Canada(カナダ): Happy New Years!

To all those in the Canada, Happy New Years!!

日本(Japan)：あけましておめでとうございます！

日本の人口へあけましておめでとうございます！

Merry Christmas!/メリクリスマス！

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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みんなさんへメリークリスマス！

Tokyo Picutres!/東京写真です！

Yea, I know they are way late...
But here they are anyway!

Tokyo Pictures!

(This is the best one)

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写真です！楽しんでください！

東京です

かわいいですね

Blogs link!

I updated my site to include a blog links section on the sidebar!
So if you have a blog which you'd like linked here, leave a message or message me or something.
For now, I've just populated it with blogs I tend to read, and that will go up once I remember what it is that I read! :P

以上、よろしくお願いします

New Domain!/新しいドメイン名

So the other day I bought a new domain, mattinjapan.info!
Right now, all it does is forward to this website, and photos.mattinjapan.info forwards to my flickr photostream.

Also, no e-mails will work with a @mattinjapan.info until I pay money for a host for it to (which is likely not to happen now :P),

I e-mailed Blogger to see if I can set my domain to point directly to Blogger's nameservers instead of Go Daddy's so its not just forwarding. Anyway, for now this is good.

I also am contemplating moving my Blog to Wordpress (again, assuming I get a host) because I love Wordpress, but for now Blogger is acceptable. All in good time.

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二日前ぐらい新しいドメーンネームを買いました！mattinjapan.infoです。
ただ今、このページに行きます、photos.mattinjapan.infoはフリッカのフォートースタリームに行きます

電子メールアッドレスがいません！買いたくないです！
先週Bloggerにメールを送りました、でも今大丈夫です。

Canada?

Well, sorry for keeping it a secret, but I have returned to Canada for christmas break!
I was keeping it a secret because it was a surprise for my mother! :P

Well anyway, I have arrived safely and will be here until the 6th of January!
Have a good Christmas!

Edit:haha oops. I guess 14 hours on a flight does wacky things to you

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クリスマスの休みから、カナダに帰りました！母は知りませんでした！hehe
今から１月6日までカナダにいます！
メリクリスマス！

Snow Update

Well, there was no blizzard. Maybe about 3 hours of snow, most of which melted away by today.
Apparently there was a huge blizzard in Nagano. Set the record on snowfall. Probably the same for other snow prone areas like Kusatsu, Karuizawa, Sakudaira, etc. But not for Ueda! This place is different. It's not earthquake prone, doesn't get a lot of snow. Weird :P

Japanese Translator

I managed to come across this awesome little gem (thanks to a friend). [Click here!]
This Japanese <-> English translator works better than any other translator I've used! A lot better than babelfish and Google's translator.
Pretty simple to use, but you need to know which buttons to press. Fear not, I will guide you!

In the left side, enter whatever you want translated. If you want Japanese -> English, choose the 日→英 option (second option)
English -> Japanese is 英→日.
After you choose which one, hit the button directly underneath it and voila! A very great translation!

Snow...

Sigh... Snow...
Looks like I can't get away from the white stuff no matter where I go!
Looks like a blizzard is on its way, all I see is white when I look out the window. Can't even see the mountains!

Anyway, I hear its also snowing pretty hard back in Toronto. Apparently they are expecting 20cms over the course of this week, which kinda sucks. I just hope they don't ground the planes, otherwise I won't be able to spend the break with my Dad! But I still remain an optimist ;)

And let me add... I love Tokyo... Literally. I love how insanely complecated the train system is!
Greater Tokyo Area JR Train Map (PDF File)
Tokyo Metro (Subway) Map (PDF File)

Take a look at that insanity! Thank God for the traffic guide on vodafone live!

In the first map, the main part of Tokyo is around the Yamanote Line. Pretty much everything outside the circle is the "Greater Tokyo" area, which spans 4 prefectures. It's interesting to note that the middle stop between Tokyo and Ueda on the Nagano Shinkansen is Takasaki... Notice how it's part of the GTA :P

The second map is mostly within the main area of Tokyo (within the Yamanote Line Zone), and its still crazy complicated!

Karuizawa and Karaoke Insanity

Yesterday, I took a trip to Karuizawa to go do some shopping at their large outlet mall. And it was a really really nice place! I would definitely like to go again. They had everything you needed there, from food to golf equipment! I really enjoyed the change of scenery and the busling atmosphere of this mall. Good times.
After, at night, was the Sakura Club 忘年会. (Sakura Club is a weekly meeting run by my Japanese teacher where other Japanese people come and help us (the illiterate foreigners) learn Japanese!)
First we went to an Indian Restaurant (my first time being to an Indian restaurant, actually. Go figure, I go to an Indian restaurant while in Japan but not in Canada). It wasn't bad, kind of expensive for not so much food, but ok.

After that was when all the fun started. We went to a Karaoke place, where they put you in a room with a TV and mics and such. So it was pretty hilarious listening to 6 drunk people try to sing (the rest of them were driving so they weren't drunk, so it wasn't AS funny :P). And eventually I was coerced into singing. Lets see, I got forced to sing Linkin park (stupid key was hard to sing along to :/), Abba's Dancing Queen (haha), and, thanks to my Japanese teacher, Final Fantasy 8's Eyes on Me... Which is a really sappy type song, but all the girls digged it ;)

Anyway, I also did this "Who are you in the Final Fantasy Universe" quiz I took of my friend's blog (thanks Jordy :P) and ended up with... Yuna from FFX! Below is the results. (Note: I do not endorse the OkCupid dating service)

You are Yuna! You scored 17 good or evil, 23 spirituality, -5 power, and 17 intelligence!

Undeniably innocent and intelligent with the slightest - almost invisible - hint of corruption, Yuna, the daughter of High Summoner Braska draws on strong beliefs, her quiet wisdom and the wealth of friendships around her to strike out and defend Spira from Sin. Physical strength is perhaps her only real disability, but she makes up for it with a strong connection to the metaphysical through her deep faith. Throughout FFX, Yuna is faced with a constant stream of tragedy, but she never loses hope - always moving forward with her faith in her heart. Even when that faith proved false, she kept on and fought to find something else to believe in, determined not to give in to Sin's whims. Finally finding a way to defeat Sin's cycle of torment, Yuna again faced tragedy as she faced the loss of her love. Ever determined and hopeful, she kept going on until finally recapturing what she was denied for her sacrifices. Aligned with good, faithful and intelligent, if a bit weak, you are probably a very determined person with a strong belief in something - whether it be God or Starbucks Coffee is up to you. Chances are if you have that much determination coupled with keen knowledge, you'll get far in the world. Just try not to dwell too much on what you might be lacking strength-wise, and you should do well. Similar Characters include Rinoa(ff8), Relm(ff6), Ramza(fft) Your Polar opposite is Kefka. You can probably get along with Bahamut, and you may be able to tolerate Sephiroth or Delita.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 75% on purity You scored higher than 91% on faith You scored higher than 10% on strength You scored higher than 64% on intelligence

Link: The Who are you in the FF Universe Test written by Helbereth on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

New Gmail features!

Once again, Gmail has added new features to its lovely e-mail service!
This time, they have added vacation auto-respondse, contact groups, and my (soon to be) favourite Mobile Gmail accesss!

Unfortunately, they don't quite have the access availalbe in Japan, but knowing Google that will be fixed pretty soon. Mobile e-mail access anywhere in Japan would be awesome. Period.

Armenian Genocide in the News

Turkey 'on trial' in writer case [BBC News - International Version]

Wikipedia Article on the Genocide [wikipedia.org]

Turkey's EU Entry Gets `Litmus Test' as Trial of Writer Begins [Bloomberg News]

It's about time the Armenian Genocide is spoken about again.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Holocaust never happend, it sparks international outrage.
Turkey denies the Armenian Genoice, and everyone just goes on their way.

President Bush made a promise to the Californian Armenian community that he will bring up the issue of the Armenian Genoicde during his terms in office... It's been 6 years, George...

Honestly, its so easy to just forget about the Armenian Genocide. Hitler even made the comment "Who cares about the Armenians".

Bah, I just hope this guy's book makes a bigger impact on the way the world thinks about the Armenian Genoicde.

Japan... Where things just work

Oh look, two posts practically right after another :D

Anyway, I have to say... One thing that impresses me the most about Japan is how things just work.
Examples:

Delivery:I order a book off of Amazon.co.jp wednesday night. Friday morning it is in my hands. A friend bought a book Friday night and got it Sunday morning. How's that for efficiency?

Trains: Always on schedule. All trains in Japan are so efficient and time correct, it makes websites like this possible. I can plan a trip from sapporo to hiroshima and I will arrive and depart at the correct times listed. The only times the trains aren't correct are due to natural disasters like earthquakes. Even then, the train system always manages to recover within a few hours.
The Shinkansen(bullet train) system is another gem. From Nagano to Tokyo in under 2 hours, Tokyo to Osaka 2.5 hours. Unfortunately, these trains cost a pretty penny... but well worth it.

Cell phones: The biggest craze in Japan. Everyone, from 10 year olds to 80 year olds, have a cell phone. Cell phones do everything you need here! You can watch TV, listen to music, get radio, surf the internet (and decent internet service, unlike Canada's service), use it as a compass, a GPS, Digital Camera (that works exceptionally well), barcode scanner (QR codes are the biggest thing here), and of course make phone calls. Just 30 minutes ago, I reserved train tickets on my cellphone! The internet on cellphones allow you to read news, book train tickets, check weather, check train times and transfers, even use Chat Clients! Whats even better, is my cellphone has an e-mail address and an e-mail service that works 100x better than SMS.

Security: I am pretty confident when I say Japan is one of the world's safest country. There are barely police on the streets and a few police boxes (not even stations) scattered around. The job of a police officer in Japan is pretty much to direct people around town.

Anyway, I guess I should get back to work...

Christmas and 忘年会

こんにちは～
Hello!

Yet another large gap between posts, but thats ok (^_-)
First off, Christmas is coming! Just 10 days away!
It's going to be weird because its my first Christmas away from home, but my Dad is going to come down around the 26th so we can go travel around during the break... Still, going to be weird. Thats for sure.

Anyway, on to the real post! 忘年会!
忘年会 (translated: Forget the year gathering) is a end of year party that is usually celebarated by many people in Japan. Last weekend, our company had their 忘年会 in the ski resort town of Kusatsu, just outside the Nagano Prefecture. We went for two days, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday(土):
I tried my hand at snowboarding... Lets just say I still feel the pain.
My first time down the hill was less than successful... In fact, not successful at all. I couldn't even stand up, so I pretty much slid down the enitre hill... Second time I actually managed to get up, and pick up too much speed, and trip and fly and roll down 10% of the hill only seeing white... Fun times.
Anyway, I definately wouldn't be opposed to snowboard again... Except this time I would like to try it on a beginner hill, not a "beginner" hill.
Anyway, around 4:00 we headed back to the hotel. And I must say, what an awesome hotel! We had a room that had the traditional Japanese layout and it was great… I want to live in a place like that! They had the tatami floors, the futon on the ground beds, sliding doors, paper walls, and Yukatas! So great.
(On a side note, one of the hotel staff ladies came up and was explaining to us where to go for dinner, how to get there, what time, etc. all in Japanese… and I managed to understand her! Woo go Japanese language skillz)
Anyway, that night I tried the famous Japanese Onsens at the Hotel… Let’s just say that’s an experience I do not want to repeat… Sitting without clothes in a tub of water with other men not wearing clothes… Yea, not really appealing.
After that we had our company dinner in the banquet hall. I would guess about 150~250 people there… And after about 30 minutes, everyone in the room was ridiculously drunk… Absolutely hilarious. I met this one guy, Tanaka, about 6 times. Not within the span of the whole night, but within the span of 1 minute.
Tanaka: “Hi I’m Tanaka”
Matt: “Mattです、よろしくお願いします”
Tanaka: “日本語！上手です！”
Matt: “ありがとうございます！”
Tanaka: “Hi! I’m Tanaka”
Matt: “… Hi I’m Matt”
Tanaka: “Nice to meet you, I’m Tanaka”
… and that goes on…
Anywhoo, dinner was pretty good. There was sashimi, hotpot, crab legs, tempura, shrimp something, and free drinks!
I think I went through 10 bottles of Oolong tea (烏龍茶), but it was free!

Sunday(日):
Nothing too exciting happened. Went on a tour of Kustatsu city, which is a famous ski and onsen town. Took some cool pictures, but I was still pretty tired from Saturday.
Then headed back home where I watched 5 hours of firefly and then Serenity…

Serenity was an ok movie, but definitely not as good as I hoped it to be. The characters seemed different and I didn’t really get the whole firefly universe from the movie. Plus the plot was sort of dumb :/ Oh well, I guess this just means no more new seasons of firefly…

Pictures of the weekend: 忘年会