Thomas, Roger, Miki, and Declan hiding in the back of the Int'l Office

Wally's Yamasa Journal

Too bad though. One thing in the back of my mind when I started planning this trip was whether to schedule it so I could be here for the arrival of spring in Japan (it wasn't practical to do so). The spring equinox and Hana-mi big events here and I've always wondered why we don't celebrate New Year's at this time of year instead of on January 1st when winter's just getting started. Spring has a much bigger feeling of renewal. On that note, I have to end my stay in Okazaki.

The journal is pretty complete now. Declan helped me place the final pieces by showing me how to put in video links since he finally returned to the office after being away on tours for the past twelve days. I've enjoyed putting together this journal. I've never written and/or compiled something this complete for any single segment of my life so far, much less for a three month period. From the school's perspective, the reason for having me do this is to provide prospective students, as well as any other interested party, a window through which to experience life at Yamasa, in Okazaki, and in Japan. In that, I hope I have done my job well enough for their expectations and those of whomsoever reads these pages. Of course, the experience will be different for everyone and I'm not going to say that mine is a definitive one here, especially since my program, at three months, was relatively short and I spent my time during the school's slow period. I don't like crowds or line-ups so I'm not sure I would have liked living in the Student Village in the summer when the place is packed and the kitchens, showers and computers would be busier.

Taxi role-playing game in SILAC program

One thing I regret, ironically, is that partly because of my work at the International Office, I didn't spend enough time studying Japanese language while I was here. I wish I was able to find a place in the Okazaki community to connect with people here because I was looking for the conversation practice. Maybe a suggestion would be, though a cautionary one, is to use the internet to find someone in the region beforehand and develop a friendship so you have someone to talk to when coming to Okazaki. I have many friends in Japan but most are in the Tokyo area or Kyushu. I still think organizing a few drop-in team sport nights for both the students and the community, through either the school or the Okazaki International Association, would help both connnect to each other.

While I was upstairs in the student lounge warming up lunch on Monday, one of the classes was doing a role-playing game pretending they were riding in a taxi, using their chairs, giving instructions to a driver. I had a few role-playing games when I was in classes back in December but not as active as this. Then again, I'm glad I haven't had to try to describe in Japanese how to tie a shoelace like I did back in elementary school. It was hard enough to do in English. Many of the students were also working hard this past week to prepare for a speech contest at the school this Friday. I wish I could have stuck around for it.

Woodpecker Cafe

I`m heading for Tokyo in the afternoon on my final day of the program after compiling enough extra worktime beforehand to take more than half a day off. It was just easier considering I had a few people to see there over the next few days plus it made it easier to check out of my room at the village. Most of the provisions I bought worked out perfectly for my three month stay. Soap, shampoo, shaving gel, toothpaste, dental floss, laundry soap, all about to run out just as I`m leaving. I hate to waste, especially here since recycling is heavily encouraged. Funny thing with the food is that a can of salmon and bowl of instant ramen I bought during the first week for a time when I needed a quick meal were the last things I used. With the food run out, I finally decided to give the nearby Denny's a try for breakfast since all I could find elsewhere in the morning to eat is toast. The night before I had a gyuudon, a bowl of sliced beef on rice, for dinner at the Woodpecker Cafe, another bit of irony considering the news surrounding bans of beef imports from North America because of fears of Mad Cow disease.

As for packing, I decided to send the big box and one of my bags directly to the airport with the takuhaibin service available at the Mini Stop next door. I filled the big box early and brought it over to check to see if it would be acceptable. The good news was that it just fell under the 30 kilogram limit for checking it into the plane. The bad news was that it was four kilograms too heavy for the 25 kilogram limit for the takuhaibin service, Just needs a little taken out. It`ll still be way better to pay the 2,300 yen to have it sent straight to Narita than lugging it on the train anyways. It`s certainly a lot better than the 10,000-plus yen it would have cost to mail it.

Now that the program is over, well, the twelve weeks do feel like they went by very quickly. I`ve written trip summaries and highlights for recent past travels but thinking about it, it`s hard to pick out single places or events as favorites (the Christmas Eve fireworks at Nagoya Port and Sapporo being exceptions). I`ve packed a lot in during this stay (as if this journal doesn`t say that enough already) and although there are a few things I wish I did differently while I was here, I can`t say there was too much more that I could have done.

If anyone reading this is looking for any short piece of advice on how to approach attending a school program at Yamasa, all I can say is plan diligently and explore the website. I am still impressed with the tonne of information in here and was happy to add to it during my workstudy program. It is by poking around the website that I found this position about two or three months after I started planning this trip back in March last year.

Speaking of planning, you`d be surprised how quickly three months of time can be booked up. I knew before I arrived here that after seeing what tours were available, picking places I wanted to see myself, and other such things, I was already running short of free time. Of course, it's nice to still have some available for things like Discovery Tours unannounced on the website or events organized by the Okazaki International Association (Cooking and Karate class, for example).

The planning also helped out the finance end of things. I actually came out well under budget because the facilities at the village let me cook most of my meals and I only used the local buses and trains twice each which, if used daily, probably'd have cost me at least 10,000 yen a month (get a bike!). I haven't got around to figuring out how much I'd been spending on groceries, daily buys off the vending machines, and other food related stuff but, at a guess, on average, I'd say I probably spent about 7-8,000 yen a week not counting special occasions.

Poker club at the Student Village

All the planning in the world won't matter if you don't feel secure in the environment around you. The people have been great here, both Okazaki and Yamasa alike. I still recall the time someone found a classmate's keys to his room and bike and left them in the basket. As I was about to leave the Student Village for the last time, a Mini Stop employee stopped by to give me a refund from an overcharge on one of the bags I sent to the airport the night before. It's nice when you can feel confident that things will work out if you're willing to see things to the end. My friends in the village pulled together one more poker game Wednesday night for me. On the very last hand, I pulled out what I can call an over-full house - three aces and three eights.

SILAC Teachers office

Thanx to them (not necessarily for the money won last night - overall, I broke even), my other fellow students, Declan, Roger, Miki, Thomas, and Jon in the office, the teachers upstairs working in the SILAC program, and all others whom it would take to long to name. It's people that makes it all work and it's all worked out tremendously.

Ittekimasu!

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