My visit to Japan(Part IV)..

In Shizuoka, I was hosted by two families. Both of my host fathers are members in Numazu Koryo Lions Club. Anyway, I spent my first five days in Nagoya during my homestay in Japan with other exchange students in a camp. I cannot recall the name of the place but it is on a mountain in Nagoya prefacture.

After the camp, the exchange students were seperated and being hosted by different families in different area. I was the only student being sent to Shizuoka where as most of them were sent to Aichi-ken.

I was hosted by たまきごと (Tamaki Goto). I call him ごとさん (Goto-san). It feels weird when you call someone of your dad's generation as if both of you are good friends. Anyway, during the second day of my homestay, he brought me to the Lions Club meeting at Numazu Tokyu Hotel. Talking about the hotel, the ammenities and services were superb, especially the food. The foods there is fantastic but too bad I do not have the photos with me right now.

Anyway, this the President of Numazu Lions Club. He is a very nice guy and he actually wanted to host me for a few days.

When he was giving his speech, I was totally clueless of the things he say. Out of sudden, everyone clapped their hands and the master of the ceremony (MC) suddenly called my name and I was like, "I am soooo sorry, I do not understand a single word from you guys. So, what do I need to do now??". I was standing in front cluelessly and then suddenly our national anthem, "Negaraku" was being played.

I was like, "Ohhhh, わかりました (now I understand..)". Initially, I was just standing there but the MC suddenly hold the mic in front of me which led me to no where. I was kindof being forced to sing. It was quite an embarrassing moment as I was singing alone and the most terrible part was that I am one of the worst singers in the world.

Then, I was asked to give a speech in Japanese. Luckily, I have been told beforehand about it and my host sister who studied in English Language helped me to translate the things I want to say into Japanese.

I translated the speech in the pronounciation form since I knew nothing about Japanese characters and currently, I still have the paper with me. The speech sounded something like this.

Minasan, hajimemashite.
みなさん、 はじめまして。

(Hi everyone)

Watashino namae wa Tan Jia Jian desu.
わたしのなまえは Tan Jia Jian です。

(My name is Tan Jia Jian)

JJ to yonde kudasai.
JJ とよんでください。

(Please call me JJ)

Watashiwa jyukyu sai desu.
わたしはじゅうきゅさいです。

(I am 19 years old)

Minasan oai dekite udesi desu.
みなさんをあいできてうでしです。

(I have no idea)

Dozo yoroishiku.
どうぞよろいしく。

(Nice meeting you guys)

After learning Japanese for 2, 3 months, finally I know some basic stuffs about japanese. I know what I was saying but due to my poor Japanese skills, the line " Minasan oai dekite udesi desu, みなさんをあいできてうでしです。", I have no idea what it means. *(If anyone know what it means, please do tell me..)

Then, we exchange souveniors. I brought some miniature building pewter products like KLCC and KL tower as a token of appreciation for them.

Then, all of us started to eat. While I was eating, a lot of people came to talk to me. Surprisingly, there were a few people who understands chinese. They are business people who travel to China constantly for business purposes and we communicated in Chinese. It was fun when you talk to them in your own, familiar language.

Then, there was a Japanese rockstar in the olden days I suppose, came out and sang us a few songs.

Then, all of us were mingling around and I took a lot of pictures with them. All of them were very nice and offered to bring me to visit their houses and the places around Shizuoka.

Then, it was the first time I met with my second host family. We talked a while and then I was being pulled over by some other lions. I felt like a VIP at that point of time where they ask me a lot of questions about Malaysia and my stuffs.

Not forgetting to mention, the Lions Club were very generous and sweet to us. They organized a skiing trip for all the exchange students in Nagoya.

It was sooooooooooooooo fun even though it was not my first skiing experience. I went to the expert lane with the third class skills with a Croatian guy who is a Ski-sensei. He brought me up and according to him, he will take care of me and I am flattered to say that I was the only student exchangee from Malaysia who tried the expert lane. Others were prohibited to do so.

The lane was extra steep and challenging. There were even a few trees in the middle of the lane. The adrenaline was rushing in my body at the maximum level when I was at the top of the hill because I know I might lose control and ended up smashing myself towrds the trees. For your information, I almost ski-ed into the jungle but luckily I managed to stop myself by falling sideway. Anyway, the 1km journey from the hill to the bottom was so dangerous yet fun. It suits well in one of my own philosophies, "To have fun, you must put your life at the stake." To put them into easier words, I am an idiot who do not mind losing my life just for the sake of having fun.

Anyway, a few friends and I did something fun at that night.

After finished bathing, a few of us got naked in the snow. As in real naked after taking the photo above, without any clothes on and, if I am not mistaken, for only 5 minutes as it was the furthest extent we can bare.

Anyway, the guy from the far right is the Croatian guy I mentioned before. The kindof plump guy on my left is from Australia whereas the guy at the far left is from Malaysia.

I will talk more about the things, or should I say, crazy silly things we did in the camp in other entry.

My visit to Japan(Part III)..

I had a rare opportunity amongst all the youth exchangees when I was in Japan. My host family actually brought me to Tokyo and I had a three fantastic days there.

Tokyo is not a small city which can be fully explored in 3 days. I only managed to see part of the 'must' and famous places.

We took Shinkanzen(Bullet train) from Shizuoka, Nagoya to Tokyo. When we reached there, the train station itself is one of the major historic places in Tokyo.

As what I have been told, it is the oldest train station in Japan. During the second world war, suprisingly, it was not destroyed where as the buildings around it were bombed into pieces.

Next, my host family brought me to Tokyo Imperial Palace. It is the main residence of the emperor of Japan. I do not know how big it is but all the royal families and relatives stay in there. Besides, the visitors are not allowed to enter the castle compound. We can just loitering around outside the castle.



Tokyo Tower probably is the most famous building in Tokyo. It is something like KL Tower in Malaysia. The similarity between them is both buildings are one of the tallest buildings in the country. Besides, we can actually see the whole Tokyo city from the air.. Even though it was not as interesting as I thought it could be, it is still a must to go. How can you go to Tokyo without visiting the famous landmark, right!?

Not forgetting, there is a maskot for Tokyo Tower. I cannot recall his name due to my weak memory but I remember the meaning of it's name, which is 'tall', if I am not mistaken.

Then, we went to the Japan's oldest temple, Sensoji temple in Asakusa. The main gate is called Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate).

After getting into the compound, you need to walk for around 200 metres to reach the temple. Along the road, there are a lot of stalls selling Japanese souveniors and snacks. The path is called Nakamise. The road is always packed with people. It is something like 'Pasar Malam'(Night Market) in Malaysia. The only difference is that Nakamise operation hour is from day to night.

Normally when we pay a visit to temples, we go there to pray and get some sort of "fortune-telling-paper"(Tilik-nasib-paper, I do not know what it is called in English) which will tell you about your luck or path or destiney, you name it for the following year. Of course, just for the sake of trying, I paid 100 yen and get a paper.

Unfortunately, it was a bad-luck-paper. From the kanji, I predicted that I will be facing a lot of difficulties and numerous obstacles in everything I do. Besides, my mind will be challenged and it will make me emotionally unstable. Lastly, I might get involved in a huge fight.

But not to worry, there is always a remedy for every problem. If we picked a bad luck paper, we just need to tie it to the rack so that the bad luck will stay there and eventually, your path of life will be changed.

I guess that's the reason I did not get any trouble in the following year.

When we were walking in Shibuya towards our hotel, I saw a Pachinko shop and I actually tried it. I did not and still do not understand how it works. I just simply play and in 5 minutes, my one thousand yen gone. I can't really remember how to play as well, it is wayyyy past tense.

Then, we went to one of the most expensive area in Tokyo which is Ginza area.

There were a lot of people walking in the city. I do not know why but when the pedestrian light is on, the streets will be full of people, as in a lotttttttttttttt of people. Have a look~~

These are the few buildings in Ginza area.

A photo speaks a thousand words. On the following day, we went to~~

Lets talk about Disneyland in my next entry~~
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My visit to Japan(Part II)..

During my stay in Japan, I was hosted by two families. I stayed with my second host family for five days. The family has four children and they are all guys. Yet, they are all younger than me where the eldest son is 15 years old and the youngest child is only eight. We were not very close due to language barrier as they can only speak limited english. Yet, we share something in common. We love fooling around when we visit ------------------> HERE..

Guess what, it is onsen, the public bath. The kids love playing with me when we are just wearing our own skin without any clothes on. They washed my back where as I gave them a few spanks in butt for pulling off my 'hair'. It was fun back then even though we were using body language only as our communication tool.

Anyway, my second host father is a priest. I stayed in his temple and there is a lake in front of the temple. It is an ideal, peaceful place with lots sakura tress. But, too bad, it was winter season. Tak ada sakura flower~~

During the new year celebration, my host family will be busy doing preparation for the temple. The woman will do the cooking whereas the man will help to settle things in front of the temple.

For your information, most of the japanese go to temples during the new year eve. Besides, the elders will give angpao to the younger generation. It is something like the new year celebration for the Chinese.

When it was around 10pm, they started to burn woods with some words written on it. I asked my host family about it but due to language barrier, we were like chicken and duck, unable to express our thoughts. Anyway, I guess it was part of their new year celebration ritual.

It was freezing cold that night as it was winter season. All of us were standing around the fire to keep our body warm.

Then, when it's 12.00 am in the morning, which is 1st of January 2007, we started to hit the gong.

I was the second person hitting the gong after my host father. According to them, I am the VIP from Malaysia.

We were supposed to hit the gong loud but apparently, some of the people did not do it properly and in the end, it was just 'gong' instead of "GGGGGOOOOOOOOONNNNGGGGGGGGG! ! !"..

We need to hit the gong for 108 times if I am not mistaken. Each and everyone of the people there will be given a chance to hit the gong, if there is not enough 108 people, anyone can hit it again until it reaches 108 times.

Then, we started to the pray.

I was praying with them in my shorts. I thought it will be around 10 to 15 mins. But, I was sooooo wrong. It lasted for an hour.

It was not that cold at first but it got from bad to worst. It was freeezing cold. In the end, I got sick on the following day.

So, the lesson of the night, do not wear shorts when you pray during the winter season.
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