Post script: This and previous posts are all written at home and brought to school to be cut and paste.

Another day! Today I woke up at bleeding 5.05am because I thought the cat was coming into my room. I *thought*, but there was no cat. Then I drifted to sleep and back before finally waking up at 8a.m.

Breakfast was Japanese rice ball, Japanese fried dumplings and miso soup. Oishii~ Japanese rice is a lot more stickier than our rice. It fills you up really fast too.

Today’s my oral interview and my slot’s at 11:55am. I left home early because I wanted to explore a bit, I thought I’ve seen a DAISO nearby but couldn’t find it when I walked around.

I found a 7-11 and went in to ask if they had calling cards. I still haven’t called Mom, bad daughter. Using my broken Japanese, I ask (probably in not lady-like grammar) if they have the card. The 7-11 staff were very very helpful.

In Malaysia, if they don’t have, they would probably say, “No.” and expect you to leave. But here! they flipped their notes and brought me to their computerised ticket buying system and poked at the touch screen.

At last, I saw some card that looked like a calling card. I asked for one and the lady printed out a voucher. The guy cashier scanned the voucher and out came my reciept. The lady poked some buttons on a machine and out came a “printed calling card.”

Even though the staff was helpful, the printed paper wasn’t at all. I still don’t know how to use the paper/ card. There’s no freaking number for me to dial for access! Mom, please wait some more!

After that, I walked a bit further down and gave up looking for DAISO. I turned to the direction of the train station.

Japanese children are really really cute. They have plump rosy cheeks and their moms dress them nicely. The language is already cute and even cuter when in a (real) baby’s voice. I don’t mean the “act cute” voice some girls in dramas use.

On the train, there were several babies and fashionble young moms. Cool country.

Here’s my (very cheap looking) which I put in my pocket and now it looks like it’s already one month old. my bad! but you’re too cheap too.

Oh, the day was sunny and it feels like the UV rays are much stronger here. Perhaps I need to reapply lots of sunblock. It was so sunny during my walk to scool.

When I reached school, I decided to try the post office ATM. My card went in but the ATM told me they don’t recognize it. OI! I need money

Nevermind, I’ll ask others about this. I shall go use the internet at the International Student Centre first to check out how to use the calling card. The info on the net wasn’t very useful. AHH! I tried using that to call but it was useless.

I met a Malaysian girl who’s studying in the US and came with tow other friends. MC told me they were planning to travel after ATW. She said I can join them. THey’ll be going to places I want to go too. COOL!

I hurriedly updated the blog with pre-typed material and photos. The photos didn’t turn out well, I had resized them in Picasa and they turned out horrible in Xanga. Hope this entry’s photos turn out well.

My oral test at 11.50 went OK. The first thing I told the prof was, “I’m very unconfident in my spoken Japanese.” The prof’s really nice and chatty. He didn’t make me feel stupid like the one in my NUS placement test did.

He told me I will be in level 5 and I could be transfered to level 4 if I feel I’m not ready for level 5. Thanks!! Maximum level’s 6 and they’re really really good. I will be in class with NUS students who were in LAJ level 3. Faint. I haven’t practised much but (be confident) I will do my best and make it!!!

Had lunch with my tutor, Wawa and her tutor. My tutor brings her own lunch. You can’t get more ladylike than homemade (granny made) lunch!!! I checked her skin and it wasn’t caked with foundation. Some people have all the luck!!!

Oh, here’s the reciept for lunch and you can see they tell you how much calories you’ve had, the salt, reds, yellows and greens you’ve had. (As if we need to know!)

After lunch was class. We’ll be having it in a 100 year old building. It looks like scenes from Japanese horror movies, seriously. The class room’s large but stuffy. The chair was so hard. Thank goodness the Malaysian girls sat quite up front or I would have fallen asleep.

Class didn’t fly by, unfortunately, but Prof Teow’s from NUS so I can still understand him. Before the end of class was a self-intro. Turns out lots of people like to drink and to sing karaoke.

At the end of class, I thick skinnedly joined a group by asking S (who’s from Thailand) if they were doing anything. Operation Leeching was a success. S and I tried our cards at ATMs and asked a bank’s employee but still no cash. SOB

I took photos of Junichi and Jun from vending machines. HAPI~ (Japanese for happy -_-“)

We went into the tiny streets in search of the 100 yen store. At last we found it by asking a granpa.

The shop’s not that large and it was the 4th floor of a supermarket. I bought writing stuff, a face spray (it’s summer and I want to see if it’s good enough to set my foundation), a bottle of lemon sugar water. I always try to limit myself to five items when I’m in shops like those.

We went down to the supermarket. They had beers in all sizes! One litre, regular and condensed milk tin size. Their pudding looked fantastic in the open fridge but I didn’t buy it because I’ve already have fake lemon juice.

The “tour” ended and I took a bus alone back to the train station. No one lived near me and everyone else stayed in the dorm.

At least I can read kanji, which helps very very much. I found a bus and hopped on when it came. The buses here aren’t that frequent and they have the schedules stuck at the bus stop.

The bus sign said my stop is two stops away. But it wasn’t, it went on and on before finally stopping at where i thought was near the train station because it had the same name.

I was so wrong!!! I had to walk and walk before I got to the station. Another try at using the calling card and nothing happen. Merde.

My train ride is rarely crowded. I wonder if it’s because not many people take it or I always (luckily) miss rush hour. hmm

When I reached my stop, the sun was still out. I got back and okaasan told K to walk the dogs. I went too and was in charge of Benni a mongrel who (yes, a “who”) isn’t cute. Bummer. K and I had nothing to talk about during the walk. I wonder if it’s me that’s anti-social. But I will be thankful that he’s not an otaku or a visual-kei (really weird subculture where they make themselves up to be really scary looking) or an emo kid. Phew

Dinner was baked sardines with miso soup. Super yummy. We had green tea too.

The green tea here is made up scooping green tea powder into a teapot, unlike back home where I used teabags.

We watched a quiz TV program. I like TV so much… I will ask if I can watch Maou on Fridays 10pm. Please please please let me watch!

Afterwards, it was shower time and time to finish my blog.

See you in the next entry. I hope to explore the library tomorrow and see if they have anything nice.

The entry’s so long. Hope you’ve had the patience to finish it. I hope I will have just as much things to say by the end of the program. ^_^

Really tasty looking bottles

Prescript– Divided yen by 30 to get Malaysian RInggit. Then divide it by 2.4 to get Singapore Dollar. ^__^

Today’s breakfast was toast with omelette. The omelette is cooked with milk so it’s sweetish. Oishii!

I went to school early even though I did not have class in the morning. I wanted to see if I can make it to school on time if I leave around that time.

I went to a phone booth near the train station and tried calling home with the phone card. A very loud noise beeped but I didn’t hang up and was rewarded with a lady’s voice telling me I have 1,150 yen in my card.

I dialed the home number and was told my phone call is 17 minutes. That’s really expensive, RM30 for 17 minutes. Gulp.

Mom picked up the phone and I chat with dad too. I keep forgeting that it’s an hour earlier here. I didn’t call long but when I hung up and check my calling card balance, it wa only 400-something yen. Maybe I should call less.

The train was not packed as usual. I reached the station a little before class time. I read the posters and found one of Maou, with Ikuta Toma looking seriously serious. Not that good looking with that sour face, my dear.

I took another road to see if I can reach the school. I did and it seemed shorter than the roads I took the last few times. (Oh, it’s only two times? It seems a lot longer than that.)

I found Oguri Shun on a vending machine.

And guess who else!

The last person I expect — Meg Ryan!! Walau. Dare you drink Meg Ryan endorsed canned coffee?

I also found 500ml cokes. Cool, it’s around RM 3.70. Expensive but cool!

I went to the Japan Post ATM to try my luck. And my luck was there! I successfully withdrew my school fees. I went to pay immediately because I’m afraid of being robbed.

Then I went to the library to use the internet. My luck ran out and I got a Windows 2000 computer. It was so so so sloooooow. And quite stupid too. Updated my blog and found myself really really bored…

After that, I went with a bunch of people to lunch. I choose another line today and didn’t know how to choose so I ended up with a fish and omelette. ha ha.

Then it was class at another building. I heard that the buildings were sinking. ha ha. I’m so lazy to study. ahhh… what should I do??

After class, we went downtown. The bus ride was 220yen, which is RM7.00++ So expensive!

In town, we visited UNIQLO. They were selling yukata. The cheapest is last season’s (I’ve seen it on someone’s blog) and was only 1,990 yen. It’s a very red yukata with lighter flowers and a yellow obi. Others were selling at 4,900 yen.

Should I get the really cheap one? The others told me that probably a lot of people have bought it from there and it’ll be really embarassing if two people have the same outfit. Advice please!.

Then Som and Wawa and I went off on our own. They’re fans of ARASHI and W was very excited to see this billboard.

We had an embarrasing time trying to get a picture of her in front of the board without attracting too much attention (which we did) Even the policeman stood near to us. Ahh!

Oh!!! I’ve finally seen Japan’s beauty products store. I tell you, they are HUGE! Its size is about a shop’s size and stacked with so so many stuff! I was too excited to see them that I didn’t take a photo. I shall next time.

In the end, I fullfilled two things on my wish list.

The toner, less than 1,000yen, it’s 980yen. Wow. I thought it would be expensive. from magazines I thought they were glass bottles but they’re actually in plastic. I tried the testers and found that its texture is like emulsion. I snapped one, very happily.

At another shop, I found KATE’s gel eyeliner. Snapped that up too. It’s 1,250yen which is less than the advertised 1,500yen. And after exchanging it’s only RM41 something. I thought it was cheaper in Taiwan, but in fact with Taiwan’s stronger rate, Japan is the cheapest.

But holy crap! it’s damn tiny.

I tried in on the back of my hand and it draws on well. Will use it before deciding whether to stock up.

I LOVE Japan!

Interesting thing in the library toilet. It sounds like really loud flushing if you press it. I beleive it’s to mask the sounds of you-know-what. Perhaps it’s less embarassing than you-know-what. What do you think?

Love,
YQ

Things to do:
-Buy yukata
-Buy rechargeable batteries

Pre-Script: Very disappointed that I do not have internet connection in my room. Bummer. Hope I will be able to post this when I bring my laptop around. Or when I use my thumbdrive to bring all this to school.

I flew from Changi’s Terminal 3. The place is sparkly but no interesting shops were open at 8.30am. The departure area looks the same as Terminal 2 to me. No wonder Changi’s voted the best airport, the services available are amazing. Reclining seats for tired travellars and free internet. Shanghai’s airport has plug point but no wireless LAN. It sucks! (will blog about it later)

My luggage was 1.9kg over the stated 20kg. A couple in front of me was told by the girl at the check in counter that they cannot bring their overweight luggage in. bla bla bla. But at my counter, it was a middle aged man and perhaps D is right about “Lolita Complex” but I would rather be in a complex than pay money. ha ha

My air tickets

A phrase book I bought at S$5 from Carrefour.

China Eastern’s plane wasn’t bad. It’s a lot better than I’d imagine, the seats are blue and red. On the plane, I was seated quite near the business section and there weren’t many people around me. Most of the people switched seats and so did I. I had a four seat row all to myself. :D

For lunch, we were given a choice of pork with rice and fish with noodles. It’s the first time I’ve heard of pork on the plane. I’ve flown from planes leaving Malaysia, which muct be the reason no pork is served. Of course I ordered pork. I don’t like soggy noodles (which comes with fish).

The meal wasn’t bad. Only the bun had the texture of really hard wholemeal bread. And that thing does NOT look wholemeal. I lathered on the butter but couldn’t finish it. When I was a kid, I absolutely loved plane food’s bun, actually, I love the butter more than the bun.

I only had a meal on the plane. Was disappointed because I was expecting four meals like last time I had on the plane from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur. I don’t have enough money to eat in Shanghai’s airport (they were selling a set meal at around S$20). I’ll bleed if I eat that.

weigh your hand carry here

Charge your phone here

Shanghai Pudong’s terminal 2 is sooo boring. There is no free wireless and I couldn’t go online to update my blog. *sob*

The plane to Fukuoka was quite full. I was seated next to a 25 something Japanese dude. He gave me candy and wrote in Chinese characters to communicate. I used my really broken Japanese to reply.

At last we reached Fukuoka airport. The view from the plane was fantastic. The city looked bright with lights. All my nervousness was gone as I told myself, “THIS IS IT!”

It was raining when we got down. JAL employees handed us umbrellas. It was very exciting for me. I’ve only seen them in dramas. How cool is that! (How lame I am!)

Guess what was the first photo I took in Japan? This:

How to use a squat toilet. ha ha ha

The immigration guy was really lenient and I passed the booth after scanning my two index fingers and giving the camera a BIG smile.

But the guy at the luggage checkpoint was a busybody. He asked, “Why did you come from Singapore?” Only after two hours did I realise he was trying to say, “Why are you in Japan?” Man, that’s two different Qs! So I told him I am a student in Singapore. He didn’t understand and I had to let him see the photocopy of the letter from Kyushu University.

I met the welcoming team and they sort of looked at me strange. Is it my makeup-less face? Is it my hairy legs?

My host family was there and because I didn’t try too hard to imagine how they look like, it was a nice surprise. But my peer tutor turned out to be a tall, beautiful girl with the right amount (in this part of the world) of make up.

The host family is really nice and polite. AH! Politeness is what I don’t understand… The journey home was long and I didn’t talk much because of my limited spoken Japanese. I will work on this once I’m taking lessons.

It rained hard when we got back. It’s the rainy season and it didn’t feel like it’s a summer.

The pets turned out fine. Quite cute, very clean. Seems like they have an overflowing love for animals. They’ll faint if they know how we treat animals back home.

The family and I sat at the table to “chat” and have juice. Awkwardness 95%!

I took a Japanese bath and it wasn’t as relaxing as I had imagined. I slept well.

As Confucious (or some other old chinese guy) was quoted, “A thousand mile’s travel starts with the first step.” I have stepped in to Changi Airport and my journey begins.

Yesterday, I collected my JR pass, insurance and misc cards. Rushed to International Relations Office to get the insurance endorsed but was told to go to Japanese Studies. Ran with N to JS office but lady there said no need. It was a good exercise.

Went to Suntec to buy travellers’ cheque but was told no DBS in Singapore has Japanese yen t/ cheques. What!! then why on earth did they write on their site that they sell them??? In the end, changed some cash and decided to withdraw using ATM card there.

What else happened. Oh, dinner at my uncle’s. Let’s skip that.

This morning, was fine too. Weather looks ok. everything will be alright!

See you in the next post!

To J and N, signed up for chatterbox but don’t know how to stick it in the blog!

reached SG yesterday.

Bought these stuff at STA Travel in Science co-op (grouchy lady)
– Insurance $120
– Youth hostel card
– International student card
– JR Rail pass. -had to pay extra $20 express fees because normally get the pass after three working days. sheesh

a total of $551.

have to buy travelers cheque today and get money exchanged

Contributing to cyber junk with a birthday greeting to my sister!

お誕生日おめでとう！

I’ve never really packed my luggage before going to university. I used to count how many days I will be in a place and throw the same number of clothes. I even have to sit on my suitcase for it to zip.

But university education has fullfiled my life. Now I can pack in less than two hours for a seven week trip! Yes, taking classes in university has taught me that it doesn’t matter how carefully you’ve prepared packing — You’ll still forget something.

So don’t worry about the small stuff. Just throw what you can remember into your luggage. And of course, get a suitcase that’s large enough to store everything without you sitting on it.

-Seriously though, I’ve learned more about throwing (letting go, as some would say) than packing.

I’ve received an email from my peer tutor in Kyudai. It went into my spam box, probably because the email address has numbers so it looked suspicious to the very stupid gmail algo.

My p/t is N-chan who’s majoring in American and English Lit. (Cool!) She likes movies and dramas (me too, except I’m more nerdy and like manga too) And she likes to search for nice cafes. (I would like that too if I weren’t this stingy)

And I’ve emailed another ATW participant who’s also on the same flight as I am. (Yipee!) And she has a friend who’s going too. Smart birds fly in a flock (on cheap air tix).