Hello and welcome to Gaijin no Sekai – a blog dedicated to my ramblings of my experiences in this amazing country known as Japan. To cut a long story short I was a university student from England studying economics, I hated it, quit the degree and reapplied to uni to study Japanese, but as a result I have had to take out a whole year, so I thought, why not come to Japan and practise my Japanese!! I hope you find the site both entertaining and informative.
I’ve now returned back to England, but I’ll try to regularly update the site with any relatively interesting Japan related stuff!!
Hey Haider,
Hope you’re having a great time and settling in ok in Japan! It sounds very exciting, and I’m liking all the info on food! Keep it coming. What are you doing in Japan are you studying or are you working or something and how are you finding the language, do a lot of people speak English there? You’re not missing much in Bristol. Lectures started back this week and everyone is stressing out in my house in one way another! Nick’s birthday on Friday but I’m going to Cardiff for the weekend and missing it so I feel a bit harsh! Char xxx p.s I found this on Nick’s facebook page just in case you’re wondering.
Heya mate- nice to know your finally trying to get your life sorted!
hope you have an awsome time mate- good luck with the lingo!
Just enquiring as to why Twisty isn’t down as your favorite band….. suppose I’m more of a solo artist.
Ahh mate- before i went out last night I sang really loudly to Tragic Hero, as my last song- and was singing it all the way to the union- awsome song- which I still play along to and impro!
sorry about this random post- but have fun!
muchos luv dude
Twisty
Yo dude awesome blog, you have inspired me to go to Japan, the gigs in the park idea is brilliant, I wish we had stuff like that here!
I also like the sound of these maids lol, massages while playing games, its like they have read my mind and made it reality
It all looks so clean and safe, I doubt there is another place in the world where you can just go wandering about without any fear and I imagine the people are really friendly and helpful if you get a little lost (although you wont you know the lingo!).
About the computer games, do they have PC Games in these Book-Off stores? Also what wondrous technological advancements have you seen and have you met a robot?? Lol,
See you soon mate, come visit me in Reading when your back I’ll show you the amazing chav infested streets! Do you get Japanese chavs? lol cya DUDE!!!
Ei haider. I wanna study in Japan too. Maybe you can give me suggestions?
Hey Lec, thanks for looking. Yeah, I can try to give some information but I’m not sure how much use it will be. Studying in Japan can be different depending on which country you’re from, do you mean studying at a Japanese University? At the moment I’m in Japan on a working holiday visa, which lets me work part time to earn money for travel and food. I am also studying at a Japanese language school, but I havent enrolled in a Japanese university – when I start my Japanese degree I have to come back to Japan to study at a Japanese university and thats arranged through my university in England. By the way if you’re interested in studying at a university in Japan you’ll need a student visa, you’ll probably need to have a good knowledge of Japanese and will most probably have to take an entrance exam (I think). If you’re interested in just studying Japanese outside of university, at a language school for example, the working holiday visa is useful, but only a few countries have this partnership with Japan, I think England, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. If you live in England be sure to check this link out for more info:
http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/visa/visa-main.html
I hope that helps!
Finally! Someone who likes final fantasy viii! haha
Came across your blog while looking for a store to buy used ps2 games. I love Book-off as well. It’s about 5minutes bike-ride from my in-campus dorm where I’m staying right now. (Yup, I’m a “gaijin” too, staying for one year in Japan to study French.. [lol kidding] Japanese.) Haven’t visited Akiba but will do soon!
Cool posts. Keep ‘em up.
Yo copykat!, thanks for checkin out the site! lol yeah, I actually went to Book-off today, I bought a cheap copy of FFX Scenario Ultimania. lol yeah, FFVIII is probably my all time favourite game, I just got a place at SOAS to study Japanese but I’m not sure if you’ve have heard of that university before lol. You’ll definitely enjoy Akiba, a lot of cool merchandise, but sadly I can’t afford a lot atm! Anyway, be sure to check back regularly
Hi, you probably already mentioned this in your blog and I missed it… but where in Tokyo are you living? Also how would you rate your Japanese language proficiency? I want to better imagine you and your situation!
-Ginza
Hey, hmm actually I’m not sure if I mentioned it before lol. I’m quite lucky that I have family that lives here so I’m actually living with my uncle – he had to move here a looooong time ago because of work, his company is based in Toranomon, mainly a business area. I’m staying within the Minato area of Tokyo, I would like to live here in the future but unfortunately it’s pretty damn expensive. Hopefully I can afford it in the future!
Yeah, as for language proficiency… I think I’m alright, my Japanese has improved a lot since I arrived but not to the level that I was hoping I’d progress to. I can get by, like asking for directions, asking for information in shops, etc but unfortunately there’s still a lot which I find difficult. Sometimes talking with native Japanese speakers can be difficult because their language is hard for me to ‘catch,’ a lot of them speak so quickly. But always being out and about you get used to it and it does become easier to listen to the language, and reading advertisements on the trains and at the stations is a really good way of improving reading skills, although I still don’t know much Kanji yet, but I find it really interesting to see a lot of the characters I know in station names along certain lines. lol, anyway sorry for the rather long reply!
I want it badly to go to Japan, that’s my dream:D and meet my favourite band, Do As Infinity:)
Konbanwa!!!!!! Your blog is so helpful, Doumo!!!!!
Im obsessed with everything Japanese ans hope to do it for my Leaving Cert. I’m in classes at the moment but I was wondering if you have any helpful sites to progress my Japanese?
Are you still in Japan?
Thanks for your comment!
I don’t really know of any good sites in particular but I’ll try to help. At the moment to help my listening skills I listen to a Japanese podcast each week, I listen to one called ‘Tsukakin Friday’. You can download it here: http://fujitv.cocolog-nifty.com/friday/
I also watch a lot of drama to help my listening as well. Unfortunately I don’t use any sites for my Japanese studies but I have heard that this site is really good for kanji practise: http://www.readthekanji.com/
Also, if you’d like to practise your reading skills then I’d recommend this site: http://www.ajalt.org/kanmana/
Lastly, I have never used it myself, but for elementary lessons you can check out the NHK Japanese lessons: http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html
I hope that helps
I am in England at the moment, I am taking my Japanese exams these days, but I will be returning to Japan in June 
I haven’t been able to update the website recently but I’m going to try and start posting again soon!
Hey there! I just came across your blog will searching for the movie “Choshu Five” online! Did you watch it with English subtitles, or entirely in Japanese?
Any idea where I’d be able to get hold of it? (I’m guessing Japan is the obvious answer!)
Cheers
Thanks for the comment Steve! I saw Choshu Five with English subtitles at the ICA in London. I’m not sure if it will get an official DVD release in the west but you can order the Japanese version from CD Japan: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KMVE-28065
Good luck with the search!
It’s always nice to meet another gaijin in Japan. (:
I was there for 8 months as a high school student,
I’m back in the US now…
and I miss it so much!
I’ll be back in December for 3 weeks,
then after university I’m planning on moving there.
Your blog is awesome, a lot of places I haven’t been yet (I lived in Tohoku).
But it’s giving me ideas for my next trip!
Thanks for the comment Chelsey!! Yeah, same here, I def want to live in Japan after graduating! I have some good posts coming up but unfortunately I don’t think I can post them until I return back from Kansai. I hope you enjoy your stay back here in Japan!!