Monday/Tuesday
Yesterday I went up to University early to see about applying for the work visa. And in the middle of the conversation with the International Centre Liason, Kitao, he starts telling me about tutors and how "we should speak in Japanese from now on except for important matters". Kitao would be called "metro", to say the least, in America. He is quite trendy.
Then I went to my classes and endured another day of all classes in Japanese. I always feel pretty stupid after monday because I realize how illiterate I really am here. Japanese is insanely hard and lving in Japan I am realizing this more everyday. It's pretty discouraging when everyone around you can speak at least two languages fluently . And you still have think pretty hard to hold a decent conversation.
Today Kitao got back to me and said I would have to go to the Tokyo Immigration Office to apply for the visa instead of him applying for one as a proxy. So tomorrow I'm going to do some more paperwork. If I don't get lost, I'll consider it a success.
Today in the Families and Sexualities class we were talking about "Marriage in Transition" in Japan. I thought it was pretty interesting that to 90% of divorces in Japan are just filed at the local ward office without any court appereance. It's supposedly the most simple divorce procedure in the world. She showed us a sample application for divorce and there was nothing to it. Then we talked about "international marriages" in Japan. Quite an interesting topic. Unlike most countries where you can marry and apply for citizenship automatically, in Japan you must apply for a spousal visa and renew it every 1-3 years. There is a lot of other crap you have to deal with if you are the international couple here.
On a side note: it's really funny the stereotypes people have of Americans. I usually am often asked if I have a gun, drive a car a lot or have ever got mugged. Just like how many Americans think London represents England, Paris represents France etc., most people think New York is how the rest of America. Also, people are quite surprised to learn Americans do not have the same accent. Since most movies and news are done in the generic midwest accent. They always ask me to do the texas accent because they think it's really funny. One guy tries to talk southern, but everytime he ends up sounding like he is from boston. Who knew talking like a redneck took skill.
Then I went to my classes and endured another day of all classes in Japanese. I always feel pretty stupid after monday because I realize how illiterate I really am here. Japanese is insanely hard and lving in Japan I am realizing this more everyday. It's pretty discouraging when everyone around you can speak at least two languages fluently . And you still have think pretty hard to hold a decent conversation.
Today Kitao got back to me and said I would have to go to the Tokyo Immigration Office to apply for the visa instead of him applying for one as a proxy. So tomorrow I'm going to do some more paperwork. If I don't get lost, I'll consider it a success.
Today in the Families and Sexualities class we were talking about "Marriage in Transition" in Japan. I thought it was pretty interesting that to 90% of divorces in Japan are just filed at the local ward office without any court appereance. It's supposedly the most simple divorce procedure in the world. She showed us a sample application for divorce and there was nothing to it. Then we talked about "international marriages" in Japan. Quite an interesting topic. Unlike most countries where you can marry and apply for citizenship automatically, in Japan you must apply for a spousal visa and renew it every 1-3 years. There is a lot of other crap you have to deal with if you are the international couple here.
On a side note: it's really funny the stereotypes people have of Americans. I usually am often asked if I have a gun, drive a car a lot or have ever got mugged. Just like how many Americans think London represents England, Paris represents France etc., most people think New York is how the rest of America. Also, people are quite surprised to learn Americans do not have the same accent. Since most movies and news are done in the generic midwest accent. They always ask me to do the texas accent because they think it's really funny. One guy tries to talk southern, but everytime he ends up sounding like he is from boston. Who knew talking like a redneck took skill.
posted by Scot @ 21:01
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