The Best Summer Job in Japan

Hello, Internet.  I have a lot to discuss today, so grab a notebook, some shredded Wheaties, and hop onto your favorite hammock.  Let’s get started.

As a foreigner, finding work in Japan typically requires a Bachelor’s degree.  Right now, I’m working towards an Associate degree in Visual Communications, and I’m considering continuing my education afterwards.  Anyway, what I’m trying to say is… There are opportunities to find work in Japan without a Bachelor’s degree.

Before I go any further, I should admit that my work was unpaid.  But… my airfare, housing, food, and transportation was all covered by Guy Healy, Japan, the organization that sent me to Japan to teach English at seven different three day summer camps for five and a half weeks.

It was a pretty sweet deal.  I wanted to go to Japan… and they wanted to bring American college students over to befriend campers that were eager to learn English in a fun environment.

My team and I worked with kids from elementary school through high school, preparing them for Eigo Kai, which was an English-speaking competition on the last day of camp.  The kids would perform a skit that the American counselors helped them write, they talked about themselves for 3 minutes in the My Story competition, sang songs that they wrote, and everyone had a good time.

During camp, we’d have dance parties with American music, a carnival with games and prizes, and we even had campfires.

Above everything else, our main goal was to become friends with the campers and provide them with a fun, safe environment for learning English.

It was always sad when we had to say goodbye to our new friends that were only in our lives for three days, but it was even more difficult to leave the team that I lived with during my stay in Japan.  We became a family, and I don’t use that term loosely. 

So, Guy Healy Japan’s USA Summer Camp was the perfect fit for me, since I’m still working towards a degree that will allow me to work in Japan full-time with pay.  I applied for the same program again this summer, and I was glad to be invited back for yet another summer of building my personal confidence, as well as gaining some independence that every adult should have.

Go onto the web, do some research, ask your school about opportunities to go to Japan if you really want to.  If I could go, then you certainly can, too. 

Remember to enjoy life, and take advantage of opportunities that you’re given. 

Take care,

Adam

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I Met Scandal in Chicago!

So I mentioned in a post a while ago that I was going to Anime Central in May to see one of my favorite bands of all time: Scandal.

The event was this weekend, so my friend Dillon traveled to Chicago with me for the trip.

Let me just say that the concert was a blast. They played so many great songs, although I didn't get to hear my two favorite songs: Taiyou Scandalous and Awanai Tsumori no Genki de ne.

That's alright, though, because today's event was very special for me. I went to the Q&A session that they had, and I wasn't expecting to do anything more than listen to the questions that people were asking.

But at the end, they had a quiz for the audience, and this quiz included prizes: folders of the band members with their signatures and today's date. 

Haruna asked the audience what the name of their mascot is, and I had no idea. Then Tomomi asked what the name of their first single was, and I had a feeling that it was "Doll" but I wasn't confident enough to raise my hand.

Mami went third, and she asked what anime their song Yoake No Ryuuseigun was made for. Before the translator even said the question in English, I knew the answer. However, so did a few other people, and she didn't pick me.  

Rina went last, and she asked what the encore songs were called. She picked a guy behind me, and he said "Everybody Say Yeah." But luckily for me, he didn't know the first encore song, and I did. Dillon was pointing to me while I raised my hand as high as I could, and she picked me. I said "Harukaze" and that word alone granted me permission to go up by the band.

I only had a few seconds while walking up to them to think of a nice compliment in Japanese, so I told Rina that I loved the song that she wrote, Oyasumi. To be exact, I said "おやすみが大好きだよ。"  In romaji, that's "Oyasumi ga daisuki da yo" and it means "I love Oyasumi." 

I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but Dillon can vouch for me that she seemed very flattered when I said that. She smiled, and I happily walked back to my seat. I had the time of my life, and it was so fun to be able to practice some basic Japanese while I'm still in the states. If I had time to talk to them, I would have said something like コンサートはとても楽しかったです。and that means that the concert was very fun.

And it truly was. I had the time of my life, and I'm really excited to be going back to Japan this summer!

That's all for now.

Adam

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Round 2!

Hey, I just wanted to write a quick post announcing that I will be returning to Japan this summer!  I'll be teaching English just like I did last year, except my assignment is most likely going to keep me in Japan a couple weeks longer.

Last year, I was in Japan from July 2 to August 8.

This year, it looks like I'll be leaving around the same time, but I won't be returning until August 28.

And then I'll have a couple days to relax at home before my career at UW Oshkosh begins, and I'll be majoring in Japanese.  I really couldn't be more excited right now.  It's 2:38 AM and I probably won't be sleeping very much tonight.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for today, and I'll keep you guys updated as we get closer to my departure date.

Until next time,

Adam

Japan Withdrawals

What can I say?  I've been home from Japan for over six months already, and I still think about my experience abroad EVERY day.  Yes, I'm glad that I was able to reunite with my dogs (and friends and family, too, of course) but I'm ready for Round 2 now!

Six weeks in Japan wasn't long enough for me, and the words of a wise American English teacher that I met early on in my trip constantly rings through my ears.  He asked us why we applied to be American counselors at summer camps, and I said that I wanted to potentially work in Japan for a couple years after finishing college, and this was a good short term summer job for me to get my feet wet before diving into the pool.

He said to be careful because the two year plan quickly turns into nine.  Obviously, he was talking from his own experience.  And maybe my goal isn't to teach English for a decade, but to have the experience of becoming a citizen in the country of my choice and being able to function like a normal person (communication, writing, etc) has always been a dream of mine.

I know that I'll have to leave my dogs (and friends and family) for extended periods of time, but this is MY story.  My goal.  My "television drama," if you will.  I'm the main character in this story, and I have to go where my life takes me.

Take care,

Adam
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The Fast Path Vs. The Fun Route

After having a long conversation with my dad in our hot tub a few nights ago, I started to reevaluate everything that I'm doing with my life right now.  I'm going to school for Visual Communications, and I'm planning on transferring to a university and continuing towards a Bachelor's degree.

However, I'm already having trouble finding time to study Japanese while attending school.  I'm not going to become fluent on my own.  If I would have, I'd almost be there already, and the only other option would be to drop everything and study Japanese full-time.  This wouldn't be for credit, and I'd probably be considered a bum by my peers.

My endgame is being able to move to Japan after finishing school.  So I have the fast path: continue down my current field and get to Japan in a few years.  Or... I could change my field of study to Japanese and Business, which was actually my plan in high school...  If I did this, school wouldn't get in the way of studying Japanese because I would be doing school work by doing my passion.  It would also make my study abroad trip more worthwhile when that finally happens.

On the other side, if I choose to major in Japanese, it would require me to move, possibly to Arizona or somewhere else outside of the midwest.  I'm looking at it as my first test.  If I can handle being away from my family for a semester at a time, then studying abroad and even moving overseas won't be a problem.

Either way, I have a lot of decisions to make, and I don't want to just settle for the field that I'm in right now.  I'm too young to say "Oh, I wasted enough time already, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and not be happy with it."  I need to do what makes me happy, and learning about Japan and its language has been my passion for years.

Until next time,

Adam
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Hot Tea is the Key

I know, the title is a little ambiguous, but I wanted to keep it short and simple.  So... here's the explanation.  Anyone studying Japanese (or any subject) intensively knows that some days are harder than others.  If you use Anki or another spaced repetition flashcard software, you know that the reviews can pile up, and sometimes you just don't want to do them.

I feel this way occasionally, and on these kinds of days, it's difficult to learn new material after barely getting through the reviews.  I feel unaccomplished, and I start to doubt myself, especially if I don't remember as many of the review cards that I wanted to have mastered already.

For example, my vocabulary, kanji, and sentence reviews take roughly an hour or more a day, and it takes a little bit longer than that to learn 25 new flashcards from each of the three sets.  But I found my savior, and that, my friends, is hot tea.

Here's my routine (varies from day-to-day depending on when I have classes): I try to wake up between 6:30 and 7:30, turn on the light for my fish tank and say good morning to them in the relaxing atmosphere that I created, brush my teeth, brew some tea, and go to a casual location with my laptop, such as my living room couch.  I'll do my reviews there, and I'll play music in the background for the flashcard decks that don't require that I listen to Japanese audio.

For me, hot tea puts me into "study mode" and makes the whole review process less frustrating.  I found something small that I could fit into my daily routine, and my quality of life increased greatly because of that.  You see, I feel incredible when I complete my Japanese studying for the day, and drinking tea gets me through the first half of the workload.

What gets you through the day?  Don't hesitate to leave a comment below.

Adam
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Scandal in Illinois! Is it Fate?

Last summer, I had an opportunity to go to Japan and teach English to kids for six weeks, but that isn't the important part of this post.  I'll talk all about my trip in future entries, but I brought it up because while I was in Japan, one of my friends introduced me to the Japanese band Scandal.

Anyway, we were at an electronics shop on one of our days off, so I bought their most recent single at the time, which is called Departure.  I gave it a listen and instantly needed to own more of their music.

To make a long story short, by December of 2014 I had acquired most of their albums and listened to various other songs of theirs on YouTube.

That's when I thought, "You know, next time I go to Japan, I'll have to try to see them live... Hmm, maybe they'll come to the US someday, too."

So what do I do?  I researched Scandal's tour dates and found out that they're actually going on a world tour, and they'll be stopping in the US.  At that point, I instantly thought that I'd be paying to fly from Wisconsin to California to see them.  I didn't care what the airfare was going to cost because I thought, "If they're coming from Japan, I can at least meet them halfway and fly to wherever they'll be in the US."

My jaw dropped when I saw that they're coming to Illinois.  That's less than a five hour drive for me, and I was able to convince a couple friends to tag along, even though they don't understand any Japanese.    

Scandal will be playing on the first night of the Anime Central Convention at the Rosemont Theatre in Illinois, and since I had to pay for the full weekend at the convention in order to be able to see the show, I might as well stick around for the rest of the festivities that are planned.

To make this an even bigger deal, they're playing five days after my 21st birthday, so it's sort of like my celebration.  I'm excited, and I'm sure I'll blog about the whole weekend four long months from now.  But that's it for now.

Later,

Adam
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