Changes

Changes. Every semester, things change. The old graduate, the new matriculate. Modules change, study mates change. This year 4, 'Change' is very well amplified.

Many friends left me for the outside world. So strange, for I am still studying in this box created by supposely higher order beings to create other higher order beings. Yet, constantly, I am being fed with the idea of how stupid I am... Strange, isn't it?

ATW definitely left a mark in my life. Here and now, I am still comtemplating, still wondering, still thinking, still gathering my thoughts, still gathering my photos, still arranging my omiyagis.. Scary.. because although I am back in Singapore, and I am having fun here and there... something seems missing in my life? Maybe I had too much fun in ATW, but I seriously think I left something back there in Japan.

Fate work in wonders, that is why it is called Fate. It has little reasoning, and it just happens. When so many people converge onto a single small area of the world, weird things do happen, and I guess they happen even more intensely for a 'unique' person like me.

Final year. That is what they call it. So strange, feels as though I am sending myself to death after this 'Final Year'.

ゆっくり.... ゆっくり...

Fireworks was beautiful

Yesterday, ATW went to Ohori Park to see Hanabi, aka. 花火。It was indeed very long, a full 1.5 hours. It was pretty beautiful, but it was also amazingly weird. Maybe it was the length, because many, including me, felt a bit bored after like 30-40mins of the whole thing? Nonetheless, it was still beautiful.

Thoughts again. I realised, the 6 weeks of ATW felt like the 花火。It was something that I was looking forward too since I knew I was admitted into the program. The wait was awfully long. The path to it was even more tedious (It was really crowded).

Initally, things were a bit uncomfortable, because we had to squeeze and it was really hot, but when the show started, it was great. Some parts of my view were blocked by trees, but in general, it was mangificance. And of course, the company was すばらしい！

Maybe, life is never meant to be short, like how fireworks should be. They are never long, because if they are, they will just be very bright lights? People will get bored of them anyways if they are too long as well.

I have made great friends that I hope to remain contact, against international boundaries. I think I am prepared for my new semester. I am pretty freshen up from Singapore, although I still have been studying languages and some readings here. Will miss them. So emotional!!!

Zen

すいようび　Daizaifu　いきますた。座禅　は　しますた。ちょっと　おもしるい、でも　ちょっと　みじかい。

Even in Japan, I still love to think. About how I react to people と things と events, etc...

The only thing I want to say here is this. I wish all the people I meet in my life the best. If ever I have come across as bitter, aggressive, nuisance, violent, petty or ______ (anything negative), this means that you have really stepped on my toes. How to step on my toes? My toes are unpredictable. I have no idea how not to step on them myself (a few times I step on them myself).

Self reflection is useless without constant effort to change. がんばる、久リフさん！

Comtemplations in Japan

I wrote an entry this morning, but lousy internet access broke it up. Have to rewrite one. No choice. Shows how lousy my internet really is. こめなさい！Due to poor internet connections, I am unable to upload photos here. あの、だいじゅう！My mates from ATW have been tagging me on FB (some real ugly photos of me also!), so those shall be the photos of ATW for now. I will upload my photos after I get back to Singapore, where internet crawls a bit faster. It’s also cool in a way, a form of flash back into my ATW days. Hope I wouldn’t get too emotional when I do that.

Sat in a café in 天神 underground walkway for 3 hours. Saw a lot of interesting things, including strangely dressed Japanese people, pretty couples and was exchanges looks with a hot Japanese girl. おもしるい！It was very interesting experience. きっさてん　の　べんきゅうしますた！

Maybe my words here are not very comprehensive, like the words I speak here. So interesting (again) that even with English, something that is so intangible, geographical and culturally conditions still plays a very important role in the creation of a supposedly universal language, one that is suppose to bind half (just an estimate) of the world’s population. Half the time, I am not understood in my native tongue. It is so strange, and yet so weird, because British sometimes do not understand the Americans in my program too.

Anyways, にほんご　を　べんきゅうします！

So much fun here in Japan

I went to their Yamakaza festival. It is rather difficult to explain what the festival is about, but what they do is that a lot of people carry huge wooden stuff and run around in a form of a race. I did not know who won eventually, but it was rather interesting, because I never will get to see such a thing in Singapore.

Before that, we went Karaoke for the whole night. So it was very tiring for us. Kudos to our history professor for letting us sleep in his class. Real amazing guy, makes me a bit proud to be a Singaporean, because he is one.

The real fun was the baseball game the night after. It was really amazing. Fukuoka`s team is the Softbank Hawks, and we were down 5/1. However, in the last inning, we managed to chase back all the way to 5/5. We went into extra innings, and at the 12th one, the final one for Japan, the Hawks won. Real cool stuff, really glad that I went to that game. Met a lot of nice people too =)

Unfortunately, still some problems with my Internet, and I dun think I can send files. So no photos for now. Damn!

Game theory of ATW

When a group of strangers from all over the world have a summer school program together for 6 weeks, interesting group dynamisms can occur. This is a ideal setting for someone that likes to look at human group/herd behaviour from an economic point of view.

How does group position create utility? Is loner-ship optimal? What gel cliches closer & separate them from others? How does social norms, place of birth & even residence positions in Fukuoka(initial endownment of values) affect group choice & placements? How does the compression of t < infinite (short 6 weeks interaction) lead to different social orders & disorders that are different from time selection towards infinity or the procastination towards `tomorrow`?

Many questions, few answers. I will not do any research or study here in ATW, because that was not my aim. Nonetheless, other than comical postings of my fun in Japan, academic endeavours will leave me not. As I choose my activities to pursue, what to do and who to do them with, utility curves, cost-benefit analysis and tipping point theories shadily form in my head. A simple `wooing a Japanese girl or not` can be reduced to formulas, equations and models with relevant assumptions, taken in context. Maybe I am really posioned, by the invisible hands of Adam Smith and John Nash`s equilibriums.

list of things

These are a list of things I have done in Japan. I will write them more in detail sometime in the future, but maybe only at the end of it. Meanwhile, they are reminders of my wonderful life in Japan.

- Met wonderful people
- Got a great peer tutor
- Played bball(s) in Kyudai
- Went to a very old shrine, got a Ji Qian, bought stuff
- Went to Tenjin (again and again)
- Enjoyed Japanese classes and learning Japanese in Japan
- Made a Singlish presentation (which I think made me semi famous in class)
- Went for yakuniku, where I made a niku buddy
- Went farming in rice paddy fields
- Met a lot of pretty girls, esp a few pretty Japanese girls
- Realise how many Singaporeans in ATW know my friends back in Singapore
- Had many nomi kais where I nomi masen de shita
- Had great culture exchanges with Japanese and many International students

The list is long. Japan is really giving me a great time. I really hope to stay here longer, or certain visit Japan again! Such a nice country!!!

What a week in Japan

I cant type fast right not, because I am using a Japanese based computer right now, and the buttons are a bit different. Everything on this computer is in Japanese also, so I am using what I can and feeling my way around

I have to really thank the Kyushu University admin staff, especially Yoshie sensei for helping me with my Internet/Laptop troubles, as well as the admin guy that manages my dorm. I hope by the end of my summer program, I can communicate better with them in Japanese.

Too many things to say now, because there are so many things that I have done in the past week. Sorry to all the friends that I have been `ignoring`, because I have not really been able to get clear internet access, so when I get it, i restrict it to rather serious emails or family well wishes. Tonight isn`t the best night either, because tomorrow I have a test. On the whole, I am happy to be in Japan, even though back in Singapore, I have things that I am attached to as well =)

Japan day 3-5

The numbers on top are rough estimates. I am sure in the future, I will lose count in the numbers. My laptop died. It is difficult for me to say which part, but it was due to overuse cum wear & tear. Well, I was thinking of making this its retirement trip, but it did not last that long. May she rest in peace.

The past few days were fun. Walked a lot, talked a lot, met a lot of nice and interesting people from all over the world. Saw some Japanese guys running around in some traditional ritual run holding heavy sticks.

Still trying to get used to Japan life. How they throw trash, how they take public transport, how the plane constantly flies past the school skies, how good looking the people here are.

I think I did destroyed some stereotypes I have about Japan, and I am pretty happy about that. The guys and girls here are great. Feels quite cool here, because I feel as though I am in some Japanese drama series, cos duh.. there are a lot of Japanese people here, and I only was about to see a lot of Japanese people on J-drama.

My entries will be lagging, because there are so many things to do here. The staff here is nice too, they are able to lend me a laptop because mine was spoilt. No worries, I can still on it for a while to backup the files, the problem is complicated. Now, I am in the library using their computer. Slow, but at least I have some Internet to use.

In Japan - Day 1 + 2

Out of ICT, into Japan!!!!!! Amazing... really, from hell to heaven, I finally reached Japan. So many things to type, will make the long stories short.

Was very nervous initially, cos this is only the 2nd time I travelled alone on the plane. In Japan, I was a bit held up at their airport, because I forgot to note down the address of my hostel. So how, I was held up, without proof of me being a (summer school) student in Japan. Fortunately, 2 very pretty Japanese girls working at the airport was there to help me. Although I had almost no solution to my problem, which means its now their problem, they were smiling all the way still. Finally, I remembered I have some information about the program in my laptop, and I was somehow saved. In a way, maybe I was hoping I was never saved. They were really really kawaii ne!

The girls here are really prettier. They really dress up, and everywhere on the streets I look in downtown Tenjin has an eyecandy in sight. So amazing, even super tired girls look great.

My Japanese suck, and although I dun need to come to Japan to realise it, it does reinforce the need to learn Japanese. The push factor is definitely there. Not to pick up any Japanese girls. From the basic buying meals to taking a bus, I NEED to know how to speak their language. if not, I dunno how I will die. Lucky the Kyushu University peer tutors speak enough English, or have their Japanese-English e-dictionaries with them.

My hostel room is nice. Quite big, with my own toilet, bathroom, frige and air-con too. Took a few photos of my room and its view.




I promise more photos (for myself also). Maybe I will upload on facebook instead? Because its easier that way, but for those that I want to comment more, blogging still seems more personal.

Japan... land of the rising sun, but I have not seen the Japan sun since I reached here, because its has been cloudy ever since I reach Fukuoka. Rising Sun, where are you?