kaosrave wrote:

i was wondering if this is true : my teacher otld me that if yournot japanese the government wont accept you as japanese and i wont eb able to get my japanese citizenship.

yeh, if ur gaijin (foreigner) then a certain amount of income is needed before u are even considered for permanent residence status.
So u can't just move there because it's cool^^*

altho, if according to news reports, then it seems certain groups of ppl catering to certain industry, are doing pretty well getting in..




.�r�N�^�[

Just got back this past Saturday from visiting my grandmother in Teshikaga, on the northern island of Hokkaido. Here are some pix:

Train ride to my grandmother's...lil swell from the typhoon down in Kyushu:

A little rain:

Ski resort in town:

Pachinko parlors breaks families:

Mmm!

Miso ramen will forever be my favorite (this place wasnt that great though)

Beer and yakitori:

Add sashimi and a Japanese pizza:

My buddy...I fed him fat so he could be strong for his battle:

I kinda knew he was gonna lose, but I had to put him up against the 'kikanai' triangle spider (notice he already got bit =():

Lake Mashu...hasnt had a volcanic eruption in a long ass time:

Last train ride before I said bye to mama...tired, drinky, whatever else:

Sorry for the size.

i forgot, here's a pic of a tick (dani) that my grandmother ripped off one of the wild cats that hang around with her durin the day...

i didnt have the balls to rip it off...it was stuck on the cat's eyelid...my grandmother had no problem with ripping it off tho. i then proceeded to burn it with my cigarette...it couldnt walk b/c it was so fat. the end.

How are the ski resorts in Hokkaido?

I've seen a few in TV, wonder how they compare to the USA.
-PCM

Un. Thanks for sharing your vaca' pics, Ikumu!

I'm wondering if you could enter this one:

for competition.

Hey, this thread might start up one o' them 200-300 pagers!

Maybe the ELTINATOR'll share his recent Hawai'i pics (once he's more freed up from school and is awake on Calif' time); though, no pics of The Man (like you care) as I told him, "no pictures, please, of my personage. Covert ops and all, you know how it goes."

Quote:

Ski resort in town:

The hills in Hokkaido during the summer look just like the hills in the SF Bay Area during the winter-spring.

Quote:

Beer and yakitori:

Beer! Sapporo is from Hokkaido after all.
-PCM

haha, funny thing is, the last two years i dropped into a bar/restuarant in Sapporo, and they didnt have the black label on tap or any other sapporo beer as a matter of fact. people love asahi and kirin...i can drink asahi from time to time, but they give killer hangovers (ever after 4-5), and kirin just smells like feet so i cant drink it.

and i cant believe happosho is still around, it doesnt even taste like beer. i didnt think companies could still get around that tax...

niko2x wrote:

better bone up on some keigo. We've had countless discussions about this as well. US? or JPN? Found our middle ground in HI, which has a bit of both. The same ?'s I was asking you about HI will be the same ones you need to ask about the Kinki area. ('cause theres no way in hell she's gonna be an umin-chu (�C�l) in okinawa right? ) I can talk to you this subject to death, so i'll stop here.

Thanks for the advice. And I know I have to work on that keigo.
Can't get anywhere in Japan without it.
Honestly, I don't know how long I'll be able to live there though. And if I do come back to Hawaii, my main concern is if I'll be able to get a job that can match the status of my current job, or if I'll only be peddling backwards...........
*sigh*
_________________

Very lucky to be able to go there

What is keigo?

Sapooro is a great city (specially Yoodobashi)! I love Tokyo and Kyoto as well , but Tokyo is too big. I prefer smaller town. Hey, do u know Otaru in Hokkaido ?

warren.mcclendon wrote:

What is keigo?

proper, PROPER JPN. as in customer service language.
_________________

Here's my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/kwan1?ref=profile

When speaking Keigo works basically like this it's to do honor to a listener, to be formal, to express a humble attitude. Keigo is classified into three types: sonkeigo, kenjougo and teineigo.
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Akikochan wrote:

Hey, do u know Otaru in Hokkaido ?

Si. Man, Washington DC sucks. This internet board just makes me miss Japan a lot.

Ikumu wrote:

Si. Man, Washington DC sucks. This internet board just makes me miss Japan a lot.

it's no that bad.
_________________

Here's my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/kwan1?ref=profile

niko2x wrote:

it's no that bad.

If you're nihonjin, Hawaii or California are probably the places in which you'll be most comfortable due to the large asian population.
-PCM

My Japanese teacher was from Teshikaga. It sounds like a nice place. I have not been to that area. Thanks for the pictures. (PS Creepy Spider)
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niko2x wrote:

it's no that bad.

I think it is. People are rude up here. Always in a damned hurry. So uptight. I grew up down at the beach where the scene was very laid back. But the jobs are up here, so what can ya do....

Actually PCM, there's a big community of Asians around here. Annandale is basically Koreans...banks, stores, everything is in Korean.
I've yet to meet a Japanese person up here...I hear Bethesda has got a number though. I gotta make it over there sometime.

Doramafan113 wrote:

My Japanese teacher was from Teshikaga. It sounds like a nice place. I have not been to that area. Thanks for the pictures. (PS Creepy Spider)

Are you kidding me? Wow what a small world. Everyone knows everyone in that town, Im sure my grandfather or neighbors knew of your teacher or his family. It's not even known as "Teshikaga" anymore, it's become "Mashu". Thanks to JR...well everyone calls the town Teshikaga except for JR.

Ikumu wrote:

Actually PCM, there's a big community of Asians around here. Annandale is basically Koreans...banks, stores, everything is in Korean. I've yet to meet a Japanese person up here...I hear Bethesda has got a number though. I gotta make it over there sometime.

The largest population of nihonjin outside of Hawaii is in the Los Angeles basin. Next largest is the San Francisco Bay Area.

Huge Korean population in LA. Quite a few in SF Bay as well. Same goes for Chinese, HK, and Taiwanese.
-PCM