I want to ride my bicycle

This song has a special significance these days....

























After paying 4000Y to get my confiscated bike back, the very next week it was stolen for real.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Perhaps it's karma for giving a false name and address and refusing to show ID (they have no legal right to demand it) when I collected it... nonetheless - grrrrrrr.

Thinking it would be good exercise, I cycled to Ikebukuro to buy a card.  Bike locked,  go to shops, 30 minutes later returned, no bike.  Gone. No mistake.  I parked it so it had many bicycle friends  - a much tougher target for the manji when it's surrounded by friends... Alas.  The surrounding bikes were all there; mine was not.
A recovery mission to SEA would be more promising than keeping an eye out locally.   Almost all the rental cycles I saw in Siem Riep (Angkor Wat area) had Japanese registration stickers...  (see picture below taken in Cambodia 2009) No doubt it was whisked into a container and is already cruising the streets of Cambodia.

I've heard it said often - theft is rare in Japan - unless it's a bicycle or an umbrella.... sigh....

An international evening

Last night, as I often do, I went to the local government run volunteer Japanese classes for foreigners. Our teacher couldn't make it so our group opted to chat among ourselves rather than divide between other groups.  
 It's refreshingly international and  egalitarian;  age, socio-economic background, length of time in Japan, level of education  and even nationality  go by the wayside as people are there with the common purpose to improve Japanese.


The Cantonese Chinese high school student has very good daily Japanese - her classes make no allowance for the fact that she has been in the country only two years -  but she doesn't have the same command of formal Japanese as the Vietnamese woman, with a much smaller functional vocab,  who has been here less time but works in office.  My competence in formal Japanese is not so good (I actively avoid using it)  however I have been here long enough to be able  to understand more than most there about Japanese customs etc and things about Tokyo or Japan.  


Last night  I helped the high school student with her English homework - in a mix of Japanese and English.  (Learning a fourth language when already struggling with a third is tough going.)  Afterwards she was chatting to a newly wed Vietnamese woman accompanied by her Japanese husband, who was at the class for the first time,  in a mix of Cantonese and Japanese.   The newly wed couple speak a mix of English, Japanese and Vietnamese at home.  He works in an office in central Tokyo, she has been here a week. The Vietnamese office worker was giving them a rundown on all things Vietnamese in Tokyo.     A mid twenties northern Chinese man (who also speaks Korean and some English)  is busy studying for the proficiency test (which I forgot to register for)  and was comparing grammar points in a mix of Mandarin and Japanese with the high school girl.    Usually there are Koreans in our group as well, sometimes Mongolians, Thai, Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Taiwanese, HK - ese, Indonesians, Indians.  Mostly Asian and mostly young - younger than me anyway ;)




It's always cheerful and friendly.  Sometimes tea and snacks are provided.  People with electric dictionaries, lend them to the people without, and there is always exchange of information.  It's a very positve side to the internationalisation that that many Japanese nationalists abhor.

Do it again!

Much to my delight, Tokyo Metro is now appealing to the good nature of its passengers asking them to "do it again". The poster above shows a passenger reminding another to take the umbrella that he has forgotten.  There was a previous one applauding giving up ones seat for an old person using the same message to 'do it again', though I managed to delete from my memory card before uploading... 

It's refreshing after all the admittedly amusing  'Do it at home" posters.

http://ponkanchan.blogspot.com/2009/12/do-it-at-home.html

This in some way reminds me of my grandmother saying 'don't tell the children to be good - then they'll think there's an alternative'. 

An up and down week

Just a brief note to say that Kathy, a friend in Tokyo whom I had the utmost respect and admiration for, passed away on the weekend.  Her memorial service on Wednesday was a fitting tribute to her and testament to her remarkable graciousness, compassion and ability to see the good in everyone and the humour any situation.  She was a fountain of information on anything to do with Japan  -  life in Japan, coping with Japan, laws of Japan, customs of Japan, schools in Japan etc etc   and was so generous when people needed help or support.   She will be sorely missed by her friends, but more importantly by her family especially her four children.

While she was sick a lot of people helped out with medical costs through her blog Mikan Days -  sugio.blogspot.com .  Her family in the US have turned it into a fund for the children's education.

The up side to the week was getting into a Masters of Global Studies. I thought it would be a breeze to get in until I saw I was applicant no. 225 - for 30 places - phew...  evidently they started numbering at 200!    It will be a challenge no doubt, but good, and very necessary if I want to teach more than "I'm fine thank you.  And you? '