a diner. Thus, we had our lunch there. The price is slightly more expensive but still ok.

We also visited the Chuzenji lake. I think the lake was so so. We also visited 2 waterfalls. They are beautiful. Unfortunately, the red leaves were no more. yeah, the leaves have dropped, thus leaving a bare trees.

From there we went to the plateau, gosh, we practically walked 30 minute to get there, yeah 30 minutes under dropping temperature. It was 4  pm at that time and the weather was getting colder and colder. The plateau was so so. Hehhehe…. From there, well. we missed 2 buses, thus we practically waited for more than 1 hour under extreme cold. It was damned damned cold and trust me, nobody else there but us!

Finally we got on the bus and went back to the station. Well, the bus was damned HOT. The sudden change of temperature made me want to vomit and the whole nite I was not feeling well. Yeah, it was like standing under 0 degree or below and then under 30 degree within a few seconds. I will bear that in mind for the next trip. Be careful of the sudden temperature change.

Again, we had a good nite. Who wouldn’t? Oh ya, need to mention that we had onsen at nite in the ryokan.

25 November

We decided to walk around the shrine in the vicinity. Nikko is famous for its shrines and waterfall. We had breakfast in the ryokan. Well, we had a bowl of fruits and 3 buns of bread, err for 1500 yen.

The shrine in Nikko is one of the world heritage. I think the shrines are beautiful, less commercial than Asakusa temple. I have visited several shrines and temples in Japan and I think all of them are the same. They will have running water for washing, a huge bell, a place for prayer and a charm booth. There are numerous temple and shrines in the vicinity. it is a huge compound indeed.

We walked around and practically didn’t check the time. We actually took a later train back and our friends from kyoto nearly missed their  shinkansen -_-”.

Overall, it was a good get-away. It was a good catch up with friends. For myself, I learnt many things, I learnt to appreciate nature, I learnt to love taking photos and I learnt to be more friendly. kekkeke…

nikko trip

All are taken on 24 November 2007, Nikko

the first Japan trip

So, tomorrow I am going to Nikko! Yay!!! This is considered as the first trip. The past few weeks, I am only going around Tokyo area, not really the real trip. Well, there are some things to note, it is below 0 degrees! GOSH! I did not know that. Only later this evening my friend told me after checking Yahoo! Japan weather forecast. The temperature will be around 0 to -4 degrees! Can you believe that? I was shocked and planned to cancel the trip altogether. Sigh, but I am still going anyway. What to do? It is already planned and I don’t want to spend the long weekend alone as in really alone.

After the Japanese class, I rushed back. Had my dinner and started packing. Winter jacket, hat, scarves, long john, socks and whatever needed for the 3 days trip. I could not believe that my backpack is fully-packed. It is only 3 days, not 1 week! Anyway, I need to thank my aunt for giving me the long john. Errr, I have just realised she gave me the wool long john. I never realised what cold is untill the last couple of weeks. It is freaking cold, especially the leg area. Not sure how to protect it. The worse is, Japanese don’t  have any problem . They even think tokyo yokohama is hot for winter. errrr.

So, I will be away for 3 days. I hope it is a good break for me.

As for the last few days, it is normal days. Work is frustrating though. I still have so much to learn especially communication issue. As for my japanese, it is improving I guess. I could roughly understand the conversation around 20-40%, still a long way to go. The problem is I could not speak. I really feel like a baby when talking in Japanese, the words just could not come out. The dictionary I bought have proven to be useful. I use it often.

Ok, that is all for today. Will update it this sunday if I am not exhausted.

kanji

Oh gosh, what is wrong with this character? Why it always has different reading and different meaning? Sometimes it means A and it sounds B, then it becomes F and it sounds G and worse, it sounds JK and it means YZ! *headache*

weekly update

Ok, just a quick update for last week.

I heard a disturbing news over the msn with my friends. Several friends are attached and some should be getting married next year. Yeah, what a great news for me who is not only alone here, scratching her head just to know more friends and to hear so many intimate news about couple. Am I jealous? I don’t think so. I think I just feel lose out. -_-” Anyway, I better move on and settle on what I want. I should not bother so much about others, yeah, I better settle my own life here.

There is also a happy thing over the weekend. I had a friend visiting me, again . She came for business trip. So, we met on saturday, just for 3 hours, but it was good enough to share a bit of what is going on with each of us. Well, she is my long time friend, I knew her for 13 years this month. Yeah, we have been through many things together, she is one of the 5 cliques I have. All of us have led differing lives, as expected from the moment we met. I am not going to disclose further as it is rather personal.

Last week, there were a couple of days where I felt down. I guess it was the mood swing, out of a sudden I felt so negative about many things. It was good that I had soem friends with whom I could share the issues and clarified. Yeah, it was really the negative thinking that I had and it can easily be solved by looking at the other perspective. Intereeting

Oh ya, I also felt the stress during the Japanese class. The issue was I was rather slow in catching the lesson. I guessed I was too tired and I have over-exerted myself. Thus, I could not fully concentrate on the lesson. Gosh. I was embarrassed- very silly mistakes most of the time. The good thing is the sensei is really nice andd thoughtful. She actually gave me a present for my birthday. I was touched!

As for the rest, I watched some sports events on TV and recently bought 20k dictionary and fined 2k for making a double order. Errrrrr.

Lastly, tonite, we just made some plan for winter trip. I am thinking to cancel but still undecided. We plan to to sendai and aomori. Aomori is very very very freaking cold. I think there is winter sports there. BUT BUT BUT… not sure I can witstand the cold. Even now, I feel freaking cold at only 12-15 degrees.

Ok, that is all, need to sleep now.

旅行

Well, I have been living in Japan for 7 weeks now. =) So, I will start to write and summarise the things about Japan, in terms of places I have visited and going to visit. This week or last week rather, I have decided to limit my travelling and spend more time with Japanese instead. Why? I have realised that despite the enjoyment of sightseeing, travelling has never been my priority. I will be satisfied with visiting several historical sites and bautiful sceneries. I said several means several, i.e. 20% of Japan. I do not think it is wise to visit all over Japan considering the huge cost incurred for every visit. Everything is expensive here, 10000 yen (around 100USD) is of little value. Go out on weekend and you will spend that amount if you don’t watch your budget.

So, where have I been?

1. Kyoto

Since I was there for 3 days only, I have not been able to see much. I only know that the eating places below kyoto station is nice and relatively cheap. The set meal range is below 1000 yen. Very reasonable. There are many castles and shrines in Kyoto. To visit them is pretty easy. The places are linked by a bus. Thus, it is pretty convenient to just buy a 1-day bus and visit several castles. As the 1-day pass, I think errrrr how much? Gosh, I don’t keep record. I think it is around 650 yen. It is a good price since 1 ride costs 220 yen flat rate.  The map for kyoto tourist spots are available on the station with the bus passing through it. In short, the travelling in Kyoto is quite accessible and considering the city is average in size, pretty easy to cover the city. If you ask me how many days to spend in Kyoto, I would say 3 days is maximum otherwise you will get totally bored!

2. Tokyo

I spent a lot of weekends in Tokyo, not only because it is pretty near from myself, but the lack of attraction in Yokohama could be one of the major reason. There are quite a number of attractions here, but if you ask me to rate it, I can say it is so so. Tokyo is best for shopping, but for everything else, it falls under average and above.

There are several things to watch out for in Tokyo. One of them is the train lines. Gosh. I get mad when I saw it for the first time. It is like ants nests, not a pleasing sights. Nevertheless, it is one of each kind. It is amazing how Tokyo could accomodate 12 million people. Once again 12 Million. It is 3 times the size of Singapore. It is not counting neighbouring satellite cities, e.g. Yokohama which has 3.5 million people. My life here so far has been amazing. Yeah, it is not easy, but it is just so much to see and it is overwhelming.

Ok, back to the train. It is best to make a well-planned visit because any mistakes made will be pretty costly. Let me elaborate on the train cost here. 1-2 stations away will cost 130 yen. 2-5 stations will cost 160 and every additional stations will just add the cost. Every transfer will incur the same cost again. Not to mention that 120 yen is the cheapest train fare, some train stations will start the fare at 170 yen, some even 200+ yen. So, if you take 3 trains exchange, it could easily cost you 500 yen for 1-way.

So, where are the places to visit? Disneyland is OK, it is definitely designed for children/ family rides, so unless you bring you children or small nephew/ niece, you will be better off going to DisneySea instead. DisneySea is designed for couple. So, it is also a bit sad if you are single.

Some traditional place to visit would be Asakusa dan Ueno. Well, Asakusa is good to try traditional Japanese snacks and tempura. As for Ueno, errr you can check it on the Lonely Planet

Shopping-wise: Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya. In Shinjuku, the prices are high due to the brands. In Harajuku and Shibuya, the products are catered to youths thus the lower price.

Other place to visit would be Odaiba. I think the place is so so. It is just to look at the rainbow bridge and some building architectures. Thus, if you don’t fancy architectural design, the trip may not be as satisfying.

How about food? Well, I think there are only 2 kind of eateries here. Either below 2000 yen and totally above it. You can find 1000 yen food easily. For restaurants, if it serves sashimi, it will cost 5000 yen.

3. Yokohama

Errrr, actually I will write about this later.

I think that is all.

I need to sleep now.