Make Your Own (Legal) Japanese Postal Stamps

I don't know about your home country, but in mine (England) postal stamps are the realm of the government. Usually you just stick the queen's face on your post. Sometimes you can use limited edition Christmas trees or Wallace and Gromit stamps, but that's it.

Here in Japan, you can make your own online! Whatever picture you like can become a stamp. Here's how.


Japan Post has a website, all in Japanese, where you can upload photos and make stamps of them.

The price is 1,200yen for a sheet of 10 domestic stamps (stamps have an 80yen value).

How to do it
If you need a translation or explanation, here it is:

• Look at the page linked to above. The images of stamps are examples of border templates.
• The white button (商品詳細を見る) is a preview of the sheet of stamps you will receive (the black lines over the 80円 are just to void the images
• The pink button (申し込む) takes you to the order page:

• The grey button will take you to the next page, where you can adjust the layout of your picture. It's self explanatory, but リセット means reset. 
• Of the two grey buttons, the one on the left will take you back, the one on the right will take you to the next step.
• The following page is a preview of your stamp sheet. 
• Again, button on the left to go back, right to continue. 
• After you click the continue button, the site will do some data legwork which can take a little while depending on the size of your image.
• Smash the button on the next page to agree to terms.
• Then you'll see your bill. Here you can change the number of sheets you want to order. Postage is as follows:
• 5 sheet or less: 500yen
• More than 5 sheets: free
• Progress as follows:

This one

Then this one

And this one

You don't have to pay by credit card. You can also furikomi or pay at any Japan Post. Select the tick box below the card details for that.

• Finally, click the する button at the end (as a general rule, buttons marked 戻る are go back, and those ending in する are to continue).

Anxiously await your stamps.

WS: Eigo Noto 2: Let's Play

Let`s play is a level up from the previous chapter, where students actually use the skills learned in the last lesson (this can be done in the same lesson but I have found it better to spread it over a few as it is a bit much for the students). Read on for my plan...

Lesson 1 - Let`s play

Greeting - Hello, how are you etc. 

Karuta - a good warm up game (see karuta for details)

Let's listen -  pg. 6, Students listen to the teacher/CD and follow the instructions to make a 'new letter' this took my students less than 5 minuets and was more of a 2nd warm up game.

*Let's listen page 7 was left for the HRT (home room teacher) to do another time.

Let's play 1- pg. 8 students have to match two parts of a `broken letter` to fix it. My students spent about 5 seconds on this. At this point they were becoming restless so I abandoned the textbook, as the HRT could easily do the remaining sections using only a CD.

Whisper game - easy! Students are usually in 6 lines, the person at the back comes out/to the back of the room and you whisper/show them a letter to them. On your cue they whisper it to the student sitting in front of them and so on. I lay 5 sets of karuta cards (one set less than the amount of teams) at the front of the room and the student at the front of the line has to grab a card and bring it to the ALT/HRT.

You can award points in a number of ways. I give the 1st team 5 points, 2nd 4, 3rd 5 and so on with the last team receiving a big fat ZERO.

Back game - When the students have finished/are bored of the whisper game I change it slightly so instead of whispering they have to write with their finger on their friends back.

Award points in the same way.

Last game -
My last game is a little cheeky. From the previous game there are 5 sets of Karuta cards mixed up. So the final game is more of 'help Laura prepare for her next lesson' than a game. Albeit fun!

I keep students in their lines (apart from the losers from the previous game who come to the front of the classroom and shout letters out at random to put the other teams off), and spread the mixed up cards at the front of the classroom. 
On your say the first person from each team runs to the front of the class and collects an A card, they then swap with the next team member who needs to get B. This continues until all the teams have a full set. The first team to bring you their set is the winner!

Finish - As always feedback sheets should technically be completed, but a quick "See you!" usually does the job.

June Blog Roundup

Well, it's definitely summer, isn't it? In a couple of weeks we'll post about how you can tame that crazy heat in your house. For now, here's what you may have missed on AccessJ this month:

Speaking of the heat, I posted a short while ago about How to Not Sweat Like a Beast. Vital reading to minimise those huge sweat patches.

A very popular post covered the best way to learn the Japanese hiragana and katakana alphabets. More posts on learning Japanese to come in the next couple of weeks.

We brought back the Being an ALT series this month, with entries covering working in multiple schools, getting molested at those schools, and an explanation of why it doesn't have to be so easy to be an ALT. More to come.

We showed all those out there with the Japanese IME or a Japanese computer how you can type some really cool symbols. In fact, you can type so many that it needed a second post.

Let's not forget the inclusion of a brand new writer at AccessJ: Dan has been busy putting together a guide on Japanese cellphones. You can read about The Basics, Important Paperwork and Pre-Paid Phones. Expect a new entry on that each Friday until literally everything has been covered.

And speaking of new writers, Laura has decided to help us out on our Worksheet Sunday series. We've used several of her ideas in the past, and she's now busy writing up a guide to teaching the Eigo Noto textbook series in elementary schools. Her first entry went live this month. Other WSs this month included "Will you...?", "He was, they were" and "Are You From...?" for Junior High.

As always, there's plenty more where that came from, so check the archive pages at the top of this page for other great articles from AccessJ.

Mobile Phone Guide #3: Pre-Paid Phones

In many countries around the world, prepaid (or pay-as-you-go) mobile phones are by far the most popular choice since you can simply buy a prepaid SIM (Subscriber Identity Module, a fancy word for that little plastic card you pop into the back of your phone), put some money on it and call/text away to your heart’s content. 


Unfortunately, in Japan prepaid phones are very much in the minority, although they are popular amongst foreign students, travelers and tourists who plan to be here less than a year. However, there is pretty much only one company left that offers full service prepaid, which is Softbank.The primary competitor is au but the range of services is significantly more limited.


Read on...

The advantage of prepaid is, as the name implies, no locking into a contract. Softbank offers a few phone models, all relatively basic by Japanese standards, but functional. au also has a similar set of basic phones to choose from. Handsets can cost anywhere from 5000-10,000 yen and they are all unsubsidized (i.e. you have to buy them yourself, no help from the company) and come with a very small amount of preloaded money. Like all Japanese phones, incoming calls are free but outgoing domestic calls are billed at a rate of 9 yen per 6 seconds (yes, that’s right, I said every six seconds) regardless of whom you call. au offers a not so competative rate of 10 yen per 6 seconds.

Even though talking is expensive, Softbank offers free short mail (their version of SMS) to other Softbank subscribers and for 300 yen a month you get unlimited mobile e-mail (which we will cover in a later post). You can refill your phone online at Softbank’s website via credit card, purchase refill cards in a convince store, or pay for points at a bank ATM. Cards come in 3,000 and 5,000 yen varieties, but money on your account will expire if you do not refill at least once every 60 days. Even if you let your balance expire, however, the phone number on your SIM card will be reserved for your future use up to 12 months after your last recharge. You can continue to receive phone calls and SMS messages (but not mobile e-mails) on a prepaid phone with no balance for that 12 month period. Unlike contract (post-paid) phones, Softbank prepaid phones cannot roam overseas. 


On the other hand, au only lets you use basic calling and "c-mail" (50 yen per message) which is kind of like an in-network only SMS. There is no mobile data or e-mail plan, making your phone pretty much a call-only device. Like Softbank, au sells prepaid cards in 3,000 and 5,000 yen blocks not to mention a 10,000 yen card if you are feeling really extravagant. You can pick these up at au shops and select convenience stores depending on your region. Each card lasts for 60, 90, and 365 days respectively with a reregistration period of 90 days after your service lapses. Unlike softbank, you cannot recharge online or at ATMs and attemptiong to reactivate a phone after the 90 day period will result in a 4,000 yen fee. Like Softbank phones, they cannot roam over seas.

For more info, check out Softbank’s English website here or au's English website here. And stay tuned for our next installment where we will lay out the finer points of getting a standard post-paid contract.

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 #12: Is It Really This Easy?

One thing which will probably occur to you pretty quickly in this job is that not a lot is usually expected of you.

You can potentially change that, though I wouldn't guarantee it. This entry is about how you can use your free time at school.

If you put in the effort and show some well thought out games and activities, or show that your teaching ability/classroom control is high, you may be given more responsibility.

However, sometimes, however much you try, you still have several hours a day with literally nothing to do.

Some people love this, some hate it. You can use it to go on Facebook if you want. You can learn Japanese, write a book or even study for a university course.

You can also, of course, use at least part of it to evaluate your own teaching skills. We all have weaknesses in some areas, and taking a step back (a particularly useful tool here is the video-taped demo lesson) to assess where you can improve will not only help you sharpen up your game, it will also make you feel better.

That last one is an important point. It's very common for the ALT to be left out of school (and even lesson) stuff to the extent that we sometimes wonder if we're needed at all. If you choose to accept that and follow your own pursuits in your free time at school, no one will mind. If that's what you want, then it's a great scenario for you.

However, some people might find the alienation to be a bit down-heartening. If that's you, then you can use your time to create resources or displays that make you a more prominent part of the school. If you do this, the fact that 90% of ALTs don't may work in your favour enough to impress your coworkers/employer.


In short, if you can take pride in this job which literally anyone can do moderately, and do it well, it won't be as easy as it has a reputation for being. Or, you could just slack off and enjoy it. "Both of OK".

But the truth is that Japan is a very difficult place for a foreigner to find permanent work. If you're working the ALT gig and thinking about a long-term stay in Japan, then you had better take every opportunity you can to make yourself more employable.

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

More Cool Symbol Typing

Last week we showed you a bunch of words you can type and turn into cute symbols using the default Japanese IME dictionaries. Although a lot of symbols are programmed in to Windows and other operating systems' IMEs by default, there are still thousands upon thousands more symbols waiting to be used in the Unicode character set.

Today we'll take a look at how you can browse through all the available symbols.



Character Map

The usual way to access all symbols in a font is the character map (also called the character palette) for your operating system. In Japanese, it's called the 文字コード表.

The character map in Windows can be accessed from the Start menu. It's under "Accessories" then "System Tools."

You can also get to it quickly by pushing the Windows Key + R, then typing charmap into the box that appears.

Once the character map appears, select the font you use, then scroll to find the symbol you want to use. By pushing the "select" (選択) button then the "copy" (コピー) buttons in the bottom-right, you can copy any symbol to your clipboard and use the paste command to insert it anywhere else.

This method is more cumbersome than the default dictionary definitions we talked about last time, of course, but it allows access to every available symbol in a given font (including, coincidentally, every kanji).

The character palette in Mac, by the way, is apparently activated with command + option + T.

IME Symbol Catalog

As comprehensive as the character map, but slightly more organized, is the catalog of symbols contained within Windows' Japanese IME. To access this catalog, start typing something in Japanese, then without hitting enter, push the F5 key. The symbol catalog will pop-up and you can browse through the various categories of symbols and kanji conversions. The icons discussed above can generally be found under the folder called "その他の記号."

The same catalog can also be accessed from the IME toolbar, usually displayed at the bottom-right of the desktop on Japanese-enabled machines. With a text-input field selected, click on the icon that looks like a paint bucket to open up the IME Pad. The symbol catalog is the second icon on the left-hand side of the pad.

The drawback of these methods is the amount of effort required each time you want to find and insert a symbol. If there are certain symbols you want to be able to insert quickly at any time, but they aren't defined in the default IME dictionaries, you can use your IME's User Dictionary! A User Dictionary is used to register names, words, and symbols that you use often when typing Japanese but which aren't contained in a default conversion dictionary. We'll discuss editing the User Dictionary in a future post!

WS: "I Will..." and "Will You...?" 2nd G JHS

This is a vastly improved version of a classic ALT activity involving a plane crash and subsequent escape from the jungle.



The original can be found in various places and guises, including this one here. It invariably looks 40 years old, so I spent the last half an hour making it more modern.

And here it is. You can use it for both the regular "I will..." form, and the question form.

1. "I Will..."
As you can see, I gave it an amusing backstory of traveling to England to punch David Beckham in the face. you can change this if you want, but it's not relevant. The plane crashes and everyone else died. They must fight their way out of the Burmese rainforest Rambo style.

The activity lasts about 30 mins and goes like this:

• Explain.
• The first sheet has a load of items which are remnants of the plane crash. Students must select six items which they think will be the most useful/humourous for them to take with them.
• On sheet two they write the sentence for their item e.g. "I will take a torch" and, why.
• NB: Usually students have not yet studied the "to (verb)" form e.g. "to fight a gorilla". I usually just let them to it anyway, because it's simple enough for them to just use it straight away. However, a teacher once asked me to let students write that part in Japanese. So check fist.

2. "Will you..?"

In order to use the question form, I play the second sheet like bingo:

• When all students have finished the sheet, they stand up, make pairs and janken.
• The winner asks "Will you take an AK47?" etc. 
• They ask about the items which they themselves have chosen. If the answers match their own, then can tick that item off their list.
• Tick off all the items and you can sit down.

That's it. If you try it, let us know how it goes.

Mobile Phone Guide #2: Important Paperwork

One of the most common mistakes that foreigners make is waltzing into a phone shop and expecting to get a phone only a few days after their arrival. Until recently, this was theoretically possible, but thanks to the Improper Mobile Phone Usage Prevention Law (携帯電話不正利用防止法 keitai denwa fusei riyo boshiho)—another law passed with the excuse of cracking down on all those terrorists just waiting to get their filthy hands on phones in Japan—you have to present valid ID to prove you are who you say you are.

According to the Telecommunication Carriers Association (TCA), there are several generally acceptable IDs which I will list below:

a)      A Japanese driver’s license (international licenses aren’t valid in this case)

b)      A Japanese passport

c)      A Japanese health insurance certificate plus one of the following:

I.                 a copy of your address register (住民票 jyuminhyo) or Certificate of Registered Matters if you are a foreigner (外国人登録原票記載事項証明書 gaikokujin toroku genpyo jisai jiko shomeisho),

II.               a public utility receipt in your name and with your address,

III.            an official printed document with your name and address (tax form, etc).
All of the above must be no older the 3 months.

d)      A credit card and a health insurance certificate

e)      A school ID card (from a domestic university or vocational school) and a Japanese health insurance certificate

f)        A mentally or physically disabled person passbook (障害者手帳 shogaisha techo)

g)      An alien registration card (外国人登録証明書 gaikokujin toroku shomiesho) and foreign passport

Keep in mind the legal age for signing a contract is 20, so if you are younger then you may find yourself in a bind as your parents have to co-sign and present one of the above ID combinations. If your parents aren’t Japanese then you had better start begging and/or giving sad gaijin eyes. Despite the basic ID requirements some less scrupulous shops have been known to bend this rule or simply forge signatures, although this is certainly not a regular practice.

The biggest problem with this is that after application the alien registration card generally take 2 weeks to get printed, although you can get a Certificate of Registered Maters for about 300 yen the day of your registration. So unless you are good at smooth talking or find a shop willing to bend the rules (a difficult proposition since the shop usually has to ask the main company for approval), then you are out of luck. Also, if you are here for only a few months, chances are you don’t have a visa and don’t have an alien card. Although tourists who are here for 90 days or more are obliged to get a card, it is all but worthless unless you have a status of residence (在留資格 zairyu shikaku) such as worker, spouse, etc. However, it is possible to rent a cell phone at major airports. These short-term agreements will be handled in a future entry.

The law makes no distinction between pre and post paid phones but in practice it is much easier to get a prepaid phone with a passport and a receipt that shows where you are staying. Since prepaid service is a lot less risky for the phone company if you choose to skip out on your bill and head back home, many shops will be less strict with the ID process, although different shops and different areas often yield vastly different results.

Now that you know what you need to buy yourself a nice shiny phone stay tuned for our next feature on the pre-paid versus post-paid mobile phone breakdown!

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 #11: Getting Molested at School

If you have any experience with Japanese culture, you may well have come across kancho, which is just one example of the level of personal invasion which is widely practiced by school children (and many adults).

This week we'll talk about the top 3 ways you are likely to be sexually harassed by students in class.

I have no idea why this is socially acceptable, but the amount of same-sex molestation in Japan is astronomical. Last week (in a regular bar) I watched a man get ridden by his friend while another acquaintance groped in between his butt-cheeks. In fact, he was ridden so hard and for so long that the poor guy had some kind of reaction start in his pants which made the whole table of men (and one woman) laugh for hours. I've also had the unpleasant experience of having my arse-crack "wiped" while singing karaoke, as well as being prodded in the wang innumerable times. These are just a couple of examples. However, no Japanese person would dream of calling this kind of behaviour in any way "gay".

School is a breeding ground for this at all age levels, so watch out! Here are the big three:

3. Booby Touch

Pretty self explanatory. Let's be clear about this: Japanese boobs are usually pretty small. A glance at the bras in most shops will show that not only are they very small cup-sizes, but it's virtually impossible to find any without padding inside to make the most of that little bit of meat. 

Expect everyone to be amazed by your breasts if they're bigger than an A (partly due to the same stereotype as Western men having big penises). Boys will stare, girls will touch. And as with number 2, teachers will do it too.

2. Groin Grab

I get this all the time (I'm a man), and my female friends have also had it several times (though it seems limited to same-sex attempts). The clue is in the name. Intensity ranges from poking to groping. I have also had this at enkais, where other teachers (and sometimes parents) will try to test the "gaijin have massive dongs" theory.

1. Kancho

For those who don't know, kancho is the forced penetration of someone's anus by another's index and middle fingers. Thankfully, it's usually only performed clothed, but the plus points end there.

It's a fast and hard movement carried out when (almost always a boy) leaves themselves open to it by bending over, or simply standing still (a bit like slapping a woman's backside, right fellas?). It can be incredibly painful if landed correctly (my friend confesses to having made a boy bleed in his youth).

As a teacher, you are just as likely to get kancho'd as most of the students, so you'd better make your distaste for it clear from the start.

Female teachers are less likely to be kancho'd than male, but that doesn't mean you're 100% safe, or that you won't play victim to some of the other touchy-feely games.

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

High Quality Kettlebells Now Available

For those of you who practice the macho art of kettlebell lifting, I have some wonderful news.

A friend of mine over at Japan Kettlebell Club has just received a shipment of custom-made, pro-grade kettlebells in the Tokyo area. He can ship all across Japan for a couple of thousand yen.

He has weights ranging from 8kg up to 32kg. Stocks are limited, so get in on it now.

Go to his Gaijin Kettlebell blog here.

Type Cool Icons with the Japanese IME

If you've skimmed over many message boards or blogs in Japanese, you may notice some users adding cute little symbols to their sentences, like little stars (★), musical notes (♪), or umbrellas (☂). These symbols are part of the Unicode character set, and with the help of this guide, you'll be able to type them, too!


There are a few methods for writing these symbols. Today we'll start with the easiest method, which is learning the Japanese terms for symbols predefined in the default Windows conversion dictionary. (Was that a mouthful? I mean to say, "We'll tell you a bunch of the symbols you can write from your Japanese without having to do anything technical.")

This guide assumes you are using Windows as your operating system. However, the same icons should be available regardless of your operating system, as long as the font you are using supports them. Linux and Mac systems have character palettes, too, and their IMEs can be "taught" how to type these characters from defined keystrokes, too.

Anyway, on to the main course:

Predefined Symbols
For starters, some of these symbols are already programmed into the Japanese IME.
If you type the word for "star" in Japanese, ほし, then push spacebar to convert it, you'll find that not only is the kanji for star, 星, available, but so are the icons ★ and ☆, among others.

Here is a list of some simple predefined symbols in Windows' IME dictionary.
Just typing the hiragana on the left should create the symbol(s) on the right!

Type in:	To get these icons!
やじるし	↑　→　↓　←　⇔　⇒
ほし	☆　★　＊　※
まる	●　○　◎　㊥　㊨　①  etc.
しかく	■　◆　□　◇
さんかく	▲　▼　△　▽　∴　∵
おんぷ	♪
にょろ	～
ゆうびん	〒
あまり	…
おす	♂
めす	♀
おなじ	々　ゝ　ゞ　ヾ　〃
すうがく	＝　≠　±　∞　∑　√　etc.
かぶしきがいしゃ	㈱　㏍
へいせい	㍻
でんわ	℡
たんい	％　€　℃　㌔　㍍　㎡ etc.
きごう	hundreds of symbols

This list is not comprehensive, by the way. There are dozens of other words recorded into the default Windows IME dictionary and linked to symbols as well as kanji. This is just a taste of some interesting or useful commands. Here is one much more comprehensive (and overwhelming) list of symbols for those interested.

And, as mentioned before, if you aren't using Windows, or if you are using a different version of Windows (this list is current for Vista and 7, using the Office IME 2007), some of the words here may not produce the same symbols as shown above.

Next time, we'll talk about a couple ways to access all symbols in the Unicode character set, whether they've been programmed into the IME or not. Stay tuned!