6 month in japan

Some days ago I recognized my first earthquake. There have already been some before, but smaller ones, some friends told me there have been earthquake later. But this one was 4.9 in the north of Tokyo, a bit less in Mutsumi, where I live. As the scale is logarithmic, this is far less than the really strong earthquakes, like for example the big Kanot earthquake measuring 7.9. That's pretty strong.
In fact there are earthquakes every day in Tokyo, but very weak. Some of them you recognize when you are sitting, while walking you don't even know. But people in Tokyo live with the awareness that one day, there will be another big one. Normally there is a big earthquake in Tokyo every 60 years, now there wasn't for 75 years.
I already visited an earthquake prevention center, where you can find simulators that show you how you need to behave in case of natural disasters or accidents like fire in a building.
There was an earthquake simulator room, simulating earthquakes until strength 7, with furniture falling down on you (soft furniture substitute of course). The problem with an earthquake is in fact not the trembling of the ground but making sure not to be killed by a falling brick.

I suppose you don't speak fluently japanese. Why? Because I don't. I tried to learn it two years, that was alright, but it is difficult to find japanese to speak with. When I arrived in France, I had contact with french people from the first day on, I studied. Now I'm working, most other people in the company are japanese, but if you don't need to talk to them, I think it is not easy to start speaking. I know students living in Tokyo for years, studying in english at their university and can't discuss a topic in japanese, just know the words of all day life, how to command food or things like that. But at least it seems they can understand a bit japanese, although by far not a hole conversation.
In fact it is the same problem for japanese people to learn other languages. It is quite difficult to find someone to talk to. If your mother tongue is english and you got a diploma, there will be no problem to find a job in Tokyo as english teacher.
You can read everywhere, in Tokyo there is no problem to get along with english. I don't think so, if you search a bit you will find someone who speaks some words, but don't rely on the this. On my first day I had to change the taxi because the driver didn't speak at all, the next driver spoke some words, just enough I could tell her where to go.
In the countryside it's still worse, we already ordered in a restaurant food just by pointing at it in the menu without knowing what it was, because even knowing hiragana and katakana there are too many kanji you need to know, and the waitress didn't speak english. Well, finally it was eatable, some of it really (!!!) good.
I got friends who want to study in Japan, two years. I don't know how they will make that. In France, if I didn't understand a lesson I took the lecture notes and read. In Japan, if you don't understand your lesson and take your lecture note, you will find out soon, that the 2000 kanji of all day life you don't know wouldn't be sufficient in any way, because there are some kanjis more for technical use. Try to learn another 2000 kanjis... Have fun!

is quite well develloped. But in the morning and afternoon, at peak-time, it's not fun to take it. Maybe you have already heard of the guys with white gloves pushing people in the underground to make sure everyone gets in. In the metro you can't move a centimeter, jammed between the sliding doors. Some kind of swing doors opening to the outside like the tram doors of Nantes wouldn't resist the pressure... When I get an occasion I will make a picture from the outside of a train for you, with people's faces pressed flat against the window. Be happy to live in Europe! In fact I profit of the fact that I need to take a line that's not one of the worst, and of the fact I'm 187: japanese are smaller than me, at least I got the head over theirs.

Evidently some men use this to grab girls asses or whatever. Personnally I can't imagine how to know if someone's grabbing you or if you're just jammed of all sides.

Hint for anyone coming to Tokyo: if you can reach the gangway, between the seats it is not that bad than between the doors.

In Japan everyone has a Bicycle. It's quite crazy, but as you got more inhabitants per surface, streets are often crouded, there are motorways, huge constructions, with 6 traces as some kind of bridge over large distances, sometimes they cross on different levels, the infrastructure is much better developped than in Europe and nevertheless there it's very often crowded. 12 million inhabitants in one place, that's huge.
Well, you know why everyone's got a bycicle. It's quite fast to go to your home or work from the underground.

As consequence there is a system at the underground stations, as many people use bicycles to go there and back, the japanese need a system to register bicycles, you pay for posing your bike close to the station, "close" might be 300 m distance. There are really people whose work it is to make sure only registered bikes park on these places. On the other hand they do a bike service like oiling those bikes, placed there without you needing to ask them, just while you are at work. It's quite funny, but I don't think it would work in Europe.

In fact of my group, 7 people, 5 bought a bycicle very early. A cheap one, of course.
That seems quite astonishing, too: since I arrived I've seen thousands of bycicles, but not one expensive (except for sale). Your bycicle serves to go from home to the underground, it's not luxury, it's just a need.
But on the other hand riding a bicycle seems to be really dangerous. My boss at work told he had already three accidents on a bicycle, now doesn't ride anymore. I'll really pay attention, driving in Tokyo has to be almost as funny as driving in Paris ;-).

I've lived two years in France. Well I tried to eat whatever was served, I tried shells and oysters, snails and hummer.
From this point of view, Japan is, hum, interesting. Another interesting folk who tries to eat everything that seems to be alive. You already know most of it, I suppose you like sushi. It seems quite astonishing that dried algae, the green stuff around the rice of the sushi smells good. Well, I like it. And in fact sushi is the only way of serving fish uncooked that I like.
There is some other food less known in western countries like ramen, some kind of noodle soup. Quite convenient, you can put nearly everything in, eggs or meat, whatever you find in your refrigerator. I've already found ramen as instant meal, sometimes you get instant ramen in a restaurant. But at least they tell you it's instant, no german pizzeria would admit that their pizza was prepared two month ago in a factory.

I'll continue the article at a later moment. I don't have enough experience right now, food is quite difficult.

In fact I'm not used to see many machines distributing drinks, in France we had two for cafe and two more for coke and so on at the university. Sometimes you find two of them in a train station or a shopping mall.
In Japan you just can't avoid them, every 200 m, in nearly every street there are one or two of them. Not only in town, in industrial areas, housing areas, on highways, wherever. It's quite cool, I imagine in summer you need them. You get a coke nearly everywhere, question of heat and humidity in summer it will be quite sticky.

I had a fine flight from Munich to London and then Narita, Japan. Quite long, but if you do the internet check in of British Airways you can have any seat, mine was in the front with plenty of room for my legs. Not bad for 670 euros there and back again.
I arrived in Narita, I already had my Visa for an internship, pretty easy as I'm student, it took only 1/4h pass the controle.
The first problem happened when I got out, theoretically there should be someone of Bosch, my enterprise, and show me the way to the enterprise. Well no way, later I got out that there was a communication problem. He had been there the day of my departure in Munich, not of my arrival the next day. I waited an hour, finally I tried to find my way, first to the station.
It's quite fun to ask someone in Tokyo for the way. I had learned japanese for two years, it's enough to know how japanese works, but not enough to speak. Whenever you ask a japanese if he speaks german, he just makes a sign with his fingers to say "only a little bit".
I think the woman selling tickets only understood the name "Funabashi" of the town I wanted to go, but she pointed to the entrance of the subway.
Next thing to do was to buy a ticket. I tried, "Funabashi" still worked and I got a ticket and went down. The plan of the Tokyo underground isn't easy, especially because most of them are exclusively in japanese. Even knowing hiragana, katakana and some kanji it's impossible to find your way, but some signs contain english names. I took the first train with direction Funabashi, called "Skyrails". Well, in fact you need a special ticket to take this train. But when the conductor asked me, I only started to speak english. As he evidently didn't understand any english, he just gave up to ask after some time, having seen my ticket. I was happy about that...
Some time later he came back, very polite, passed me a plan of the line and canceled my ticket. I think that would have processed differently in any other country... I got out at Funabashi station, just passing the control without being asked. I think that's not normal even in Japan, but I was happy about it.
Next I had to go to the company. First I tried to phone from one of those green public telephones everywhere in Japan, working with 100 yen coins.
As the person who answered in the enterprise didn't seem to be comfortable in english, he just counceled me to get a cab to go to the enterprise instead of describing the way, and it would have been difficult in fact to go there on my own.
The first cab driver I showed the address knew neither the address, neither english. But he asked a female driver, speaking at least a bit.
Addresses are special in Japan, all is made in blocs, only the post does understand which address belongs to which house. The trick she used was to phone my enterprise and to ask for the way. 1400 yen later I arrived there, being lucky that there was a german worker although it was the "golden week".

Hi everybody,
my name is Johannes, I'm an engineering student, I started to study at the TU Munich and continued at the EC Nantes. Now I'm doing an internship in Japan, that's why I've started the blog.
As I got german friends who don't speak french and french friends who don't speak german I write this blog in english, sorry for any mistakes.
Have fun to read it!
Johannes