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The morning of the test, I had to head out and be on a train by 8AM. I got to Nishi-Funabashi to transfer to the Toyo-Kosoku line. As soon as I walked down the stairs to the platform, it was one of the weirdest sights I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to explain, but even though almost everyone was Asian, you could tell immediately that it wasn’t a usual crowd of Japanese people. Almost every single person waiting on that train platform was a foreigner, and everyone was going to the same place as me to take the JLPT. Tons of people were holding up JLPT preparation books in various languages, checking notes and talking to their friends about the test. It was unreasonably loud with chatter too. It was so strange. The best way I can describe it is like the Harry Potter movies. You know, when they go to the train station and you see all these magic people, wizards, etc running around with shopping carts? Only instead of magical school kids and giants, it was nerdy looking white guys and Korean girls in emo glasses and trucker hats.

And that brings me to my next point. While you’d expect “group of foreigners in Japan” to mean a bunch of predominantly white people, you’d be pretty wrong. Actual Asians make up the biggest percentage of foreigners here. And that never applied more heavily than to the people taking the JLPT. Of course I only experienced one test site at Funabashi, but I’m willing to bet everyone else had similar experiences.
Does this match everyone else’s examinee groups fairly well?

In an attempt to make my page more intelligent-looking, I have constructed a pie chart showing the groups of people who were taking the JLPT this year. This has been scientifically validated and checked a few times by my imagination.

Let us examine each of these groups individually.

• Asian chicks – as I said, most of the foreigners taking the test seemed to be Asian, but then it also seemed that most of them were female. However, I had to add an extra subgroup (see next) to help classify further. This is the “without glasses” group.
• Asian chicks with emo glasses – It’s almost ridiculous how many of these girls were wearing emo glasses. It’s even more common now than the stupid trucker hats and furry collared-coats. But there are some girls who rock all 3, and I’m pretty sure they’re always the Korean ones. By the way, if you do a Google Image Search for “emo glasses,” most of the pictures that show up are of Asian chicks.
• Other Asians – guys, really really ugly females, and TheLeong.
• Middle Eastern guys – Although I don’t tend to see a lot of Middle Eastern-looking guys around Chiba or even when I go to Tokyo, there seemed to be quite a few taking the JLPT. And they also always seemed to be in groups, even more than the other groups present. Seriously, I never saw a lone Middle Eastern guy at the test. I didn’t seem to see any Middle Eastern girls though.
• Other – Mainly this is white people. Also the one black guy I saw. There are of course many sub-classifications for the white people I saw at the test, such as “confused looking old guy” and “huge nerd wearing way too much winter gear.”

Well that’s enough statistics and data for one night.

On Sunday I finished the JLPT, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, called the 日本語能力試験 in Japanese. This is kind of like the TOEIC test, but to measure Japanese ability for foreigners. Unfortunately, unlike TOEIC it’s only available once a year, meaning if you mess up and fail the level you take, you have to wait an entire year to re-take the test. There are 4 levels (級), with 4 being very basic (I passed this back in high school), and 1 being the most difficult. I took 2級 since I looked at last year’s 1級 exam and it would require a lot more studying than I wanted to do. Level 2 was pretty do-able I think. According to the official site, the requirements to pass level 2 are as follows:
The examinee has mastered grammar to a relatively high level, knows around 1,000 Kanji and 6,000 words, and has the ability to converse, read, and write about matters of a general nature. This level is normally reached after studying Japanese for around 600 hours and after completion of an intermediate course.

While I certainly don’t consider myself anywhere near fluent in Japanese, I’d like to think that my abilities are at least better than just being able to communicate about “matters of a general nature.” The official description for Level 1 says to pass you need to have “an integrated command of the language sufficient for life in Japanese society.” I’m pretty sure that I have been living a pretty sufficient life for the past 15 months, but oh well. I think the descriptions are just off, because like I said, that test looked ridiculous, with kanji and vocabulary that even Japanese people don’t use realistically.

I registered for the test back in September, and even bought some books to help prepare for the test. As should have been expected, I didn’t really do any prep for the test until mid November when I did last year’s exam as a practice test, then some actual studying the week leading up to the actual exam. Oh well. The test went pretty well overall, though more difficult than I was expecting. I think last year’s test seemed easier to me, but I could be wrong. As you only need a 60% (yes, that’s right) to pass levels 2-4, I’m fairly confident I’ll have a certificate being sent to me in February. I’m not going to count my chickens too early though. And yes, we have to wait that long for the results of a scantron test.

No real stories to tell about the test, although during the second section, Listening, some girl in the back of the room’s cell phone went off. At first it was a short alarm, maybe an e-mail, but then it started going off even more. While she may have been able to get by if she’d have shut it off really quickly and acted like it wasn’t her, the proctor finally got up and red carded her, ejecting her from the room and disqualifying her completely. Girl even tried to argue a little bit. Ha, ha. Yes, I have the right to laugh at this girl since the distraction probably cost me a question. Also a Thai girl sitting next to me didn’t even show up until the second test, meaning she already lost 100 of 400 points. On top of that, she didn’t understand the instructions in Japanese that one of the assistant proctors was saying, so I’m under the impression that 2級 was hopeless for her anyway. Overall, the people taking the test were more interesting than the test itself, so that leads me to the next post…

By now I’m sure all of you back in the states are reeling in pain over how much turkey and stuffing you’re eaten over the past few hours. I am extremely jealous. It’s Friday afternoon here, and it’s also Thanksgiving! Well, kind of. It’s actually Labor Thanksgiving Day, a kind of Japanese Labor Day. Anyway, it’s a convenient coincidence and also a day off over here, so that’s a bonus. While it’s possible to get turkey here, it’s even more impossible to find a way to cook it, so we’re all going out tonight for Korean BBQ at Top Run, the super yakiniku buffet, to gorge ourselves properly.

A quick story to start the day. I had a private lesson scheduled at 1PM today, so I was sitting around at the station waiting for the guy to show up. He calls me at 1:01 to say he can’t make it. Come on! I haven’t decided if I’ll make him pay for the lesson, which I think I’m supposed to do. I probably will. Anyway, as I go back to the illegal bicycle parking area, where I had been towed from less than 2 weeks ago, I take the lock off my bike and throw it into the basket. (Yes, my bike has a basket and a bell. Shut up). I get tapped on the shoulder by this old guy in a windbreaker. Excuse me, can I talk to you for a minute? Great, I figure. There are a few different religious groups and cults who hang around Chiba station trying to recruit people, so I figured this guy was one of them. I was just about to pull the old Sorry I don’t speak Japanese line when the guy reaches into his jacket pocket, presumably to pull either a brochure or a gun on me. Either way I didn’t want it. I’m not a weirdo or anything, I’m actually with the Chuo-Ward Police Department, he explains as he shows me his ID and badge. Crap. I assumed he was going to give me grief for parking my bike illegally along with the other 100 people who had done the same. Not at all.

Turns out him and his partner, who was standing behind me without me previously noticing, were just going around to do checks and stuff. They noticed the built-in lock on my bike had a key in it and looked broken, and just wanted to check. They asked me where I lived and my name. After I said Leong, I think he also kind of assumed me being foreign was part of the reason I was so weirded out by their sudden approach. Sorry to scare you, just wanted to see if your bike was OK. I explained that I don’t use the built-in one so I leave the key in it while I keep the other on my key chain. I use a stronger lock, which I pointed to in the basket.

So that was my first ever stopped-by-the-police encounter here in Japan. They didn’t need to see my ID, didn’t give me any grief, nothing. They were just trying to make sure I knew my bike might have been broken. They were actually some of the nicest random people I’ve spoken to here, which is saying a lot for Japan. It was kind of weird though, because they weren’t just the bike cops, they were actually plain clothes officers. Maybe detectives? Who knows. I’m just glad I didn’t give them any lip or didn’t to ignore them as I rode away, assuming they were cult members. The day might have gotten a lot messier.

For about a week and a half I was working up in Wako city, which was actually pretty fun. The most painful part of the assignment was the commute, which involved riding trains and subways for about an hour and a half one way. First I rode from Chiba to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Ikebukuro, then from there up to Wakoshi station. The first leg of the trip was usually pretty full in the morning, and I never got to sit down. Standing for about 40 minutes surrounded and crowded by mostly middle-aged to old men is no picnic, especially when you get a good whiff of “old man smell” that makes you want to vomit bloody diarrhea. And if you ever experience some guy pressing his sweaty back direct against yours, you too will feel the burning rage comparable only to Nick Roberts witnessing someone hawk a loogie onto the sidewalk.

Luckily, the last two trains I rode in the morning were usually less crowded and I was able to sit and sleep for those rides. It’s strange when you start a train routine, even if only for a week or two, because you adapt and start to remember all kinds of weird things, like which car to get on so that you’ll be closest to the escalator when you arrive. You also start to see the same people, whom of course you would never speak to, but there is that silent and awkward bit of acknowledgment in the split-second of eye contact you make when you realize this is the old man who almost drooled on himself the previous day. Or the old guy who was reading hardcore pornography last week. There was also the high school girl who probably thought I was just being creepy, even though I was just trying to figure out how a completely Japanese-looking girl was reading a super thick English mystery novel. Even I don’t attempt books that thick.

And there is no bigger victory on a train commute than scoring a seat, especially a corner seat, on a crowded train. For the most part my return trip from Tokyo to Chiba was always packed, even more than in the mornings. Having a seat was not a realistic goal. Once though, a miracle happened. I was standing in front of a corner seat, swaying back and forth on the grips while staring at posters advertising about 50 different brands of canned coffee. Somewhere around Kinshicho, which is relatively early in the ride, the guy sitting in front of me starts to gather his things and stuff them into his man-bag. I recognized immediately that he was going to get off the train. The seat would be mine. As soon was we stop, however, the greasy salaryman next to me starts to move. OH HELL NO. I casually yet powerfully swing my briefcase, already retrieved from the overhead rack, into the seat space and perform a counter-clockwise spin placing myself gently and smoothly into the treasured corner spot. Middle aged salary man didn’t know what hit him. I slept the rest of the journey in luxurious comfort, not only because I was sitting down after a long day’s work, but because I had just shown the guy now standing in front of me who’s boss of them all since 1983. ME.

I’m tired. After several days where my greatest accomplishment was leaving my apartment to get food, I had a super busy day to make up for all that. Went to bed around 4:30 or 5AM last night, and had to wake up at 7. Showered and put on a suit and hit the trains for Tokyo. Morning isn’t even that hot, but the humidity and the crowded trains definitely make it uncomfortable. Uchibo trains are especially ghetto, but the Sobu trains were fairly comfortable. Either way it’s not fun wearing a suit in this weather. Had a 10AM interview at a headhunting firm, which went pretty well. I was invited back for a second interview, which I guess is a good sign. I don’t really know about that line of work, though. After that, I snagged the subway to Shibuya, where I walked around a little bit but realized the blazing sun was making things very sweaty, so I ducked into a McDonald’s for some lunch/breakfast. I was already feeling tired. Not a good sign.

Walking further up the road towards Seibu and Loft, I considered seeing a movie because I had 6 hours to kill before my next interview and needed to be inside somewhere cool. Instead I went to this pretty nice internet cafe in the Shibuya HMV building. About 980 yen for a 3 hour day pack, which allowed me to chill out and most importantly take a bit of a nap. The place must be made for salarymen to nap, because the place was really dark and I heard a lot of snoring. Please don’t tell me I’ve become a salaryman. Anyways, it would have been more comfortable, but the reclining chair had some weird springs that made the chair move back and forth like a water bed or something. Even if I moved just slightly, the whole chair would swing a bit. It was almost like being in a hammock but not as extreme. It was nice at first, but got annoying when I was actually trying to sleep.

After my 3 hours was up, I headed to Akihabara to check out the giant Yodobashi. Instead I ended up wandering around and checking out the Crossfield building area, which is actually pretty cool. There’s like a beer terrace that would definitely be nice if I wasn’t wearing a suit and wasn’t running on 3 hours of collective sleep. Wasted some more time inside a bakery/coffee shop, and started feeling really tired, almost dizzy. I figured it was time to move around. Headed to Ebisu about 30 minutes before my next interview, which was good, because it was a longer walk than I had expected and I had to take about 10 minutes to cool off and get dressed. Since the morning I had already taken off my jacket, tie, and had my sleeves rolled up.

After that interview was all said and done and I made my appointment for the second interview, I headed back to the station. Is it just me, or do second interviews this time seem easier to get? 2 for 2 so far. Oh well. Went to Shinjuku to meet up with Mizuki; we were going to hit up some Mexican place but it was crowded so we went to an Indian restaurant in Takashimaya Times Square. Times Square is a really swanky department store, and our seats were on a terrace. First off that is potentially bad because it might be super classy expensive. Second of all there is warning signs because it’s balls hot outside. Luckily, the food was relatively cheap (and really good), and the breeze made the terrace quite nice. Overall a good night after a long day of sweating my balls off all over Tokyo.

Headed back on the train and luckily had a seat the entire way back to Chiba. Good thing too, since at one point there were people packed on, and in this weather that’s got to be uncomfortable. There were some weird troubles at Chiba with the Goi-bound trains, but I got the last one and got home. I’m still super tired, need to sleep, but more importantly need to pack for Seoul. My flight leaves in less than 12 hours and I haven’t started packing. Off to do that. Next blog will probably be from a Korean net cafe, provided I can somehow communicate with the people there.

Last Friday I got off work fairly early, and with so much extra time on my hands I decided I’d go to Ito Yokado, pick up some groceries, and make dinner. Everything was going fine until I got home, and went to turn the washing machine on. Something was weird…no water was coming out! I go and check my bathroom sink. Nope. No water. Kitchen also gave a negative. Water was out. Did I mess up somehow? Not pay a bill? It was the 3rd, and indeed I had a bill that was due on the 1st. Being Japan though, I’ve been late on bills a LOT. Mainly because there isn’t any penalty for being late on your bills. Panicked, I walked to the 7-11 and paid my water bill. As I rode the elevator back up to my room, I hoped that the system was advanced enough that if my water was shut off for non-payment, it would immediately be re-activated upon payment. Still, no water.

What in the world was I going to do at 8AM the next morning when I have to shower and go to work? Next step was to call the water company and see what the deal was. Again, being Japan, there isn’t really any such thing as 24 hour customer service lines. Every line I called had a recording that said they were only open until like 6 or maybe even 8PM. Finally, I was able to find a local service station that actually had someone working. I found out that 4 other people in my building had reported the problem, and it wasn’t my bill or even the water company’s problem. The building’s water pump was broken, so the most I could do was call my landlord. I e-mailed my new co-worker who lives in the same building as me, on the off chance that his water used a different pump than mine. Perhaps I’d have to borrow a shower. Unfortunately, his water was off as well. I got my landlord’s number from my manager at AEON, and of course that place was closed too. I was totally boned.

I went to grab some dinner at Matsuya, since I couldn’t make dinner without water. Also I had to take a leak really bad and my toilet didn’t work either. Cell e-mailing with my manager, who was probably in more a panic than I was, I found out that there is a public bath (銭湯) a taxi ride away from my place. That wouldn’t really do anything for me the next morning, since I have to be at work by 9:45 and that place doesn’t even open until 9. Kind of cutting it close. I knew there was a 24-hour public bath at the next station, Yawatajuku, so I thought I might give that a try if I wake up early. Last resort could be an internet cafe like Popeye in Chiba where they have shower facilities.

Went to sleep around 2, woke up at 7. It was a very rough sleep since I kept waking up in the middle of the night to walk to the kitchen sink to check if the water happened to come back. No deal. When I finally got up to my alarm, still no water. Headed to the station with hopes of checking out the place in Yawatajuku, which was also like a sauna or something. 24-hours is written in neon on the building, yet when I got there, the guy said the baths were closed for cleaning or something, and wouldn’t be open until 9. Great. I was pissed. Headed up to Chiba to shower in the internet cafe, which was actually really nice and huge. But anyway, got back home and got dressed properly and headed to work just barely making it in time. With the walking and the heat outside it didn’t feel super pleasant, but at least I had showered. I think my co-worker had used bottled water to shampoo his hair.

At work they called the landlord and they said it would be done that day. Indeed, it was taken care of when I went home during my break to check. Thank goodness the water was back. Life is hard without running water.