オタマトン (otamatone)

Yo homes!

Yesterday I bought this glorius instrument

Mine is yellooooooow :D

Please enjoy its sultry tones

my life now has meaning

Bulk Photo Post

In a restaurant with Wifi so with no further ado

One of the four gates to Yokohama Chinatown

Myself and some of my classmates :) Manami (my buddy) is on my left.

Pokemon Store. Like a child in a sweetshop.

Me with two swordsmen in Yokohama :)

Chris, Pratik, Kosuke, me, Shotaro and Manami with Sulley from Monsters Inc :D

BOOOOM

Mos Burger! The most amazing fast food restaurant in Japan

I MET PIKACHU BEST DAY EVER

Buddha statue in Tokyo :)

Sensoji Temple gate!

In Sensoji Temple

On my first proper day in Japan, in Chinatown, school uniform and all

Sensoji Temple

Yours truly in Sensoji Temple

In the ground in Yokohama City

Outside my school on my first day :)

Amusing Happenings #1

What up homies!

Today is gonna be a collection of the weird and wonderful things that have happened to me over the last two weeks. Whether funny, unusual or downright weird, they`re probably not gonna leave my memory for a while...

• This morning, as I made my way to school from the station, I was approached by two little Japanese boys (surely no older than 11) who asked me, in their best English, to "prease shuck my d*ck." Being from a gigantic potato Ireland, I was used to ignoring skangers shouting similar stuff at anything with legs, so I passed by, but their English was better than I thought and I heard "prease answer meeee" from behind me. I weep for humanity...

For some reason I am convinced that Mr Chow had something to do with this foul language.

 

• Today, in school, I was sitting at my desk, waiting for the next class to begin, when I spotted something rather unusual... all the girls were grabbing each others boobs and looking thoughtful. I think they were comparing sizes. I didn`t hear the conversation, and I don`t think I wanted to...

• Last weekend, in Yokohama City, the two American students, myself and our three buddies were standing in the square when we were approached by two gigantic black guys (I`m not being racist, it`s not their colour that was scary but their sheer size) saying in thick American accents "すみません(excuse me)" to my friend Shotaro, whose English is the poorest of the three Buddies. So, Chris, the American with the strongest Japanese, replied "yeah?" (in a fairly polite manner). The bigger guy looked at him, laughed, and said "I wasn`t talking to you, white boy." Then, to Sho, "are you his slave? Damn, they be slavin` Asians too?" and poor Sho had no idea what was going on. "Can I take a picture of your shirt? It looks like my daughter." (it was a T shirt of a clown with a mustache) then he looked at Chris and said, "unless you gon` translate, white boy" and so Chris did translate. Both guys looked amazed and said in unison "DAMN"
• after that, he took his picture, then asked for a picture of the six of us, and he randomly put a bottle cap on Sho`s head, and went to take the picture, and after about 7 seconds of our half-hearted posing, he says "I ain`t taking no picture, man why you let someone put a cap on yo head, gimme dat" then took the bottle cap and walked off. Weeeeeeeird...

Picture unrelated.

 

 

• I discovered a cat cafe in Yokohama City. Despite my allergy to cats, I`m desperate to go. You pay ￥900 (around 7-8e) for 30mins of playing with cats and kittens in a cafe. The best part is I`m not even joking or exaggerating
  

• When it`s raining, dogs wear raincoats
• I saw a drag queen on Japanese TV today on an "Ireland AM"-type show
• My English teacher accidentally called me "Kaiba" instead of "Kuiba" (the closest to Caoimhe in Japanese) and everyone was all like YU GI OH WOOOOOOOO

Pictured: me

 

k lads. I`m off to bed, much love night y`all

xoxo gossip girl

 

クイーヴァ

Caoimhe



Soft Drinks #2

Yo,

I think I`ll make a series out of the soft drinks :D cos I love them so much :D

Pepsi Nex

Every summer in Japan, Pepsi release a new flavour for a limited run, e.g. Salty Watermelon and Iced Cucumber. So unless this year`s hasn`t actually been released yet, I`ve been very disappointed with Pepsi Nex. It`s just Pepsi Max.
There`s also Pepsi Special, which apparently has a fat-blocking agent, but it tastes exactly the same as Nex...

Skal Blue

Remember Skal, the milk-based lemonade from my last Soft Drink post? This is the same thing, except instead of lemon flavour it`s a bubblegum-y taste. DELISH. I love this. It`s got such a weird hue, almost a glow, and it reminds me of Nuka-Cola Quantum from Fallout 3. So naturally I feel like a complete badass when I drink it. Speaking of cool colours...

Fanta Melon

Gosh I love this. Despite the colour, it`s got a really fresh, fruity taste and is very popular in Japanese restaurants. Reminds me a bit of tropical juice except fizzy. It`s also very very sweet. Though it`s harder to find in vending machines, so for now it`s a treat when (and if) I`m in a restaurant with friends or my host family.

Ug glug glug.
Also, for some reason the "Share A Coke" campaign here doesn`t have names, but years. I suppose people look for their birth year or something. Not as cool as Germany, where I spotted this gem...

yep. Bad picture but they`re real.

Laters!
クイーヴァ
Caoimhe

ねむい (sleepy)

Yo homies,

The Japanese sleep a lot.

a LOT.

EVERYWHERE


It`s one of the things that surprised me the most about Japan. When you get on a train, people all around you are out of it, snoozing away. At first I was quite alarmed when I saw someone nod off, thinking maybe he`d fainted, but then somebody else closed their eyes and soon about half the train was asleep. Yet, nobody ever sleeps past their stop. It`s truly an amazing skill.

Also a lot of people have mastered the skill of sleeping standing up (unlike that poor fellow in the photo up there)

In school it`s completely normal for people to give up in the middle of a lesson and have a nap. I know I used to sleep in school all the time, but it was never during class, only in free classes or after school if I was wrecked. The Japanese students just collapse onto their desks and snooze, and what`s more, it makes no difference to the teachers, who just carry on teaching.

I think today I`ll write a few short posts rather than just one long one, so chat soon!

クイーヴァ
Caoimhe

Engrish #1

Hey y`all,

Today`s topic is one that tickles me so - Engrish.

Engrish is the name lovingly given by the internet to the terrible English often seen on signs, T-shirts, etc. in (mainly) Asian countries. It`s really one of the funniest things about this country. Here I will share some of the funny, nonsensical and surprisingly deep examples I`ve seen...

A personal favourite.

• (on a T-shirt) "through love you live in my hearl"
• (on toilet paper) "it will colour your life"
• (on a notepad) "it is lined note that makes wonderful day"
• (on a T-shirt) "LOVE GIRL WHAT"
• (on a hat) "Y.L.O.O" (I presume they meant YOLO...)
• (lovely pencilcase quote) "if you think you can or if you think you can`t...you are right."
• (on a T-shirt) "with love`s touch everyone poet" (nice meaning though)
• (written on a blackboard in school) "where ever you go, there ya are"
• (on a T-shirt) "I Love Snoppy"

  

  Does that make him Snopp Dogg?

• (on a T-shirt) "Carifornia"
• (not really Engrish just sounds funny in Ireland) (on a Disney t-shirt) "Minnie loves Mickey"
• (T-shirt that cracked me up) "Absolutely knackered"
• (on a hat) "sex: breakfast of champions"

Awh lads. Japan is fun.

I`m off now, but if this doesn`t quench your thirst for the misuse of the English language, head on over to engrish.com to see hundreds more. Or, for the opposite (nonsense Japanese/Chinese/Korean in Western culture) check out hanzismatter.blogspot.com for ridiculous "Asian" tattoos, T-shirts, etc etc. Both favourite blogs of mine :)

Later homies!
クイーヴァ
Caoimhe

電車 (trains)

こんにちは！(konnichiwa!)

Today I`m gonna tell you all about the wondrous Japanese train network, which is far superior to Ianrod Eireann. *cue attacks by die-hard Irish train passengers*

There are many companies and types of train here, but I`ll talk about the main one (which I ride everyday) - Japan Rail, or JR.

JR Blue Negishi Line - my train.

Japanese trains are very different from Irish trains. For one, the interior is more like the Luas than anything else in Ireland. Lots of standing room- oh boy they need standing room.

This photo is clearly fake. there are NEVER empty seats.
 

When it comes to seats on the train, I`ve found the Japanese to be very "me fein" - only once have I seen a Japanese offer an empty seat to someone. Don`t get me wrong, there are 6 priority seats in every car reserved for the pregnant, disabled, elderly or people with infants, but other than that, it`s fair game. People will wiggle closer and closer to a seat until the seated person is face to face with their stomach (or worse) so that when they get off, they will be first to snatch the seat. Luckily for me, I often catch the 4th car on the train, which is generally Women`s Only.

 

I`m not entirely sure why there are Women`s Only cars on the train. I think it`s something to do with gropers and the like being a common problem on these crowded trains (which in fairness I have not seen happen) so women feel more comfortable in these cars. Unless it`s very busy, men don`t set foot inside these cars, so it`s much quieter, and easier to catch a seat.

Something interesting about Japanese trains is the quietness. In Japan, it`s considered very rude to speak on the phone whilst taking public transport, and so most Japanese sit in total silence texting, playing games or reading. It means you can hear the announcements perfectly, which are said in both English and Japanese. Also, each station has it`s own theme music which plays whenever a train arrives, so passengers know where they are. It`s so coooooool!

I love listening to them and listening out for the subtle differences between the similar tunes. I wish Ireland had a system like this :P Definitely downloading Ishikawacho Station`s (the one by my school) as a ringtone when I get home.

So basically, Japanese trains are awesome and very very fast. I think they`re far more efficient (and definitely more regular) than Irish trains, and I really enjoy the daily commute.
And to prove I`m not a total traitor to the motherland...

Dia daoibh faoin uaisle, seo e an 14:55 traen on Staisiun Heuston go dti Gaillimh agus beidh se ag freastail Tulach Mhor, Cul an tSudaire agus Gaillimh. Go raibh maith agaibh ag (forgotten this bit) le hIarnrod Eireann.

(for everyone else, that`s the Irish train announcement)

laters!
クイーヴァ
Caoimhe