I'm busy

It's the truth... I have lots of classes, people to meet, and things to see... ahhh check facebook! I post lots of pictures there >_o; Things are going well though... I went to Kamakura, and Enoshima last week. Tomorrow I have a day off, I want to visit a temple near my house.

サンルートホテル 高田馬場 Sun Route Hotel Tour.

The hotel room I stayed in for a few days. This is old news though.

So I'll have more things up very soon, but it's so busy... you know?

I arrived.

In San Francisco

みんなさん、こんにちは！

今、SFOの飛行機にいます！今朝、ロサンゼルスから出発しました。お母さんをから歩いてところはちょと悲しみ時だけど、今私は本当に嬉しくなりました！よかったね？それから無料wifiを見つけました。写真を撮りました、見て下さい。私の気持ちはわくわくしくて興奮しています。昨夜、全然寝ませんでした。一晩中、荷物をつめました。「つめる」の漢字を覚えっていませんけど、後で絶対調べましょう！えっと、実は何も言ってしたくないです。

興奮：）

akashi

San Fran's View

A stupid picture lol...

Placement Tests

I took my placement test about a week ago and did better than I expected to. It will be interesting to see what happens with that. I hope that I don't end up getting placed in something too simple or too difficult.

I went to Zurich and London too... I was going to make a video, but I'm too tired from just doing errands before I leave. I feel burned out from living here. I'm not burned out really, just of living in Los Angeles... I'm getting tired earlier and earlier, I just don't like being awake here anymore. I have one more day before leaving... it's surreal. What do I even say about this? It can't be tuesday that I leave, it sounds impossible. I wanted to write one more blog entry before leaving... I guess my next one will be in Japan :)

how weird

夏の残り日々 The Remaining Days of Summer

     Well here I am yet again writing another blog during another 終わらない季節 (Never ending season). I had two things to write about today, both of great importance. The first one involves an update about Bice. Three weeks ago Bice, a great composer that I'm a fan of, passed away quite unfortunately due to a heart attack. I wrote a blog post about her influence on my life shortly after I heard the news. Quite miraculously, the relatively obscure artist managed to compose as song called ご飯はおかず or (The side dishes are meals).

     This song was recently featured in the famous anime K-On!! as an insert song. Having watched the first season and pretty impressed with it, I was waiting to view the second season, but now that I found out about Bice's insert song, I am more excited than ever. The style of the song really fits the theme of the show, and reflects Bice's ever-carefree style of simplicity that she uses in her music.

     I'll post the insert song below, as well as a link to one of her last blog updates concerning the completion of this song.

Bice's blog post. I'll translate it: http://bice.jp/?p=352

That famous anime:

My apologies for not having written in a while. I've been feeling down because of the weather, but I take it you're all doing well? Recently I finished composing a song for a rather famous anime. The release is unknown as of now, but it's a really fun song. By the way, my iPad is still missing, and I'm feeling down because of that. It's scary--. But can it do Skype??? Maybe… the other day I stopped at Fukuoka city in a cafe off on the side for the first time in a while. It's possible I left my iPad there accidentally. Considering that time, I was in a bit of hurry and that could be the reason. Aw, I guess I really am such a careless person after all <3

Log 2: Japanese Dictionaries

Hey guys, I'm not going to try trans-scribing all 10 minutes of these videos, but I will certainly post them. A couple months ago I purchased my electronic dictionary, and I've found it overwhelmingly useful and a great investment. I thought I'd compare the various media that can assist you in learning Japanese. So without further adeau, I present a crash course on Japanese dictionaries part 1 and 2!

PS: let me point out that although the total of these videos was under the 11 minute mark, the size was over 1 gb and I didn't feel like compressing the videos to a low quality. So I cut them into 5 minute blocks and left them like that.

Log 1: Introduction

Hey everyone, hey world, hey youtube. My name is Jon, and I'm 20 years old now. I'm going to be studying abroad in Japan for one year in two months. Currently it is the beginning of August right now, and I  will be leaving about mid September. So about two months.

The reason I'm creating this is because for about six months now, about January I started doing text-blogging. It was just for fun, and it was going well. I talked to a friend, and he suggested that I make videos. I thought I'd try making one, this is the first one.

A brief introduction about me, I've been studying Japanese for about four years now. Two years at a university, and about two years by myself. For the first two years, I learned about one or two hundred kanji. I picked up a few simple sentences, but it wasn't that impressive. I will be studying in Tokyo, the capital. I expect most of my viewers to be friends, family, or anyone inteseted in Japan.

If anything I can get a few views from friends, and maybe in a few years look back and enjoy myself. Anyone interested though, I'd like to give my input and point of view. Hopefully that would help educate you. I myself am pretty excited about doing this. I hope to make more videos if I get a good turnout and a decent response. That's about all, I've been talkign for about two minutes now, that's good.

I know there are 100 video bloggers like me out there. I don't have HD video cameras or anything. So I won't have awesome video all the time, but I'll try to make things as interesting as possible. Anyway, I'll link some interesting things below, and you can check them out. Check out my blog for sure, and this is Jon saying "Bye!"

New Banner

Alright,

So I started checking out a few other blogs, and the thing I realized is that all the good ones have nice banners. So I tossed this together using an online site. I think it looks god-awful right now, so I'm asking a friend if he can help me make something a little more professional. I hope to have that up in about a week or two, but I definitely trust the guy- he makes really professional looking banners for other people. That's just about all there is to say. Feel free to leave a comment or something on your thoughts about the new banner. Good? Bad? It's going away in a week or two anyway. Thanks!

Rest in Peace Bice

Just a few minutes ago I learned about the death of a very important person in my life. Bice was a composer that created some of the greatest sounds and most influential pieces. Although she may not have become world famous, there's a bittersweet feeling as I see Twitter being flooded with shock of her death. There have been too many nights that I couldn't sleep and thought to myself I'd listen to the soothing melody of Bice (aka Anne). I'm having trouble reading her name exactly, but it appears to be Yuuko Raishima. Without a doubt, it was the beauty of Mahoraba that made me all that I am today, and hearing about the death of Bice is extremely upsetting. I wanted to pay tribute to her here. Perhaps, her best song (and with the strangest name) Like a for a longtime stone transfer is her most replicated song online. The beautiful slow melody is what gave her the ability to persuade me in so many ways. I would really like to learn a little more about the funeral service, I would greatly like to visit and pay respect to a woman that will never know all that she contributed in this world. Below is her official notice from her website as well as a video from one of her latest posts. Everyone in the online community agrees, she looked so happy and lively in a post made just days before her untimely passing.

Once again, thank you very much Yuuko, you did more in this world than you may ever know. I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for you. I write this message with a pain in my heart and tearing eyes. May you rest in peace. ご冥福をお祈りします。。。

Visas and customs (with my advice)

Hey all,

I'm trying to update a little more frequently. I figure if I do this, I might get a few views. I finally etched out the details of my plane trip, and I'm confirmed to leave September 14th from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and arrive at San Francisco International (SFO) before taking off and making my final arrival at Narita (NRT). My foremost suggestion to all those traveling is to prepare for this. Tickets to Japan aren't cheap and only get more expensive by the day. Prices and deals appear, but can disappear in the flick of an eye. However, before rushing the gun and buying the first ticket you can find, be sure to research all your options. Think about frequent flier miles, consider friends or family who can offer standby tickets at lower costs (if you have a little flexibility and patience). Tickets may run over $1000 a piece now, but I found trips that were half that, and there are tons of opportunities. Having been on several international flights before I had accumulated enough frequent flier miles for a free trip, and that was something I had never considered immediately.

In other news, I received an email concerning my visa. This is another thing that shouldn't be put off. Submitting a visa (especially for year long programs) takes a while to process. While I don't know the entailments of receiving a visa, I know it's a lengthy waiting period. It looks like my processed one will be picked up within a few days by my school, and sent to me. This is also not a new procedure to me. While the idea of sending in for a year is unique, visas and international can be rather frustrating at times (especially customs!!). If I ever have an international reader that plans to come to the US, I'll let you know that the United States has some of the craziest customs. Even coming from a friendly country such as England can take hours if it's a busy day. I have fond memories of sitting in long lines, extremely jetlagged from hours in the air, and being dogged around by the TSA. What I learned: Be as professional as you can, and try to get whatever you can done in advance, but don't be upset if you still end up sitting in line for a while. By the way, Ireland had some of the friendliest customs agents (maybe I was just too jetlagged and tired and found extremely serious policemen with accents a bit amusing). Anyway, that's my word of the while, and I hope I can get some readers eventually!

Thanks to the people at the Bridging Scholarship

Yesterday I made it out to the bank to finally cash my scholarship from the very generous at the Bridging Scholarship Foundation. This was the first scholarship I ever received and I was extremely grateful and excited to receive it. After temporarily having it misplaced in the mess at the house, I finally sorted everything out. I was so proud of the moment I took a few pictures. Since I'm funding nearly all my expenses while my mom it out traveling, I drained about half my savings for Japan. This scholarship gave me the literally quadruple my current savings. At the expense of giving too much information out about my life, I'll blur out most of the pictures.
I'll also add a few pictures from my recent excursion to Anime Expo 2010. I didn't take as my photos as I had in the past, but nonetheless I had just as good a time as any. One experience included camping in line for about 7 hours total in hopes of getting a signature. It was definitely a great experience, and it will go down as one of the better days of the year.

Also, I have a confirmed date of leaving for Japan (more or less due to some complications that hopefully won't arise). The date should be September 14th 2010. This was made possible by the kindness of my good friend Nick. If I had some more readers I'd give a better shout-out, but I suppose we'll stick with this for now.
I guess I haven't been updating AS much as I'd like to, but at least I'm still putting things up on the web for a few readers out there. I'll see what I can do to raise my popularity in the upcoming months.

Once again, many things to the very generous people

at the Bridging Foundation. Without this, my experience
would be only a fraction of what it can be today.

This is dinner I made last night. It's a grilled swordfish

using the a few ingredients I used to marinate it in.
Although delicious, I'm not sure if it can ever be replicated
due to my improvisation.

This is an autograph I received after about 7 hours
of waiting. The voice actresses name is 堀江由衣 or
Yui Horie in English. She was very sweet.

What's going on

Hey all!!

Sorry I haven't posted in... forever! I haven't forgotten y'all, but I just haven't had any time to write something new. The good news is, I have been totally accepted and all engines are go! That's great to hear and I'm totally relieved to hear that, even though I already felt confident about making it into the program.

Some other news and notes:

Thank you Bridging Scholarship for the generous award of $4000 on behalf of my education.
Thank you University of Oregon for the $1000 grant as well.

These extremely generous and much appreciated awards will be invaluable for my studies and I look forward to all the new doors that have opened for me.

I'm working on final exams at the moment and while it's difficult, I'm confident in myself and look forward to a summer of work and preparation for the year ahead.

Many things have been happening, but I've been too busy to attempt to record even a fraction of the news buzzing around, so here's my best attempt.
It's a strange feeling, now that I've received confirmation of my program. I'm not even sure if I have an incredible story to tell or a way to express what I feel... for that matter, what do I feel?

Either way, I'm departing from the UO and about to make my way into a new chapter, a new adventure!

Pictures to come... maybe... if I take any
Once again, thank you again to the scholarship foundations that have made all this possible.

Los Angeles ロサンゼルス

Hey all, Haven't posted anything in a while and I guess that's because nothing too exciting is happening in regards to the study abroad application. I guess two weeks ago now I went back to LA, my hometown to visit friends and everything. Anyway, I visited one of my favorite places in the city- Little Tokyo where I took lots of pictures, and of course did a little shopping. I bought a fude-pen (brush pen) for writing kanji, as well as my first novel in Japanese. So, here are a few pictures. I'm not too positive as to when I'll be getting more information about leaving... I am rather excited to do so though. Maybe I'll try making a video or two... people seem to like those when the quality is good enough and even modestly interesting.

This is called 親子丼 (oyakodon) and is made of chicken
and egg. It's very easy to make and delicious!

This is a 筆ペン which is a pen with a brush tip
It's very convenient for writing beautiful kanji...
If you can do it, I wish I could!

The bus sign for Little Tokyo. It's very easy to get there
because of the new rail line. I want to go there more often
because of it.

I was this close to putting a picture of my favorite
drink up here お〜いお茶 (oi ocha) but I opted
for this beautiful picture of a pagoda from the city.

Interview and Waseda Application

Hey all, I haven't posted in a while but things have been happening.
I've been swamped this week with studying for finals, but such is life, isn't it? Last week I had my group interview for Waseda. It was actually really easy and they group interviewed us with other students studying abroad. The interview went really well. I dressed up nicely in a suit but it seemed I over dressed and came with too many things (I brought a resume and a photograph) but anyway it was nice to come well dressed.

A few days later I visited the health center here on campus. The interviewers told everyone that they needed to see a nurse before anything else to make sure we had the proper immunizations for our countries. Since I'm not leaving till fall the health center told me to return in spring term, so I'm a bit early. I also had to submit my applications for Waseda itself, my visa, and some other form. The Waseda one was in Japanese with English in tiny print (there's a picture below) so you can get an idea for it. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be filled out in English or Japanese so I wrote both side by side just to be safe. I also had to get 10 pictures of myself taken at Kinkos which is now called the Fed-Ex office only. It took two days to get everything done, but I printed them all out in high quality.
I guess that's all, take a look at the application below, I thought it was pretty cool!

This is the top, I just screen-capped it. All in all, it was like 5 pages,
but this was the first page. (click to enlarge)

This is the last page, I thought it was kinda neat.
(click to enlarge)

作文その二 Writing Paper number 2

名無しさん、
最近、新しいタウンハウスに引っ越しました。僕のタウンハウスは雲の上にあります。でも、誰もが行けます。行き方は、大学の一番大きいエスカレーターを乗って行けます。タウンハウスの後ろには、とてもきれいな庭があり、たくさんの赤や黒の花が咲いています。今週の土曜日に引っ越しパーティーがあります。パーティーでは、みなさんと、たくさんの美味しい洋食を食べたり和食の酒を飲んだりするのが好きです。昨日、パーティーのために、たくさんの飲み物を買っておいたので、飲み物を持って来ないで下さい。母は牛乳だけ買わせます。みなさんのために、手作りのお菓子を作ってきてくれたので、お菓子も持って来なくて大丈夫です。しかし、僕の母の手作りのお菓子は、あまり美味しくないので、食べないほうがいいと思います。
それでは、今週の土曜日のパーティーを忘れないで！

赤司準一

Dear Anonymous,

Recently, I moved into my new townhouse. My townhouse is floating above the clouds, but don't worry because anyone can easily visit. To get there, use the university's biggest escalator you can find and ride it to the top. Behind my townhouse there's a really pretty garden with lots of red and black flower blooming. This saturday I'm having a moving in party. I love eating delicious western food and drinking Japanese drinks with everyone along with other things. Yesterday, because I knew I'd be throwing a party I went to buy lots of drinks, so don't bring any drinks. My mom forced me to buy only milk though. My mom baked some snacks, so you don't have to bring any… Actually, her snacks taste awful so it would be better if you just avoided them.
Well that's all, don't forget about the party this saturday!

Junichi Akashi

春と海 The Spring and the Ocean

Last night I went to a really awesome Koto and Shakuhatsu concert at school. My favorite Koto player Mitsuki Dazai was playing along with a shakuhatsu player named James Schlefer. The event was about 2 hours which would seem long for just 2 players but they made it really lively and I was really into it (except right before intermission when I really had to go to the bathroom!!) but otherwise it was a really great night. I believe this was the 3rd or 4th time I'd seen Mitsuki Dazai before. I have her CD and I even got her to sign my program guide (as seen below). Actually the highlight of the event was their encore song- haru to umi or "The Spring and the Ocean" which I perchance bought off itunes about a week ago so I knew the tune already. I really think it's one of my new favorite songs just because it's so relaxing to listen to.

There was some cool backstory to this song. It is meant to sound very authentic and old style Japanese but it was actually composed around the 1920's and is now a popular New Years song. Maybe that's why I liked it... it sounds so familiar.

Anyway, below is a picture of my signed program and a youtube video of haru to umi. I know you'll really like it if you give it a listen. I was really entranced the first time I heard it.

Ahh I guess it's kind of hard to read, but there it is!

This is the video where I found the song. I think the cooking video

paired with the music gives a really awesome feeling.

Finished My Application

Hey guys,

I celebrated last night and had a drink to reward myself. Anyway, I finished my application and I'm really excited. It was a long week and I spent it all studying and working, but now I'm done with everything now. Here's a picture of my completed application. I blurred out my name, but I guess it doesn't really matter now since it's so easy to find my name from something like this anyway. Anyway, that's the latest update. I'm pretty excited about that. Look forward to more in the coming future!

Signature Form Received!

Well after about two weeks of waiting and getting no reply from the OUS office, I finally was able to electronically sign the documents. This is the main reason I haven't posted anything. It has been pretty much a waiting game at this point. I submitted everything else, so I'm sure by Monday it should be up and ready to go, but until then it's pretty much do-nothing.
Since the electronic signature verification was processed I was able to sign off on two more of the necessary checked items, but I'm still not completely done... I'll check everyday until it's all done. It makes me nervous, but I'm sure it will be fine, after all, I submitted everything a month before the deadline so I have nothing to worry over.

Last week I called the OUS office (I guess they aren't completely ignoring me) and they said they received my documents but hadn't been processed, I guess that's the main reason as to why I'm not sweating about this.

That's about all to say... I "signed" two boxes and they checked themselves off, nothing else to report.

電子辞書 Electronic Dictionary Arrives!

It has been a few days since I posted but I finally have some news! My electronic dictionary or "denshi jisho" finally arrived today! I'm super excited because I got it for a good price and it seems to be really nice. I'll have to start learning all the kanji in it since it's all in Japanese and so is the instruction book x_x;

Anyway, here are some unboxing pictures! I've always wanted to unbox a product.

Main Screen

Keyboard

Included instructions and other products

Box (dinged up but the product was in perfect condition)

Bubble Wrap!

Package!

Essays

Of course, with traveling abroad the topic of money comes up many times. As a result I've been working for the past few days on and off trying to get some scholarships submitted. While I haven't finished any, I thought I'd post one of my short essays (less than 500 words). I think it came to around 400 when all was said and done. Anyway, I hope you like it. どうぞ〜

Question: Explain your reasons for wishing to study in Japan, and outlining what you hope to achieve by participating in a study-abroad program. (500 words max)
My name is Jon-Erik Akashi. The name is made up of a Swedish first name and a Japanese last name. My mother, who raised me, gave me a western and European style life. I was very grateful for all that she did for me, but there was always something that was missing in my life. Since I did not live with my father I never experienced the Japanese lifestyle. Occasionally when I would visit him we would always meet in the Japanese part of town (Little Tokyo), and eat Japanese cuisine and go shopping together afterward. Unfortunately, this was the extent to my father’s Japanese life too. He grew up during the war in a time where it was unacceptable to be Japanese, but it was something he always was curious about. When he died shortly before I started high school he told that he wanted me to study Japanese and discover a lost part of our heritage. After his death, I did everything that I could to study Japanese language and its vast culture. I learned about many different perspectives, different cultures, and a whole new lifestyle that confused me as much as it fascinated me.
Now, five years later I have the opportunity to visit Japan for the first time through the university. I have studied Japanese language in the university for two years as well as economics, my major. If granted this scholarship, I hope to take full advantage of my help. During my studies I learned about the wonderful culture that Japan offers. Everything from the technology driven Tokyo to the old world beauty of Osaka has mystified my imagination. I want to experience everything that I can, and while it’s impossible to see everything I want, that can’t stop me from aiming for the best I can.
While in Japan, I want to do far more than just study and improve my Japanese. I want to gain a sense of identity. My friends, especially exchange students often tell me “that’s a Japanese thing you did”. I want to learn what that means, what a “Japanese thing” exactly is and how it relates to me. I already consider myself fortunate to be able to study abroad, but I know that there is so much I can do, want to do, and must do.

I submitted my application

I thought I'd snap a quick photo before turning in the application! I was really excited (yes, this is before I put the correct number of stamps). Also, I blurred out my address and the program's one. My smile is kind of stupid, but I wanted to capture the moment and didn't have someone to take the picture for me.

New Vocabulary

Just some new vocabulary I've been learning:

To check-out: チェックアウトする

Dining Car: 食堂車／しょうくどうしゃ

Express: 特急／とっきゅう

First-Class Car: グリーン車

Non-Reserved Seat: 自由席／じどうせき

Non-Smoking Seat: 禁煙席／きんえんき

One Night Two Meals included: 一泊食付き／いっぱくしょくつき

One-Way Ticket: 片道切符／かたみちきっぷ

Passenger: 乗客／じょうきゃく

Platform: ホーム

Reserved Seat: 指定席／していせき

Room Service: ルームサービス

Round-trip ticket: 往復切符／おうふくきっぷ

Sleeping Car: 寝台車／しんだいしゃ

Smoking Seat: 喫煙機／きつえんき

I am an astronaut

In just a few months I'll be finding myself on a plane on the way to Tokyo. I hope to become a student at 早稲田大学 Waseda University. At this moment I'm finishing up my application. I've collected the letters of recommendation, my essays, and I've filled out most of the information. I still need to collect a transcript, send in a letter or two, and maybe a few loose ends.

It's a weird feeling. Ever since I began my studies of Japanese language almost five years ago, it seems that I've spent every moment preparing for this experience. I feel like an astronaut. I've studied for years, dreamed of everyday, and now I'm about to board my shuttle. Everything around me... every person I've met, every flower I've seen, every little thing is about to leave me, or rather... I'm about to leave them all for this new life for a year. I've dreamt and planned out every second of my future, but I know that reality will be completely different when it finally is unveiled.

What can I honestly do to prepare for this? What can I think of all the people that have helped me prepare? I've heard too many things about my destination to form a solid thought. I've heard Japanese universities are too easy, I've heard it's too westernized... and yet I still feel some kind of need to go. At this point I wonder... is it possible for me not to be disappointed in Japan? I've heard so many stories, and if things don't work as I've heard, will all my hopes be crushed?

I can do nothing more than wait and see.