facets of my life » japanese

49 days to go

Alex — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:06:13 +0000

Wow, last week I finally forced myself to redo on of those fantastically boring JLPT prep-tests. And I would have failed. Clearly. Undeniably. And now I am sitting over truckloads of reading materials just so get those last missing 5% points in the reading section. I have 49 days to go. 7 weeks. Anyone else suffering from the “I do ok in all areasÂ of the JLPT… Â but reading” problem?

2-kyuu. I am coming.

Two more hours to read. Tonight.

An Artist of the Floating World

Alex — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:45:00 +0000

Last weekend, I finally finished An Artist of the Floating WorldÂ by Kazuo Ishiguro. I can only say: it was fantastic. I am a great fan of Ishiguro’s works and enjoyed reading every one of his books so far.

As in some of his other works, he takes the perspective of one of his characters looking back on his life. In doing so, the character gives an account of his personal experiences and also how, as time passed, the world around him and he himself changed. In this book, the aging artist Ono, is forced to reflect on his own life in the course of his daughter’s marriage negotiations. Every subtleÂ thought in Ono’s reflection however, leads him away from his imageÂ of aÂ nice grandfather who loves playing with his grandson towards unveiling his past as an ambitious artist during Japan’s time of military endevours.Â This brings the reader into a conflict with his own values, which stand should one take? Towards one’s own past?

I found it intriguing how Ishiguro depicts the Japanese style of thinking, or at least something quite close to the real thing. Also the way, Ono’s thoughts slowly change in the course of the story and become more critical of himselfÂ is fascinating to observe.

Having spent some time in Japan myself, I still had to think from time to time about the implicated meanings, hidden in some of the characters deeper thoughts. Add the level of detail given in all the explanations for thoughts, feelings and environment and you get a great piece of writing.

So, it definitely is a great book and I can all of you recommend reading it. And apart from that,Â upon returning to Europe this summer, it would make my explanations about Japanese culture so much easier to follow

Christmas 2007

Alex — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:05:34 +0000

For those of you, who pitied me for having to work on the 25th and 26th this month: don’t. Even though this great event does not exist as such in Japan, they created their own, distinctively Japanese version of it. Much more interesting inÂ a way. So what is different? Christmas here is thought to be a couple’s day. It can be a real killer in case the guy did not do his job. That is, he made a reservation in a good (expensive and ideally) French or Italian restaurant weeks – or even months – before the actual day. If that is settled,Â then he ought to buy aÂ fitting present for his loved one and give it to herÂ during dinner (and receiving one from her in return). I can only say that I successfully passed the test. Regarding theÂ people without partner, they work, sleep or drink together with equally lonely friends (and maybe finding someone to spend the next Christmas with in the process). I will add some pictures later… just need to get hold of the camera I gave Masumi as a present. She shot nice pictures, but it is now really hard to get in my fingers

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test – JLPT

Alex — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:27:00 +0000

Last year I missed the opportunity but this year I was well prepared and took the test. Skipping level 4, I went straight for Level 3 (“sankyuu”). The exam was not too hard, but no real suprise here, as I am already studying the Kanji for Level 2 (“nikyuu”) for a few weeks. So apart from grammar I should be on the save side. Confidence of having (probably) passed it aside, it was a funny day as apparently their were mostly non-natives present.

Meeting Lena in Shibuya at 8:45am, we went straight to Tokyo University, bought some Onigiri on the way and sat our exams at 9:45am. It is amazing to see how strict Japanese can be when it comes to written tests. Three sections, before each one a 10 minute tape recording with all the rules (no gum, no mobile, no cheating, no drinking, eating, peeing, running away…) and the incredibly unsmiling faces of two Japanese women in front holding up yellow and red cards to underline the seriousness of each possible offense… of course the mobile of one of the examenees rang and after the exam we had another 10 minute explanation (actually 1 minute… repeated 10 times) about who would like to resit the exam due toÂ the distraction. Yes… Level 3… and yes… none of us understood the Japanese vocab for “resit”.

Finally at 2:30pm everything was over, on the way home we did the usual “what did you answer in section x” game and once I was home I just enjoyed a cup of tea and a nice hot bath.Â Being convinced that IÂ passed I am now thinking about how to do the 600 hours ofÂ required studies for nikyuu…

a regular weekend

Alex — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:31:39 +0000

This past weeks I did not post anything, simply because I wasn’t doing much but relaxing. Spending quality time at home has become a rare treat these days and it was just nice doing seriously nothing for a while.

This weekend was also rather quiet, however, as Masumi’s German classes at the Goethe institute have started this month, she brings more and more news home concerning the German community. Thus, this Saturday we went to a Wine testing event at the Goethe, meeting some of her classmates and friends. We had quite a time there and I strongly recommend the various wines we tried. However… remembering their names seems rather difficult…

Sunday afternoon we made use of the good weather and went for a picknick in the Komazawa Park. Later that day we concentrated on studying again… the JLPT is coming closer and I still have to cover quite a big chunk of grammar (and Kanji…). Thus, a normal weekend in Tokyo.