By Jason, on January 25th, 2012
Yep, it’s so far away from last Friday that–if I chose to wait another day or so–I could still technically be right on ‘Friday’ and just a week late. Sorry about that; working abroad (and in Japan) puts certain requirements on you. If asked whether you like working early mornings or late nights and your answer isn’t an enthusiastic “BOTH!!!“, you may not want to work in Japan. Yep yep.
I went to volunteer as an English teacher on Saturday, which was fun, and then had to renew my driver’s license on Sunday, which was not fun. But all the same, I’m glad to have a valid license for another 3 years! Otherwise, I’ve just been busy with work and narrowing down schools to go to for translator certification. So many choices.. I have some appointments for counseling sessions later this week. Wish me luck!
But now, let’s finish this up, shall we?
Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail
Friday Edition
Continue reading Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail – Friday
By Jason, on January 20th, 2012
Yes, even I have a hard time rambling about the junk that ends up in my mailbox. Forgive me; yesterday was not a good day for junk (I was also busy, but let’s not dwell on that). Today was a long day at the office (wound up starting early and didn’t get away from my desk all day; I was fortunate enough to have some corn soup in a can for lunch while continuing to type away), but that’s not to say it’s a bad day. Just busy.
In other news, I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but I’ve started looking into learning Chinese this year. I’ve tracked down some schools to get licensed as a translator (those courses will start–like all schools in Asia–in April) and found two different Japanese tests to take this year, but I’ve always wanted to learn know 3 languages. As weird and pointless as it may be, I’ve always felt it was a personal goal of mine to be trilingual (polyglot, for those of you who care about the technical word for it). I don’t plan to stop with Japanese–as I mentioned, I have 1-2 tests lined up this year and will be taking a translator training course in Japanese–but I would try something new while I still have loads of free time. Besides, if I learn Chinese in Japanese, I’ll either kill two birds with one stone, or myself in the process.
This weekend? Going to volunteer to teach English in Tokyo (there’s an English conversation group that meets twice a month) and renew my driver’s license. Fun all around!
Right now? Well…
Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail
Wednesday + Thursday Edition
Continue reading Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail – Wednesday/Thursday
By Jason, on January 18th, 2012
Just a quick post: Seems people are finding my journal while searching for help on e-mailing @docomo.ne.jp. So, I figured I’d try to offer some help:
Docomo is a cellular phone company and therefore all e-mails to those addresses go directly to people’s phones. I use docomo (ドコモ) and had this issue as well. Since spam is a big problem (especially when it goes straight to your phone), all cellular phone providers in Japan allow you to block PC-based e-mail (in fact, it’s the default on most). If your e-mail isn’t coming from a standard cell phone provider, your e-mail will be blocked.
I’m sorry to say, but there’s no way around this except to ask the recipient to change the settings through their carrier (it’s not an option on the phone; the server deletes your e-mail before it’s delivered to the user). They can do this using web-based menus (through iMode on Docomo) or at any shop.
Hope that helps!
By Jason, on January 18th, 2012
Blah, tired. Not so much of a ‘sleepy’ kind of tired, either. It’s more of the ‘Focus and concentration is completely shot, so I stare off into space’ variety. Working in a law firm seems to be like that: Long periods of time waiting for something to happen mixed with bursts filled with ridiculous amounts of work. You’ve got 3 hours worth of projects to do, and 1 hour to do them all because the court will be closing for business. Needless to say, your 1 hour deadline will be filled with phone calls and e-mails from people wanting updates. This definitely differs from teaching English in Japan in that there your job is mostly to listen and engage in conversation. The best way I can express to people the need for attention to detail in this job is by pointing out one random fact: Did you know that there are italicized commas and periods, and that they look different? I didn’t, and now I’m charged with finding them.
Fortunately, I rather like my job and working in general. It is, however, not for the faint of heart (or who don’t care for lots of stress). On the positive side, the coffee is delicious.
Now, I bet you thought that I forgot to document all my pointless junk mail. Of course not! Here we move into…
Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail
Tuesday Edition
What did the advertisers leave for me today?
Continue reading Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail – Tuesday
By Jason, on January 17th, 2012
I may not be teaching English in Japan anymore and spend my days at a desk, but my life still ends up being rather eventful. As I said earlier, I get a lot of junk mail. I’m sure it’s all a part of city (and apartment) life, but I still find the sheer breadth and quantity of the advertisements fascinating, so I decided to do you all the favor (?) and document all the inane junk I get over the week so we can all share in the joy of the random stuff that ends up in my mail box. So, without further ado…
Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail
Monday Edition
And trust me, we’re starting off strong.
Continue reading Let’s Read Jason!’s (junk) Mail – Monday
By Jason, on January 17th, 2012
I know I’ve mentioned in the past that I lived in Hokkaido for a brief period back in 2005 (when I was 19) for the summer, and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that it was a “small town” and “in the middle of nowhere”. Anyone who’s known me long enough probably also knows that I usually describe that place in far more colorful terms, but let’s not dwell.
I finally got around to looking through Google Maps and I found the place where I lived and worked in the summer of 2005! This is Tsurui-mura in Akan . . . → Read More: Out in the wilderness
By Jason, on January 15th, 2012
I’m sure I must have mentioned this in the past, but it’s a lesson that bears repeating: there’s a unique challenge to being an American in Japan when listening to stories of the past.
Of course it’s relatively well known that my major in university was in East Asian Studies: Japanese History. I spent 3 years of my life studying Japanese (and Chinese) history, all the way from the earliest written accounts until modern times. Since my interest is more on modern society, I kept the majority of my studies to the 1800s through today (in both Japanese and . . . → Read More: Picking sides
By Jason, on January 11th, 2012
Merry Christmas, Happy Jason’s Birthday, Happy New Year, and all that jazz. It’s been a long and eventful past few weeks with my sister being in town, which is why I haven’t been writing as of late. It’s the first time I’ve spent any significant time with my sister in over 3 years, so it seemed kinda important to just spend as much quality time as possible.
Highlights include making an outrageously gaudy cake for my birthday, eating food that is undoubtedly bad for me, and–best of all–TRAIN MUSEUM!!!!!!
 TRAIN MUSEUUUUUUUUM If you can’t identify what’s absolutely awesome about train museums, then I feel bad for you. This also means that I apparently feel bad for about 90% of the world, since I can’t imagine a lot of people are thrilled by train museums. But hey, that’s your loss.
It goes without saying that there was a lot that happened and I have lots to pontificate and ramble on about, but we’ll do that later. Right now, I wanna talk about the events of today. I want to talk about my good ol’ buddy, The Financial Planner!
After having put him off for nearly a month (he’s persistent; I’ll give him that), I finally gave in for a “Financial Advisory Meeting” during my lunch break. I, unfortunately, am endlessly curious and have little else to do during that time, so I figured I’d give it a shot and see what the big sell is.
Let’s see how it went, shall we?
Continue reading Happy New Year!
By Jason, on December 20th, 2011
Of course!
There’s really nothing to say that can explain this picture. I was just watching tv and felt like drawing this. I like the sense of focus given with the blurry background. Will have to try more with that later.
Anyway, all’s going all right with me. Just going through all sorts of drama with getting a prepaid cell phone for my sister, and work’s getting busy since people want to get their projects and case filed before the end of the year. Busy, busy, busy.
And yet, still enough time to be egotistical and draw . . . → Read More: Fishing in a cup of cocoa from a marshmallow?
By Jason, on December 18th, 2011
I’m really tired right now (haven’t really been sleeping well for the past two months, but that’s another story for another time), so I’m gonna keep this short.. But here we have some pictures of the Christmas party with my ex-high school students! From left to right, we’ve got Shimizu, Mao (not Chairman Mao.. He was busy), Rie, and Sayuri. One more was supposed to come, but she was busy with a university event.
It was nice to see them all again and to just talk casually (not in a teaching/instructional way), and it was nice to . . . → Read More: Christmas. Cookie. Party.
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