Doing Things Right the First Time

As I go through the process of finding a job, one of the things I always do when searching is evaluate myself and look at what are my "marketable" aspects, as well as what are my weaknesses. When it comes to architecture, I know without a doubt that my biggest weakness is my lack in the understanding of the "nuts and bolts" of things - the technical aspects of what it takes to put a building together. (My college education focused mostly on the design part.)

And now, to get myself a little closer to where I should be, I'm reading this hefty textbook.

If only I stayed awake in class in the spring semester of my junior year, I wouldn't have to do this now...probably.

Oh well.

就活をしながら、就職を探す時によくする事を思い出す。一つは、自分の事をよく見て、僕の就職したい会社にとって、僕のいい所はどこ？それだけではなくて、僕の足りる所はどこ？建築・設計といったら、間違いなく僕の一番弱い所が、建築の専門的の事だ。
ビルを建てるための専門的の知識だ。（僕の大学の学習は設計の方に強調された。）

今は、僕はいるはずの所に近づくために、この分厚い教科書を読んでいる。

大学三年生の春の学期の授業で寝ないさえすれば、今はこんな事をしているはずはなかっただろう...多分。

まあ、いい。


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New Phone!

I have finally activated my new cell phone here in America!

E-mail me directly if you would like the new phone number.

Also, to the Iizuka Bus Center bboys: I've finally uploaded the video of our mini battle to youtube.com, so enjoy! Just for you!

Battle (バトル)

やっと、アメリカの携帯を登録しました！

新しい電話番号が知りたかったら、直接に僕にメールしてください。

そして、飯塚バスセンターのbboy達へ：僕はやっと、僕達のミニバトルを「youtube.com」にアップロードしたので、どうぞご覧ください！あなた達のためだけだ！こじまさん、このブログをまだ読んでいますか？（笑）

Check it out!

One of my good friends Edison is putting some videos on Youtube of himself playing. Check it out!

僕の友達は現在youtube.comで自分がピアノをひいてるビデオを載せています。どうぞ、お楽しみください！

http://www.youtube.com/user/edisonhongmusic

Okinawa!

Here are the pictures from Okinawa! I tried to keep the number of photos to a decent amount so it would be easier to view, but I failed. I had a great time meeting all of my relatives and cousins and can't wait to see them again! We'll have to work hard to keep in contact with all of the relatives from Okinawa.

沖縄の写真です！見やすいようにこんなにたくさんの写真をアップロードするつもりはなかったけど、やっぱり無理でした。みんなに会うのはとってもよくて、楽しくて、次に会う事に楽しみにしています！沖縄のみんなとの連絡をなくならないように頑張らなきゃ。

pictures are here

Pictures from Taiwan

For those of you who aren't on facebook.com (i.e. my family), check the link below for pictures from my Taiwan trip with Jennie. 17 days!

以下のリンクをクリックすると、僕の彼女との台湾旅行の写真が見れます。

pictures

Relatives in Okinawa

I was surprised at how my Okinawan relatives embraced me and took me in so lovingly and warmly upon meeting them for what felt like the first time today at the airport.

I met them for the first time 8 years ago at a family reunion but I don't remember much at all, nor did I speak any Japanese then.

They're great people.

Gotta maintain the connection between us from Hawaii and them from Okinawa.

Here until Saturday!

I'm not a fan of Aomori (sake). I am a fan of dragon fruit, especially how the colors are so vibrant when you cut it open.

2 Year Stage Coming to an End

Today is my last day at work! Unfortunately, most of the teachers in my office aren't here so I won't be able to say goodbye to them. Luckily, though, I'll be in Japan when they have the welcome party for the new ALTs, so I'll say goodbye to everyone then!

I don't have much time to write right now, but this is what my schedule for the next month looks like:

8/5-8/21: Taiwan!
8/21-8/23: Back to Fukuoka and hanging out with a teacher and her family
8/23-8/29: Okinawa to see the relatives on my mom's side for the first time
8/29/9/4: Hiroshima to see the relatives on my dad's side for the 2nd time
9/4: Welcome Party with the office
9/5: Flying back home to Hawaii!

Looking forward to it all!

Speaking of which, I need to call the relatives in Hiroshima to make sure I can sleep at their house...

Shut Down

Tonight, while practicing at the bus center, the police came to make us leave since they had received complaints from people in the neighborhood. This happens every now and then so it seems like the other breakdancers don't really take them seriously and keep practicing here (luckily) - there really isn't any other place to practice in the area.


While we were packing our stuff up and the policeman was just standing there waiting for us, my friend pointed out that I was from Hawaii. The policeman looked at me and gave me and the rest of the guys a look like "are you guys messing with me or what?" Not wanting to get the policeman angry or anything, I told him I was, first in Japanese, and then in English. He came around.

Maybe next time it happens, I'll try to see how long I can go on convincing them that I'm American by speaking in Japanese before they realize my Japanese is weird and believe me.

Quarantine

This year for Golden Week, I went back to America to visit my girlfriend in St. Louis. During that time, the swine flu had just began to break out across America and by the time I was getting ready to head back to Japan, it had begun to show up there, too.

Japan, being the incredibly careful (in some ways, at least) country that it is, had set up extra precautionary measures to stop the swine flu from getting into Japan. When I arrived at Nagoya Airport, we had to stay in our seats for about 2 hours while doctors dressed up in their full suits and masks walked the aisles collecting self-check forms from each passenger, as well as checking peoples' temperatures with an infrared (I assume) camera. I just sat there reading my book the whole time, so it was all good; I did miss my connecting flight, but ANA had re-routed me to the next available flight, so again, all good.


The interesting part, though, was when I got back to Fukuoka. On Monday, when I went into my office, my supervisor informed me that because I had just come back from America, he was going to cancel my school visits for the week and have me just come into the office, regardless of the fact that I was feeling perfectly healthy. Wanting to relax and take things slow, I wasn't going to disagree with the guy.

But...what would be the point of "quarantining" me to my office if I really did have the swine flu? I would just give it to the other teachers in the office who would visit all of the schools in the area.

The following day, my supervisor tells me that I should just stay at home for the next 10 days. It's okay if I need to go out to get food, but don't come to work. Feigning dissapointment, I nodded my head, sighing here and there and accepting the "bad news." Sweet!

Overhearing the conversation, the teacher who usually takes us out hiking came by to ask about the whole deal.

Nakaji: So can you still come hiking this weekend?
I look over to my supervisor.
Supervisor: Oh, um...sure.
Me: Oh wait, so do I have to use my nenkyuu (paid vacation) for this?
Supervisor: No no, it's a special paid-leave.

A grin broke out on my face and upon seeing it, they knew I was actually happy about the whole thing and started joking around, telling me how lucky I was and how jealous they were of me.

During each day of "quarantine," someone from the Health Center would call me, asking if I was feeling okay, if I had any diarrhea and also asking me for my temperatures. A small price to pay for a week of vacation!

Thank you, Japan.

Architecture Portfolio

During the past week, I had great amounts of free time given to me by the Japanese government, so I decided to be intentional about it and get busy being productive, specifically with preparing for my upcoming job transition. I found myself staying up until 5AM on one night for no reason other than the fact that I was completely engrossed in putting my portfolio together. There's still a lot more to be done, but here is where I am at now!

Kaho Gekijou meets Hip Hop

Busy weekends like these make me truly appreciate the other weekends I occasionally have where I just sit at home all day and relax.


On Saturday, my friend's dance school was having its 15th anniversary dance showcase event. The cool thing about it was that they rented out a traditional Japanese theater for the venue, so it was my first time seeing one.


My friend needed people to help out with "pushing a huge thing for the stage." That's what she told me - I had no idea what she was talking about, but I figured I'd help out anyways. When I got there on the day of the first rehearsal, I found out what it was:


The stage actually sits on an axle that allows it to rotate and turn. Below the stage, there are 12 wooden poles attached to the device and when pushed, the stage rotates (you can see the circular shape on the stage in the other pictures). I think they said that the stage was about 500kg but either way, it was pretty heavy, not to mention with the added weight of the dancers on top. The very first time we tried, we realized we couldn't even get the thing going unless someone shouted a "1, 2, 3 GO!" signal. Pushing this thing with 11 other people brought to my mind images of slaves below the deck rowing a Viking boat or Israelites building the Pyramids. This was a little more fun, though.

On another note, I'm always impressed by how Japanese people do such a good job at dressing right for the occassion. The childrens' hairstyles, costumes, everything were crazy!

Hanami: The Only Time of the Year When It's Okay to Spend the Whole Day Drinking

Every year, for just 2-3 weeks, or even shorter, the pinkish white cherry blossoms bloom, signaling the start of Spring and along with the blooming flowers, the people, their mats, and their beer come out as well. At every park, you'll see people everywhere sitting on their mats drinking together, as well as tents set up for selling food, drinks, and toys.


Japanese people say that the harsher and colder the winter, the more beautiful the flowers will be. I remember hearing something like that before so I looked it up and found it:

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.
- Fa Zhou (Mulan's dad)

Anyways, with the weather finally coming around, we decided to head out to the park and "do hanami." Armed with our beers, a lot of snacks, our mats, and Taboo (the word game), we ended up spending about 6 hours at the park just chilling, drinking, and enjoying each others' company under the cover of the beautiful trees!

the petals were falling like snow

I can't help but admire the Japan's appreciation for the simple pleasures in life such as this. And fine, I'm sure there's other days that the Japanese devote to drinking all day like this, too.

after kicking the tree, he said, "Japan is K1!"

everyone loves hanami

Until next time!

New York Burger, Iizuka

One of the things I absolutely love about my living situation in Iizuka is the sheer convenience of where I'm located. Everything I need to function and live is no further than a 15 minute bike ride away. And that includes food!



Our most frequented place is the "old lady restaurant," but every now and then, when we get a severe craving for burgers, this is where we go.

teriyaki burger

egg burger

And everything comes in these easy-to-read, foreigner-friendly signs with English titles (: They've got about 16 different burgers on their menu from what I remember.




From Shin Iizuka Station, walk left and look for a building significantly taller than the rest - this is the Shin Iizuka Station Hotel. It's a 3 minute walk or so from the station to the hotel. From there, New York Burger is just on the other side of the parking lot - about a 30 second walk away.

A Simple Compliment Goes a Long Way

posing with one of the guys in the office

Drinking parties with the people you work with in Japan have a special culture to them that all foreigners love to talk about.

That guy at my school never spoke to me once - I actually thought he didn't like me - and then at the party the other night, he just came up to me to talk and his English was amazing!

...or something to that effect. These drinking parties are often the few times in the year where we, the ALTs, get to really interact with, learn about, and get to know the people in our office.

My office (I work at a Board of Education office as opposed to a school) is really laidback and everyone is really friendly actually, but because unlike us (the ALTs), everyone is typically busy, we don't often get the chance to hang out and talk. That's why these parties are so great and I love them.

us and our supervisor! he's at a new office now

Last night was the farewell party for all of the people leaving our office. The whole time I've been working here, I always noticed that one of the guys (he was leaving) from the accounting section always wore pretty nice ties, or he at least matched them well. I never spoke to him before - I never had any reason to do so, really - but tonight, with the alchohol flowing and the party coming to an end, I walked up to him.

Hey! We've never had the chance to talk, but I just wanted to tell you that I love the ties you're always wearing. They're great!

Ohhh, thank you so much! Ah you know what? Here! You can have my tie!

Dannng, thanks! Wait, what's your name? I'm Toma.

Oh, I'm Ikuta.

And I became the owner of a new...er, used tie.

The Ultimate Planner...sort of

In an effort to become more organized with my (and some other person's) life, I realized that despite how good my cell phone calendar is, and despite how good google calendar is, sometimes I just need a physical, tangible reminder of what's coming up.

As a result, I decided that I need a planner!!



But thinking back to when I used to use the free JET Programme planner that was given to us, I remembered how I rarely used it because of its awkward proportions and just because of the fact that I didn't want to carry around JUST a planner. Remembering those things, it got me thinking...

What do I really need in a planner? Why didn't I carry around the JET Programme planner?



And eventually, I came to this conclusion:

Hey, I'm a designer, so why don't I just design my own planner?



And thus, I began my journey to design the planner perfect for myself.



I began to brainstorm, trying to figure out my own thoughts and understand what exactly it was that I needed and wanted in a planner. After some brainstorming and some research involving looking at other planners, I figured out what I wanted:

• something that was comfortable to carry and even more important, something that was easy to open up and write in (some planners are so small and thin that you have to force them to stay open, thus making them difficult to write in)
• something that provided me with space to sketch, to doodle, to journal, etc.
• more specifically, i realized i didn't need a page for every week
• along the same lines, a 2-week page or 1-month page would be good
• and i would like a space for general weekly/monthly notes

With that, I began doodling and experimenting with different layouts and ways of organizing things. I realized along the way that organizing a page layout is very similar to organizing space in a plan or section for a room or building, as well!



With these thoughts, I stumbled upon a number of layouts and designs, some better than others, some more successful than others, and some just straight up cooler than others.

Here's the result of the 2 week process, done slowly over 2 weeks:

those first 2 were supposed to be "full scale sketches" but i figured i'd just try them out and see how they work out. after drawing those 2 out, i brainstormed a little more and eventually was able to break away from the rigidity that accompanies typical planners.

the following pages haven't really been used yet or sketched on.

Fun stuff! May 25th to June 5th might be a little hectic, though...hehe

Come August, when I'm completely finished with every page, I'll be able to see how each page has transformed with the addition of doodling, random notes, and scheduling. Just like any architectural design, a space fully-utilized, bustling, is something completely different from when it was just completed and not in use yet; and so it is with this blank planner.