How to Take a Poop in Japan (Kids' version)

...here are some videos teaching you all about the wonders of taking a poo in a grown-up toilet.

For adults having trouble, don't forget to check out our "How to Take a Crap in Japan" post.

Wiping troubles, too? AccessJ's got you covered...

How to use a toilet for wees and poos

How to get all that pesky poo off your bum

Alternative to the first video, featuring a kangaroo...

WS: Eigo Noto: When is your birthday 3

Previously we have learned the days of the months and played some fun games to ensure the students can remember them, and in the last lesson we introduced the question "when is your birthday?".

This lesson will focus again on this question and teach how to answer it properly.



Greeting - Hello. How are you? What month is it now?

Chant - The last time we will sing the months of the year chant (from the CD). 

Eraser game - The 'eraser game' is basically a listening game. The students should be in pairs facing each other and each pair should have one eraser on the floor/desk between them. Hands should be on heads, and the students listen for the 'Key word'.

When they hear the 'Key word' they should grab the eraser, the first student to do so, is the winner.

In this case, after telling the students what the key word is, I get the students to start each round by asking me "when is your birthday?" I then say months at random until I say the key word and the students grab the eraser.


My Birthday is in ... chant - Here I teach the students to use 'in' when talking about when their birthday is. They should have picked up on this when playing the eraser game and listening to my answers.

Fruit basket - Students will know this game, and as soon as you say "fruit basket" students will start arranging their chairs into a circle.

• All students sit down except one in the middle (or you for the first round).
• There is one too few chairs for everyone to sit. 
• I/we all say "When is your birthday?" and the student in the middle replies 'my birthday is in ......' 
• I let students choose any months, and after a few rounds let them choose up to 3 months at once.
• The students whose REAL birthdays are in the mentioned month should stand up and change seats with someone else. 
• The student without a chair becomes the 'oni' or devil in the middle. 
• If the 'oni' says "fruit basket" all students change seats.

Interview activity - Using page 21 in the textbook (that`s right, using the textbook!!!) students should interview their friends to find out when their birthdays are, and write down their names.

Finish - goodbye.

Mobile Phone Guide #7: Multilingual phones

Reading all the Japanese characters on a mobile phone menu can be challenging for even the most seasoned of Japanese speakers. But fear not, as many Japanese phones often come with the ability to switch between Japanese and English menus. 



These phones are usually labeled as “bilingual” (バイリンガル if you are looking for the katakana) on the catalog listing and clerks will be able to easily point out which phones can function in English. However, keep in mind that some advanced features may only be available in Japanese (including pre-loaded applications) and mobile internet portals are almost always Japanese only. Also, as a general rule, billing and billing websites are usually only available in Japanese.

If your first language isn’t English and you don’t feel totally comfortable in it or Japanese then you might be out of luck. However, the iPhone as well as some handsets utilizing Google’s Android operating system can utilize a multitude of languages. 


As manufacturers can chose what features to use under Android, it is entirely possible that some smart phones lack multi-lingual capabilities (although in the authors experience most seem to have English and Japanese). 


Softbank has offered a traditional phone with Korean input but that seems to be discontinued.

Our next and final article will cover Japanese "rent-a-phones" and roaming for those of your who are interested in a less complex, short-term solution to your communication woes. 

Other posts in this series:

Part #1: The Basics

Part #2: Important Paperwork

Part #3: Pre-Paid Phones
Part #4: Post-Paid Phones 
Part #5: Paying Your Bills

Part #6: Mobile E-mail Guide

Part #7: Multi-Lingual Phones

Part #8: Renting and Roaming

How Japanese Addresses Work

Today I StumbledUpon a video so clear and accurate that there was nothing I could do but post it, unedited, on AccessJ. Many thanks to Derek Sivers for this informative and entertaining creation.

JLPT Past Test Downloads

For virtually every test (apart from medical, I guess), the best way to success is a lot of exam-condition practice.

The same applies for the JLPT, and not only can you buy past papers (see below), but you can also download them from various websites.

Let's find out where!!!!

Because of its 100% Japanese nature, the JLPT is the same for everyone taking it regardless of their native tongue. That's convenient for our purposes, and the main site people seem to go to for past tests is actually in Chinese. Navigating can be a little tricky, but their selection of tests is good. (See below for some other good sites)

The page houses a collection of other papers, plus study resources. It seems like they're trying to charge for newest papers. I can't comment on the legitimacy of the site, so tread carefully if you want to buy.

The resources are of little use in Chinese, but there are some practice questions, too.

In order to simplify matters, here are some direct links to some (free) past test papers. You can try to find more by exploring the site. It's possible the pages might move, in which case you'll have to navigate the page to find their new location.

JLPT level 1 (N1) 2010 July past test
JLPT level 1 (N1) 2009 September past test
JLPT level 1 (N1) 2009 July past test
JLPT level 1 (N1) 2007 past test
JLPT level 1 (N1) 2006 past test

JLPT level 2 (N2) 2010 July past test
JLPT level 2 (N2) 2007 past test
JLPT level 2 (N2) 2006 past test

JLPT level 3 (N4) 2004 past test
JLPT level 3 (N4) 2005 past test
JLPT level 3 (N4) 2006 past test
JLPT level 3 (N4) 2007 past test

JLPT level 4 (N5) 2004 past test
JLPT level 4 (N5) 2005 past test
JLPT level 4 (N5) 2006 past test
JLPT level 4 (N5) 2007 past test

There are also answers, and the site is updated quickly enough for you to check your score a couple of days after the test (at the latest).

Alternatives
Check out this site (also Chinese) which has much better quality scans of all the tests for all levels from 1991-2005. The trouble is, the site is a bit temperamental. If you keep trying every couple of minutes you can download your test, but don't be surprised if you get errors a few times. Weird.

You can also find a large collection of typed-up versions at this site.

Bear in mind that these pages can come and go, as you aren't supposed to take the papers out of the test sites: JLPT gets angry. They may force the sites to shut down.


NB: sometimes the scan quality of these tests is not that great. On fairly rare occasions it can be frustrating and almost unreadable.

In such cases you may just want to go ahead and...

Buy published past tests
JAAS sometimes publishes past papers. Here are some links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Try not to get confused and buy what is known as the JLPT Guide Book. It looks like a test, and acts like one, but is much shorter. It's designed as an entry guide to see if you are ready for typical grade N4 and N5 level questions.

You can buy that here: Amazon America

Donate Money to Japanese Save the Children

I'm doing a series of long-distance runs in Japan this year to raise money for child victims of the tsunami/earthquake.

You know it's the right thing to do, so I won't bore you with a sob-story.

Please go to my page and donate some cash.

Dom is fundraising for GlobalGiving

Q&A: Osaka Nampa Master

Nampa is the Japanese term for guys picking up on girls in public locations, usually with the sole aim of getting them into bed. A whole subculture has sprung up around the word, and akin to titles like "How to Talk to Women" and "How to Make Someone Fall in Love With You in 6.7 Seconds" in English bookstores and across English webpages, "How to Nampa" is a term probably every magazine with a 20-something male target audience in Japan has published articles about.


In today's Q&A, we read up on the adventures of one particular Nampa artist, "Shimada," in the Osaka area, who is perhaps a bit past his prime at 30-odd years old but still updates his blogs with specific Nampa success stories in various places around the country. The basic routine seems to be: Truck out to somewhere for an afternoon, invite women out on the street to go for a drink, then escort whomever accepted the bait to a love hotel, leaving early enough to catch the last train home.

Ouch. That's right. He doesn't even want to wake up next to her.

Anyway, let's take a look at some of the tricks of the trade!

---

So there I am, in a cheap izakaya.
The girl I'm scoping is like this:

Age: 21
Blood Type: B
Occupation: Medical Secretary
Name: "Saori"

I sidle up to her and say, "So, this is the place to be, huh?"
She laughs at me.
The izakaya we're in is famous in Osaka for being dirt-cheap.
It's got a name like something-"factory."

Anyway, so we toast with beers, then I introduce myself and make some empty small talk.
We talk about her job...
Saori apparently doesn't want to work at all.
She thinks work is a waste of her life, so I tell her what's up.

There's nothing not worth doing in this whole world.
You only make a decision that something's worthless.
A person's wisdom is in how they find meaning in and ascribe value to the things they do.

I know I have her.

I'm completely full of myself.
'Cause this is first-rate stuff, right?
Even though I, Shimada, am a fourth-rate human being.

Anyway, I'm already pretty drunk.
I've been drinking since I started scoping chicks in the afternoon.

Next we talk about love...
...and I shut her down on that topic as fast I can.

Next we talk about dirty stuff...
...and I keep that going as long as I can.

By the time we know it, it's 9 p.m.
By my CVP Analysis, I arrive at a conclusion.

(What's a CVP Analysis?
C = Shimada
V = Victory
P = Project
It's what I call analyzing how much a chick digs me, and coming up with an action plan for the night by catching the subtle changes in her mood.)

So I say to her, "Let's make the after-party a 'Snack Party'!"

(What's a "Snack Party"?
You buy a bunch of cookies and potato chips at a convenience store then take her to a love hotel to eat them.)

Saori loves snacks.
So she's totally into the idea.

We leave the izakaya and buy some stuff at the nearest convenience store.

"Where're we gonna have the party?" she asks.

"At karaoke," I tell her.

"We can take snacks into a karaoke room?" she asks.

I say, "Oh, you're right... How about we have it at my summer house then?"

"Where is it?" she looks at me.

"Follow me!"

And we're off.
We hold hands all the way to the love hotel.

I'm stoked.
There have been so many stupid things happening since this year started.
So, finally... Finally...

But!
Turns out it's not so easy.

When we get in front of the "summer house," Saori, as expected, gets cold feet and starts whining.
(What a pain.)

"What's the matter?" I ask her. "You aren't thinking of something naughty, are you? Saori, you're such a terrible girl."

I remember saying something like...

"I hear this place is modeled on a storehouse in a town on the edge of the Mediterranean, and I've wanted to see it myself once." (We'd talked about how we're both interested in the Roman Empire at the izakaya. I'm not really, though.)

And I remember saying something like...

"This isn't even a hotel! It's a party space!"

Then finally I swore, "I won't do anything," and we pinky promised on it, and we went inside.

(What's a pinky promise?
It's some magic charm. You cross pinkies on a promise and if you break the promise you have to eat a thousand needles. Except, apparently if you break the promise nothing bad actually happens...)

By now it's already 9:30!
I'm almost out of time!

The second we're inside the "party space," I've got my hands all over her.
She protests, but I keep at it and suddenly there's this dramatic change in her.
I mean, wow.
So things get going, and the snacks we bought sit there unopened.

Then it's past 10, and time for the party to end.
I make a dash for the subway, barely making it home by 11.

It's an hour past my curfew, but I'm met at home with a kind smile.
...which is scarier than the old lady getting mad at me.

Her retaliation comes the next day at dinner.
All that's on my plate is a pile of veggies, while she enjoys homemade fried chicken.

WS: Eigo Noto 2: When is your birthday 2

This lesson carries on from my previous post last week. This lesson reviews the months of the year and introduces the question "When is your birthday".

In the next lesson we will look more at answering using "It is in November" and "it is December 4th".

Greeting - Hello, How are you, What month is it?

Chant - Same as last week using the Eigo Noto CD. The students should remember it, and be able to chant along after a few tries.

Ladder game - This is one of my favorite games, and one I actually used to play when I was a child! I have adapted it to use in my elementary classrooms and now frequently get asked to play it! However, it is a little difficult to explain...

1. Split the class into two teams.

2. Within each team put the students into pairs. (They MUST have a pair, use the teacher if numbers don't work out, failing that I have used a broom as a student in the past...).

Fig 1

3. I set up one team first, manhandling the children, and then get the other team to copy them.
The first pair should sit, with their feet touching each other, legs out straight.
The next pair should sit beside them in the same position. See fig.1

4. Give each pair a name, in this case, a month. Pair 1 in team 1 should have the same name as Pair 1 in team 2.
Should you have uneven teams, one pair from one team should have 2 names.

5. The fun bit! You call a month. The pair, from both teams, whose month is called stands up and runs up the ladder (towards the back of the class). After the final 'rung' the student on the left runs left, and the student on the right, runs right. They run around the outside of the ladder and then run back up the ladder to their original place. See Fig.2.

Fig. 2

So pair 1 would run up the ladder and around, and sit down at the front again. The final pair would run around, all the way up and then sit down.

The team with the first pair sitting down, gets one point.



Get it? Its a little complicated, but I feel it is well worth playing! My students have a lot of fun with it!

N.B Hands should be kept on laps, not behind as shown in the diagrams. Otherwise fingers can get stamped on.

Also check the room before playing for sharp edges, I once played this and students started slamming into a wall at one end of the room to slow themselves down, it was fine until one student found the nail which was sticking out of the wall and stabbed himself in the hand (he still won that round).

Also you may want to take shoes off, but I find slippery socks are more dangerous than squashed fingers!

When is your birthday? - after such an active game some quite time is required!

I start by chanting 'When is your birthday?' and get the students to repeat. Then I say ask 'When is your birthday?' and say a month, those students whose birthday is that month raise their hands, we then count how many.

Finish - Hi-fives, and requests to play the ladder game the next week...

Short-Term Volunteer Opportunity in Tohoku

Japan needs you.

I blogged the other day about a competition to visit all 47 prefectures in Japan in 100 days and help with tsunami cleanup.

Just in case you don't win that, here's another chance to visit/help out.

Many friends say they want to visit Japan, but they feel guilty about having fun when people in the North are suffering so badly.

At the same time, it is difficult for those living outside of Japan, and those of us who don't speak good Japanese, to arrange any kind of volunteering.

Luckily, Inside Japan Tours can help. They usually offer regular touristic tours of Japan, but in light of recent events and requests for help they have designed a volunteering trip.

The Deal

• A 4 day trip to Tohoku in collaboration with a voluntary organisation currently working out there. 
• Includes transport from Tokyo, meals, accommodation, equipment and the help of an English translator throughout.
• Will assist with cleaning tasks, restoring houses and schools and removing rubble from roads, parks and rice paddies.
  
  
• Start dates are currently Thursday 18th August and Thursday 1st September.
• And trips cost 450GBP per person, not including flights.

So if you can or will be here in Japan, here's a chance to do your bit.
Check out the website.

Those of you living out here with more time to organise might want to try PeaceBoat, who will accommodate you free of charge for week-long volunteering trips.

Japan Matsuri Volunteers

Need a Japan fix? In London this September? Want to get involved in the action?

Japan Matsuri is looking for volunteers for it`s third annual event. Held in the heart of London.

If you are homesick for Japan, or missing the wonderful festivals then look no further. This is designed to feel like a typical Japanese festival: dancing, music, food and shows.

Read below for more information.


Period: From NOW until Sunday September 19th
Venue: London
Language Skill required: English or Japanese (depending on the roles)

Volunteers can gain:

• No salary :(
• Certificate/Reference upon request
• The chance to see behind the scenes of a Japan related event attracting tens of thousands of visitors. 

Roles
 A: Administrative roles:

• A1: Liaising with Stage Performers
• A2: Liaising with Participants Groups/Schools in Activities
• A3: Liaising with Stall
• A4: Liaising with Media
• A5: Web
• A6: Others

B: Art related roles（☆Urgently Needed☆ suitable for Summer Internship and portfolio）:

• B1: Decoration of the event site (the County Hall)
• B2: Design of event brochures and posters
• B3: Fabrication of Mikoshi (portable shrine), Chochin (lanterns) and others
• B4: Others

C: Infrastructure related roles (* mainly need to work on 18/09):

• C1: Electrical wiring
• C2: Health & Safety, First Aid, nurses/doctors
• C3: Patrol (traffic control, security stewards, parking area, wastes etc.)
• C4: Installation / clearing
• C5: Others

Dates
Japan Matsuri is looking for people for the following time frames.

• On a weekly/bi-weekly basis (from now)
• Available from September 11th
• Available on the day of the event.

 If you want to find out more information you can visit Japan Matsuri here, or for more information about volunteering go here. Or email your CV, along with a choice of position (from those above) and the times you are available to volunteer (at) japanmatsuri.com

Mobile Phone Guide #6: Mobile e-mail

The first thing that most people notice about Japanese mobiles is how people use them more as e-mail devices and mini-web browsers than actual phones. Mobile phone mail (携帯メール keitai meru, or simply meru) has been a staple of the Japanese phone market long before the advent of BlackBerries and iPhones. While having a mail address on your phone may seem like a silly novelty, it is actually petty handy for directly contacting people all over the world. 

In today’s installment of our mobile phone super-guide we'll look at Japanese mobile-phone mail.

Users with PCs can email mobiles and vice-versa, hence the popularity. 

Mobile email popularity could also be attributed to the well above-average costs of phonecalls. So don’t count on your new-found friends to call you regularly for chit-chats. 


Almost every modern e-mail enabled phone comes with a full list of still and animated e-moji or emoticons, some of which are so cute that they will make your eyes bleed while others are just odd, like Softbank’s smiling poop. Even for relatively serious business e-mails, don’t be surprised to find your colleges inserting cute little simile faces and bowing man animations. Phones often have a whole suite of decoration, colorings, and animations preloaded in the phone to make your e-mails extra super sparkly.


Even though you may be tempted to skip on the data-transfer part of your mobile phone plan, you may soon regret it when sending emails takes it's toll.

Picking a Mail and Exchanging Mail

When you sign up for a new contract, the staff will generally ask you to pick a unique mail name (although you can change this at will). Unlike phone numbers, you cannot carry e-mail addresses when switching companies.

It is not unusual for Japanese people to chose very, very long email names complete with numbers letters and smiley faces. Luckily you can avoid having to type these out as most phones come with an infrared port called seki gaisen (赤外線) that allow for phones to exchange data at short ranges. Look for a little black oval and matching it up with your partner’s oval. Luckily, this process is universal amongst all providers. However, if you are too cool for the regular keitai crowd and have an iPhone or smart phone then you may find yourself having to type everything.

SMS

As we touched on earlier, SMS never really caught on in Japan. Although most phones are theoretically capable of it, free in-country SMS is often limited to within the same network. However, as of July, 2011, a new inter-network messaging system has been introduced allowing for cross carrier SMS. Keep in mind that these SMS messages are not free. 

Most mobile phone companies have deals with overseas providers that allows you to send SMS overseas and receive them although often this costs a significant amount (100 yen and up) per message sent and, in some cases, for messages received.

More

• Japanese phones are what are known as “always on” or constantly checking the local network for mails, service updates, and so on. So if you do go over seas, it is best to turn off your data roaming lest you want to find an unusually large bill upon your return. 


• Also, be as cautious of spam as you would be anywhere else.

Provider	Service Name	Mail Suffix
NTT DoCoMo	iMode	@docomo.ne.jp
au	EZ Web	@ezweb.ne.jp
Softbank	Yahoo! Keitai	@softbank.ne.jp @i.softbank.jp (iPhone)
Willcom	N/A	@willcom.com
E Mobile	EM Net	@emnet.ne.jp

Table of Japanese cellphone email addresses.

Check back next week for our AccessJ feature on how to get multilingual phones in Japan.

Other posts in this series:

Part #1: The Basics

Part #2: Important Paperwork

Part #3: Pre-Paid Phones
Part #4: Post-Paid Phones 
Part #5: Paying Your Bills

Part #6: Mobile E-mail Guide

Part #7: Multi-Lingual Phones

Part #8: Renting and Roaming

Tsunami Photo Exhibition London July 22nd-24th

This Friday 22nd, sees a new photo exhibition opening at 'Olympia two' in London.

It has been four months since the Tsunami devastated towns in the Sendai area and one photographer, Christina Aiton, an Australian living in Shichigahama, has documented 14 families from the area and their lives in the aftermath.

"Yet I Still Dare to Hope" uses photography, narratives from survivors and features items from the tsunami hit area to show the reality of what the residents of Shichigahama are living through. At the same time the exhibition focuses on hope, as the community begins to rebuild their lives and attempt to move on.

When and Where
The exhibition starts this Friday  July 22nd and runs until the 24th.
At Olympia Two, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX


Visitors will be encouraged to leave messages of support for the families directly affected which will be passed onto them.  There is also the opportunity to donate money or buy things at the shop with the proceeds going to Shichigahama residents.

More information, including a map of how to get there, can be found at this site.

The Best Way to Learn Kanji

My miracle solution to learning kanji may work for you, so why not give it a go.

There are two things I don't do when learning kanji: spend a lot of time writing them out, or use traditional flashcards.

There are two things I do do: use tool one and tool two below:


I don't spend a lot of time writing kanji, nor do I think it is an important part of learning it. The reason is simple: most of the time you are reading kanji, second typing on a keyboard. If you can distinguish one kanji from another, which comes a lot sooner than actually having learned it, then you can use it. Writing by hand takes a lot of time and practice which ultimately doesn't (or didn't in my case, anyway) speed up your overall aquisition or understanding of it. You may need that skill, but most likely not as soon as you will need to recognise and read.

Tool One.
You need visual aids, of which the best I've found is www.readthekanji.com. It isn't free (well, the lowest level JLPT is), and nor should it be, because it is made by one lonely guy and is thoroughly awesome. If you don't want to pay the 6USD every three months, maybe you aren't that serious about learning Japanese. It's a bargain.

The site works by presenting a kanji or kanji compound to you, and asking for the hiragana reading to be typed as an answer. It uses a spaced repetition algorithm from that point onwards to help you thoroughly memorise the reading. The best part about this system is that the kanji/compounds are presented within sentences. This means that not only do you practice reading in context, but you can also identify when certain readings will be necessary. This is much more effective than learning the different readings for each individual kanji out of context, don't you think?

Tool two.
I back up the foundations learned with readthekanji with Anki. You may have heard of Anki before. It's a free flashcard program with mostly user-generated content. You can download decks of cards on all manner of subjects. It seems that the most popular language is Japanese, which is good news for us. Even better news is that there are decks made by the AccessJ team on there. Just search for AccessJ through Anki and you'll find them.


Readthekanji falters in the amount of repetition of each word. It can be frustrating to study for an hour and only be exposed to three or four new words, and no new kanji. Anki can be set to show a defined number of new cards every day. This is good motivation for studying a minimum amount per day.


You will find that you can also change the appearance of cards, so that if you find it difficult memorising kanji words without first knowing the hiragana reading, you can learn with the reading displayed until you are confident enough to progress to kanji only. Likewise if you prefer to learn with only a Kanji-Hiragana translation, you can remove the English.


Another great feature is that you can use your Anki decks on your Smartphone or eReader via the online version, AnkiWeb. Awesome!


More

• Using these two tools, I learned a lot of kanji very quickly, and have managed to memorise them effectively. You may still have trouble telling very similar kanji apart, and for that problem I recommend creating your own Anki deck containing the problem characters. 
• Indeed, if you are following a particular course or textbook set, you might find it beneficial to create your own Anki decks for all your kanji as you go along.
• Another very popular tool is Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji", which is a series of books that teach the kanji in a systematic way - from the elements that make up different kanji and how they are created. It does so by first teaching the English meaning of over a thousand kanji, then (and only then) looking at the Japanese pronunciation. The method is very effective for remembering the characters. One downside is that because of the structured nature of "building" the kanji as the course progressed, you will find yourself learning very obscure symbols before some very basic ones. If you are in no rush at all to learn Japanese (not going to Japan any time soon / don't have a specific test to study for) then this is a good system. You can buy the RTK books through AccessJ to earn us a few cents (we'd really appreciate it!): Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

Any other tips are more than welcome - stick them in the comments below.

Visit all 47 Prefectures in Japan... for free!

Want to visit Japan?
Want to visit all 47 prefectures?
Don't think you can afford it?

Win it!



The deal:
Some lucky person will win 100 days to visit all 47 prefectures in Japan and blog about it.

The catch:
You can't have ever lived in Japan before. Application is 5USD (100% goes to a related charity).


Travel Volunteer is offering one lucky person or couple the chance to see all 47 prefectures in 100 days, for free!

The trip starts on September 15th - December 23rd 2011, ending with a trip to Tohoku on the 24th to give Christmas presents to children displaced by the recent tsunami.

The idea is that the winner will blog about their experiences in Japan and prove to people that the whole of Japan has not been destroyed by the tsunami, and life outside of the evacuation zone continues with little or no disruption.

The closing date for applications is July 31st, so if you are interested go to http://travelvolunteer.net/ for more information and instructions on how to apply.

WS: Eigo Noto 2: When is your birthday?

Lesson 3. When is your Birthday?

I spread this chapter over three lessons; with half the time dedicated to learning and remembering the month names, and the remaining time to asking and answering "When is your birthday?". 

Here's the plan for the first lesson.

Greeting - Hello, how are you, etc. But today throw in 'What month is it now?'. If you are lucky, at least one student will understand and try to answer.

Chant - The accompanying CD for Eigo Noto 2 has a chant for months, but it is very difficult!

I like to let the students listen anyway, and see their reactions. I will repeat the CD later and they are always surprised that they can understand it and chant along with it. But the first time is really just listening.

- Next I use flash cards to chant the months (Japanese one side, English the other).
- I then say a number, and the students say the month. Pretty easy but can be fun.


Matching pictures - Months is another good lesson where you can throw a bit of cultural information into the mix. If you know your Japanese culture then you can do this alone. If not, or you want some more unusual ideas then ask a teacher to help you.

I prepare 2 sets of cards. One with pictures of English festivals, events etc and one with Japanese.

I start with easy cards (Christmas, Setsubun, Graduation etc), and show the pictures to the students, and get them to guess which month it happens.

I continue this using more difficult cards. You can really show the students some interesting culture here, from graduation in England being different to Japan, to pancake day existing or the fact we have fireworks in winter, which usually gets a big reaction! Of course you will use festivals and events from your own home country.

Chant - As before. But the students should be able to chant along now.

Game - Karuta. I know, I know, Karuta again! But they love it! And soon we will be looking at more at grammar points, rather than vocabulary and won't have as much chance to play!

I play as many rounds of this as time allows.

1. I say the months, they grab the months. Easy!
2. I say a number, they grab the corresponding month. Not so easy!
3. I say a festival/event, they grab the correct month! Difficult!

Finish - Time allowing I will play the chant once more, but usually just a quick hi-five on the way out.

Mobile Phone Guide #5: Paying your bills

Although Japan is well know for its stodgy and, some might say, not exactly customer friendly financial institutions, there are plenty of ways to pay your phone bill without even setting foot in a bank. Just follow our fool-proof guide to paying for your wireless service and you will never have to worry about finding your phone shut down and the debt collectors knocking on your door.

Payment Method	How to Pay
Credit Card	Register a Japanese or home country card
Bank Transfer	Using a personal Japanese bank account
Pay by Institution	Major convenience stores, mobile phone shops and banks
Pay-Easy	ATMs displaying the PayEasy mark and compatible Internet banking service

All mobile phone providers accept major credit cards, automatic bank transfer, and pay-by-institution. Both overseas and domestic cards can be used in most cases. However, you should double check with your local card issuer if you are paying with a non-Japanese credit card to prevent your account being flagged and locked as fraudulent due to “suspicious” overseas transactions.

Bank Transfers

If you wish to pay via automatic bank transfer (自動振込 jidou furikoumi), make sure to bring a bank book, personal seal, and/or bank card. Many large banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ, Yucho, Mizuho and others have deals with major providers that require only your bank card and PIN number to sign up for bank transfer.


Make sure your name (as written in roman characters) and your katakana spelling are the same on your bank book as they are on your mobile phone contract. Also, setting up a bank transfer can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month provided there are no errors or problems with your application, the most common of which are discrepancies or misspellings in your katakana name and/or an illegible seal imprint. Your mobile provider will send you a notice in the mail if there are any problems with the application. If you set up bank transfer via a card and pin number then the processing time should only be a business day or two.

In Cash

As far as pay-by-institution is concerned, the company will send you a bill that can be paid in cash at a bank, convenience store, or at the company’s local store/outlet. In some cases, in order to make a contract, the shop may require that you register your bank account and/or credit card for at least one year. Keep in mind that, in most cases, these bills must be paid with cash only, even if the institution you are paying at accepts credit cards. Also, bills that are past their due date cannot be processed and you must wait for a follow up bill that usually includes penalty interests or late fees. 


Finally, if you pay via this method don`t forget to change your address when you move. Even if you use mail forwarding, it only lasts for one year and eventually your bills will stop coming. Address changes can be completed online or simply go to your local retailer with a valid ID and ask for a change.

Pay-Easy

Finally there is the “Pay-Easy” method. Pay-Easy is essentially an alliance of various companies, public agencies, and financial institutions who have teamed up to allow you to pay your bills at the ATM or via internet banking. So far, only NTT DoCoMo offers this service but other providers may follow suit. Basically all you need to do is take your bill and bank card to a Pay-Easy-enabled ATM (usually these are marked with decals or stickers--see below) or internet banking service, type in your customer and billing numbers and either insert the money directly into the ATM or have it deducted from your account. Unfortunately the on-screen instructions are all in Japanese and a full description of how to use the service goes beyond the scope of this article. However, the PayEasy trade group offers a handy guide easily accessible for anyone who can read intermediate to advanced Japanese.

The Pay-Easy logo as found on compatible bills and ATMs

As usual, check back for our next mobile phone installment where we will show you how to use one of the most popular features of Japanese mobile phones, mobile e-mail.

Other posts in this series:

Part #1: The Basics

Part #2: Important Paperwork

Part #3: Pre-Paid Phones
Part #4: Post-Paid Phones 
Part #5: Paying Your Bills

Part #6: Mobile E-mail Guide

Part #7: Multi-Lingual Phones

Part #8: Renting and Roaming

Being an ALT #14: Brushing Your Teeth At School

Japanese people are in the tradition of brushing their teeth directly after meals (or at least lunch). This will happen in the workplace, too. After lunch at school, literally everyone will be at a sink brushing away; which is why they have so many long stainless steel sink areas.

Some Westerners, not being in the habit of doing this, have received less-than-polite comments from co-workers.

BUT, there is a general consensus amongst Western dentists that this practice is bad for the enamel of your teeth. Read on before making your own mind up.
A brief search on Google will provide a seemingly endless list of sites advising against brushing right after meals. It seems that the process of chewing and swallowing foods, especially those with high acidity, naturally weakens the enamel layer of your teeth. Brushing during this weakened phase will gradually remove that enamel.

Dentists seem to say that after an hour, enamel will have re-hardened to a stage at which it is safe to brush.

One thing I wasn't aware of before my "brief search on Google" was that in addition to this danger, brushing your teeth more than twice a day is at best unnecessary, at worst harmful to your teeth and gums. Prolonged exposure to brushing will, again, wear away the enamel.

According to the link above, you should limit your brushing to two times a day, for around two minutes a time. You should also (though how you are going to calculate this without a ridiculous toothbrush is beyond me) apply a pressure of 150grams (confusingly referred to as the same as "holding an orange").

Well, now you know.

However, all of Japan seems to follow this practice. Who is to say they are wrong to do so? Many people who have worked with Japanese children will complain about the really horrible state of their (the children's) teeth, but how many of those have worked with children elsewhere and can compare the two?

One more thing which foreigners in Japan seem intent to mention is the lack of fluoride in Japanese toothpaste. Dentists generally recommend a fluoride-containing paste. However, the two stock responses to this are:

1. Japanese toothpaste actually does contain fluoride, though the comparative ratios are not currently known (by me),
2. There is an on-going debate about whether or not fluoride actually helps (quite well summarised here).

In any case, my philosophy here is if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've never had a cavity brushing the "English way", and will happily continue doing so.

Being an ALT series: 

Part #1: Teaching English in Japan 

Part #2: Your Role

Part #3: A Typical Day

Part #4: Planning Classes 

Part #5: Getting Drunk on Duty (the Enkai) 

Part #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

Part #7: Physical Resources

Part #8: Making Activities

Part #9: Hopping Between Schools

Part #10: More School Hopping

Part #11: Getting Molested At School

Part #12: It Is Really This Easy?
Part #13: Brushing Your Teeth At School