Japanese Crime Fighters

I saw something pretty cool today. I suppose it was a cool thing because of the positive outcome. I saw something I've never seen during my entire 5 years living in Japan.

I saw a crime...

Now, the actual crime itself wasn't cool. Crime by default isn't cool. It was cool because I witnessed some
good Samaritans apprehend a potential criminal.

I was in a subway station in downtown Osaka today after purchasing some bookcases for my new classroom. Myself and a colleague had just put our boxes down in front of the entrance so I could buy a ticket.

I walked to the ticket machine and I could hear yelling of some sort in the distance. I could then see a man, in his late 20's running (not very quickly) while holding a woman's handbag. He was desperately rummaging through the bag as he ran. An elderly man was in chase yelling that the man was a thief!

Suddenly, a business man, in a suit lay chase. He was a fit looking guy in this late 30's. Within seconds he was behind the guy and tackled him from behind. As they got up another couple of men standing nearby grabbed hold of the suspected thief as well. Within minutes a policeman came, grabbed the guy and threw him up against the wall.

The man who did the tackle started to walk away and I intercepted him. I walked up, shook his hand, patted him on the back and thanked him. That put a huge smile on his face.

I wrote about this on Facebook shortly after I witnessed it. Some people asked I I helped capture the guy. I didn't. I didn't have to!

Felt pretty awesome seeing regular people doing good and making the world a enter place.

My train smells like ASS!

Nasty, Nasty Trains in Japan

So here's the deal. April 1st marked the new fiscal year in Japan. I live in Japan and recently changed jobs. I used to work relatively close to my house in Kobe and my commute was relatively painless. With the new fiscal year and the new job came a new commute. My new commute is a long one to the middle of Osaka and three train lines and about 90 minutes each way, I get from my house to work.

I've been spending a lot of time on a very crowded train this week and I've come to realize a few things:

1. The direction a train goes in can mean a lot to a poor ole commuter. I'm taking the same train I have for the last few years, but this time it's heading in a different direction. Last year, it was heading towards some small cities and wasn't very crowded. This year it's heading the Japan's third largest city, Osaka and its a freakin cattle call! Bloody packed with commuters.

2. The second thing I've come to notice had to do with number one. The trains are bloody packed with "salarymen" ( non-descript, black suit wearing office workers). They are so crowded that they lead to the next few observations I've had.

3. They stink! The trains simply smell bad. Pack a small metal box with hundreds of people and there is a very dynamic array of aromas. You can smell body odour, last night's (or this morning's) alcohol, garlic, pickles, farts and more!

4. They are HOT! Too many people combined with no understanding of climate control cause excessive suffering. Japanese trains kick the heat on near the end of winter and don't turn it off til spring has ended and summer has arrived. It really makes no sense and my advice is to not even attempt to figure it out. There is no answer!

My conclusion is:

Trains used to commute in the city are not fun. It's not a deep conclusion, but it's all I got!

Learning Japanese and English at the same time

Late last year and earlier this year I began writing about raising my son to be a bilingual child. His first language, Japanese, was progressing quickly and his English was coming along as well.

Fast forward ahead to April 2013 and my son is now 2 years 8 months old. Naturally, both languages have been progressing rapidly and his ability to communicate with others and express himself has grown by leaps and bounds. He can speak to his mother and Japanese adults/children in full, yet simple sentences. He is also able to understand most of what he hears.

Having entered the world of the Terrible Two's so his favorite phrases in both Japanese and English are, "I don't want to" and "I can't."

In English, his basic vocabulary continues to grow quickly. His language bank of nouns, verbs and adjectives is expanding, but he can struggle when it comes to putting them together. Sometimes his storytelling sessions are very easy to understand while at other times it's more of a challenge for me to fully comprehend.

I think one of the most interesting recent aspects of his language development has been his language switching. He now seems to have made the distinction in his mind that he speaks Japanese to Mommy (who is Japanese) and English to Daddy (moi...a Canadian dude). My wife often speaks English to him and even a few months ago he would reply to her in English, but now he won't. He only speaks to my wife in Japanese no matter what language she uses with him. On top of that, he even seems somewhat annoyed when she does speak to him in English. I'm assuming that people out there in a similar family makeup have had similar experiences.

We're continuing to give him the opportunity to watch lots of English TV and movies which have helped. He definitely learns from watching Cars, Toy Story (1,2 and 3), Finding Nemo and others and it's obviously helping his listening skills as well.

His English progress may start to slow over the next two months though. He will be attending Japanese day care leading up to the time my wife has our second child and for about a month afterwards. That coupled with my longer working/commuting hours with my new job means he'll be exposed to almost no English on a daily basis until June.

I'm sure he'll be fine, but I have to admit that I'm somewhat stressed about his upcoming "lack of English."

I'll let you know how things go in upcoming posts.

Minoh Waterfall and Katsuoji Temple

Last Friday I met up with my friend John to do some hiking north of Osaka. He was visiting from the U.S. and wanted to show me the Minoh Waterfall and the very beautiful Katsuoji Temple.

We hiked most of the day through the forest and days later, my legs are still screaming in pain!

Hope you like some of the pictures I took that day. Katsuoji Temple is well know for its Daruma. These small figures are meant to give people good luck and help their wishes come true.

I'm back and mobile....in Osaka

Long time, no see!

I'm alive and doing well and still in Japan of course. I've long been neglecting this blog for far too long. Things have changed as of today and maybe I'll be able to share with you more often.

As of today, I now work in Osaka, Japan. I still live in Kobe with my family, but now have a much longer and more uncomfortable commute everyday. I've just downloaded the Blogger app and will try to write posts while I travel everyday.

I'll continue to focus on my son's bilingual upbringing and share things we're doing in my house to make sure his English language skills grow while submersed in a Japanese world!

Constantly Talking: a teaching tool

One piece of advice I give to new teachers, especially ones teaching second language learners is to constantly speak to them and ask them questions. This of course gives them more opportunities to hear English as well think in the language and speak it.

Practice, practice, practice! 

The more you practice anything, the better you will become. Learning a language is no different.

This of course carries over to parenting and raising a child to speak more than one language. I suppose it will even help a child who is learning only one language.

When my son was an infant, I read in a book about raising children that I should have a constant running dialogue when I am with them. Even when he was too young to speak or communicate in any way, aside from crying, I should speak. At bath time, the running dialogue might sound something like, “Now I’m going to wash your arms. I’m cleaning your arms with soap. Isn’t the water nice and warm? Now I’m rinsing the soap off your arms. Does that feel nice?”

It completely makes sense why this would be good for your child. While they are with you they hear your voice and are surrounded by the language they will someday speak. It’s another form of mental stimulation. Sounds straightforward and easy, but I often find this type of running dialogue difficult to maintain. I suppose it is a little mentally taxing for me and sometimes I simply forgot to do it.

When my son was younger and even now I find myself zoning out when I am doing something that required concentration such as giving him a bath. When I would zone out, I would stop speaking.

Today I went for a walk with my son and spoke to him the entire time. I asked him questions about the vehicles we saw as well as the plants and flowers we walked past. “Is that a white or a blue car? Look at the ambulance. Is it loud? Did you see all of the pink flowers on the tree? Do you want to go to the supermarket? What kind of juice do you want?”

I realize that English is my son’s second language and I need to pick up my game and start exposing him to more of it.

I have to admit that while I need to pick up my game as a teacher at home, my wife has been doing a fantastic job all along. She has that constant dialogue with my son and speaks to him in both Japanese and English.

Another thing we have been doing all along, but more now that our son is speaking a lot is discussing his “linguistic future.” We spend a great deal of time talking about how we can work together to make sure his English skills are strong. We have been discussing what type of schools he should attend. We have also been discussing how we will teach him to read and write English if he attends a Japanese school.

Luckily I’m not stressed about that since I have been teaching of many years and have spent the last 5 years teaching young children phonics and writing.

Interesting times!

More updates and ideas to come.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Flash cards with a 2 year old

Today my son turns two and a half years old. He’s growing like a weed as they say back home and his language continues to grow at a frightening (for me anyway) pace. He simply loves speaking in both English and Japanese.

Last Monday, I began work after a three-week holiday. During my holiday, I spent most of my time with my family. That of course meant that our house was pretty much an “English Zone.” Living in an English environment for almost a month was a great boost for my son’s language, but as with every vacation, it had to come to an end. Last Monday I started work again and it began with a six-day work-week for me.

Yesterday when I got home from work I took my son to the supermarket to buy some pancake mix. He babbled in English the entire way, curiously pointing t everything he saw and sharing a running dialogue about those things. “Look Daddy, blue car. Big red car. Pigeons are walking. Building is yellow. Look, leaves are green. Tree is tall.” I loved every minute of it.

After dinner last night, while he was playing with Lego I spent sometime showing him various flashcards. Most of them were animal flashcards, but some were also shapes. He is quickly learning them, but I plan to add flashcards to our daily routine more often. Again, I almost have to think about English as if I were a teacher (which I am). He doesn’t get exposed to much English on a day-to-day basis so I need to work hard to help him learn.

Last year I bought a few sets at the local English bookstore, but have realized that at my son’s pace of learning it would cost me a small fortune to continue buying them so I have begun to make flashcards for him. I have relied on some of the great free sites I use for teaching such as MES English and Sparklebox. I simply print the cards at home and I even bought a laminator so I can make them last for years. I think it was a worthy investment.

Some flash cards I bought at Junkudo Bookstore. He already knows about 85% of these so I have begun making them myself at home.

You can check out a video below of me showing some color flashcards to my son the other morning while he was playing. To be honest, he really enjoys playing with the flashcards. He sees them as a toy. I suppose that’s a good thing!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

An Explosion of Language

My son is now almost two and a half years old and recently has been speaking quite a bit. He says things at night like, “Daddy, go to bed?” “Daddy, boat coming!” “Kai, neh neh (baby talk for sleep in Japanese).” He also speaks a lot more in Japanese, his first language. His language has been progressing at a very surprising and exciting pace.

I started a three-week vacation about three weeks ago (sadly only one day left before I head back to school). I have been spending a great deal of time with my son during that period. Both my wife and I have noticed a sudden explosion of language in the last month and luckily I have been present to enjoy so much of it.

The amazing thing that has happened is he can now express his needs and wants in English and Japanese. He was able to tell us what he wanted Santa Claus to bring him for Christmas (Santa got him the TOMICA City parking garage set he so desired).

He can also use both his English and Japanese to play with Mom and Dad. The other day he walked up to me, placed some toy food on the table and said, “Daddy, eat this.” His favorite phrase in the past few days has been “Come here Daddy” which he has said at least thirty five thousand times!

I think my mind was really blown the other day when my son said, “Daddy, two boys going over there.” I looked up and sure enough, there were two young boys running across the street in front of us!

I realize that often children in Canada, where I am from, at my son’s age may be able to communicate more, but my son has to process twice the information. He doesn’t just have to learn the word “cat” for example. He must learn that Daddy says “cat” and Mommy says, “neko” (my wife is Japanese).

Language switching:

This is another impressive thing (in my eyes as a father) that amazes me. When I am alone with my son, he pretty much only speaks English. When he is with his mother, he pretty much only speaks Japanese, the language he can communicate more in. When we are together as a family, he mixes it all together and at this point, really only his mother knows exactly what he is saying.

I suppose that in the little world that is “my family”, we are going through some fun and exciting times.

As someone who was raised in a unilingual household, it is amazing to see someone raised bilingual. It’s like looking into a new world!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

10 Worst Things About Japan

Yesterday I brought you a post about the 10 best things about living in Japan in 2012…for me.

Today I bring you the 10 worst things about life for me in Japan in 2012.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this is a tongue-in-cheek (that means humorous) post so if you get upset about it, you have full permission to close this browser window and never read my blog again! Again…full permission…please…don’t come back!

Ok, now on with the list. 10 Things that didn’t make me very happy about living in Japan in 2012:

1. Earthquakes: Does anyone really like these things? (That’s a rhetorical question)

2. Really crowded trains: I have to commute to work and there’s nothing more disgusting than having to wedge into a train that smells of body odor and in the mornings, old booze (no matter what day of the week).

3. Expensive beer: It costs a lot of money to buy the stuff at bars, restaurants and eateries.

4. People who live in tiny apartments yet have large dogs: It’s pretty common around where I live and it’s just mean. A Golden Retriever or Siberian Husky is meant to run in wide-open spaces, not live in a one or two room apartment in a big city. It’s just mean!

5. Subway Restaurants: Nice to have a little taste of home, but have you had one? They TOTALLY skimp on the meat. MORE MEAT PLEASE!

6. Only one-way to skin a cat: In English, the saying, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat” of course means that there is always more than one-way to solve a problem. From my experience, for many in Japan there is only one way to skin a cat and if that doesn’t work…uh oh! No one seems to know what to do. Oh yes…they get stressed and panic!

7. Train pervs: So many of them in Japan and they all deserve to have their groping hands removed with a rusty butter knife!

8. Intentional pigeon-toed walking: A very common thing in Japan. Many high school aged girls and young women walk very pigeon toed (that’s when you walk with your toes pointing inwards). It looks strange, awkward and uncoordinated. Apparently, most do it on purpose because they think it looks cute.

9. YouTube Japan: I’ve been a YouTube partner since the early days. Once upon a day they supported all partners. Now they tell foreign partners straight up that they are no longer important…we don’t care about you and will not really help you!

10. I wasn’t “Lost in Translation”: Suppose I’ve been living in Asia too long for that. I do at times need a translator though! 

You can follow me on Twitter @jlandkev.

10 Best Things About Japan

As I look back at the year that was 2012, I want to reflect on the best and worst things about Japan, the country I have called home for the past 5 years. Today’s post will be the “10 Best” list while tomorrow’s will be the “10 Worst” list.

Message to all “hardcore” Japan fans out there…take these posts with a grain of salt!

1. Japanese food: It’s great. It’s really delicious!

2. Strong Yen (currency): At least in 2012 it was. That was good for me since I was paid in Yen!

3. Safe place to live: I know that every second joker isn’t carrying a gun!

4. SOOOO many weirdos: There really is a freaky amount of freaky people all over the place in Japanese cities. As a blogger and vlogger, that’s great for me! Free entertainment.

5. Beautiful women everywhere: I may be happily married, but I’m not dead!

6. Those beautiful women are “Pro Short Skirt”: Nuff said…

7. Smart phones still have unlimited data plans: Nuff said…

8. Treated well as a foreigner: As a Canadian living in Japan, I am treated quite well by most (sadly there are foreigners from many other countries who aren’t treated so well).

9. Fantastic history: Japan has a really fascinating history. I mean come on, these guys are the guys who brought us ninjas!!! That’s WAY cool!

10. Raising a family: As a parent in Japan, you have subsidized health care and good financial incentives and support from the government…for now.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my “10 Worst Things About Japan” list!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev