In my days in school I used to watch a lot of Japanese cartoons. I always envied how in those cartoons kids had their sports uniforms, how serious they were about volleyball, basketball, swimming.. what ? A school with a swimming pool ?!!
One of the most popoular anime was Attack No.1 . The story about Kozue Ayuhara (Mimi Ayuhara for the Italian version) and her feats with her school’s volleyball team.
In the anime, volleyball was quite a serious thing. Her coach was very demanding. She trained very seriously, every day. Training was excruciating, physically very painful and sometimes rather unorthodox (hitting the ball with chains around the wrists !!).
Everything was clearly distorted, especially physics had little meaning, as balls would disappear from sight, follow strange paths and deform like melting cheese.
I envied Japanese students because I could see that they actually had some system in place to practice sports at a competitive level. Sure, we all had good laughs at those exaggerations, but I could tell what was true and what was pure fantasy… or could I ?
Recently I learned more about sports in Japanese schools thanks some girl I know that used to be pretty involved in her basketball club.
Along with normal studies, everyone can join a sports club where more or less traditional sports can be practiced.
My source tells me that her coach was very strict indeed, demanding training 3 times per day, including one hour during lunch break. Training had to be done every day. No school on Saturday or Sunday, but clubs are open on weekends, so one basically ends up going on Saturdays and Sundays as well.
She would run and practice so much that her toe nails would go black and sometimes tear off. Sport shoes gave her flat feet and a bone deformation below the knee that apparent is typical of professional soccer players. Last but not least, her coach forbid any girl of the club from shortening the school uniform’s skirt (a common practice here in Japan 8)
I heard stories of strong competition, drama of physical injuries that prevented taking championships.
I think back at those anime and they don’t seem so off anymore !
Posted by Davide Pasca as Japan, Japanese girls at 10:21 AM EST
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I see more and more foreigners around Tokyo, in the clubs trying to pick up girls, but not necessarily all of them realize what are customs and expectations of Japanese girls.
I don’t pretend to know any ultimate solution to “score”, but with the years I learned a few things about Japanese girl’s taste.
First a division need to be made from those that are looking forward to meet a foreigner and those that don’t. There isn’t much help for the latter, but luckily there isn’t many of them. Of course not all foreign countries are equal, and some nationalities have more appeal than others..
All foreigners are expected to magically speak English. Girls want to practice English.. so, not knowing Japanese is not a problem. However, in a situation in which there is someone speaking Japanese fluently, the fluent speaker is likely to make the others feel dumb (it happens to me all the time 8).
Age matters in Japan more than in the west. It’s not so easy to guess the age of a Japanese girl, but it’s important to find out what are their expectations: Girls before 25 are in the playing & thinking about marriage phase. Twenty five and over are instead in the hunting & ready to marry phase. ..clearly, ultimately it’s all about marriage. Now you know that !
So, the great majority of Japanese girls is looking for a serious individual. Someone that is willing to embark in a long term relationship.
Then comes looks. Not looking like an otaku (a nerd) helps a lot. Talking about anime and video games straight away on a first encounter isn’t generally the best thing. If you introduce yourself as a game developer instead, things are quite different (^.^)y~~~.
Facial and body hair is generally not a good thing. The more travelled girls can tolerate it, but the younger ones generally hate it. Shaving everyday is definitely going to help !
With looks comes odor. Japanese men are definitely not odorless, but still, girls are absolutely terrified by bad smell ! American guys are generally pretty clean, but us European aren’t known for being overly zealous with hygiene. Sometimes foreign guys, even those that already live in Japan, walk in an apartment, take off their shoes and reveal 2-3 days old rotten socks !
That’s a big no-no, socks are to be changed every day. Also daily showers are required. In summer possibly twice per day.
Admittedly, I’m sometimes extreme about showers, but my opinion is that it’s always better to err on the safe side.
As clean as I am, I had my struggle with shampooing. At some point I had to change shampoos and I just realized that my daily shampoos weren’t enough. I tried a few things and I finally came one very simple conclusion: just wash better ! I used to have dandruff and I blamed it on shampoos for not being anti-dandruff or not being good enough. While in fact all I had to do was to put more vigour in the shampooing.. and I also use a conditioner after.
Some are afraid to take frequent shampoos because they think that soap is going to drive them bald. That’s actually a misconception, because greasy scalps turn into hell when not properly cleaned and hair follicles have nothing to gain and everything to lose from an irritated scalp.
So in the end it’s not so difficult:
- Be kind and honest.
- Don’t be a nerd: try to refrain a bit.
- Don’t smell bad: showers !
- Don’t be hairy: shave !
Having bad teeth instead isn’t such a crime as far as I realize. But of course a nice smile can only help 8)
Last thing about smell. I’m told that one can actually get sick in the armpits (!). Unusually strong smell comes out and surgery seems to be the only solution (really ?!). Apparently this sick armpits thing came up in a big way as some Japanese personality shared his ordeal with bad smell and his armpit surgery ! …ho ho ho ho !!
I personally think that showers and deodorant-stick are all that most people need.. but who knows ? 8)
As far as the main topic goes, there is a lot more to it, but I just wanted to share a few important points.
Ultimately it’s all about individuals and girls just want someone they can trust. So, if you are a foreigner looking for some fun in Japan, try to be nice and honest upfront. I see a lot of foreigners getting lucky with gullible girls that end up heart broken.
Posted by Davide Pasca as Society, Japan, Japanese girls at 9:17 PM EST
19 Comments »
My favorite place in Tokyo is the Shibuya area. It’s filled with sexy young girls wearing miniskirts with over-knees stockings over high heels and superpadded bras.
Most of them also carry $1000+ Luis Vuitton bags and one has to wonder how would a 18 years old girl afford to spend so much on a bag. ..but women are in high demand and those girls really make their best to look their best.
Miniskirts can do wonders. A cute girl waiting for a friend has a good chance to get hit by a youngster offering to go for a tea at a cafe or for a meal depending on the time of the day. That’s called nanpa. A practice that is relatively well tolerated.. in the sense that one doesn’t get sent to Hell but rather ignored most of the time.. and could possibly actually manage to get a phone number !
There are then those that approach girls for business. The so called scouts. They look for girls hungry for money and willing to work at various levels of the “entertainment business”.
Hostess bars (or Kyabakura) offer quite a bit of money depending on the qualities of the girl and on the level of work. Working there, a girl gets to meet wealthy customers that may ask them to meet outside work for social events, but not necessarily for sex. Sex would be bad business because some customers could stop going once they got too intimate with their favorite girl.
Sex is still big business however. Recently a friend of mine got offered 100,000 yen (about $850 or 650 Euro) per session of some sort of photographic business.
In those cases the scout will come ask what’s your wish for material goods and will tell you something like: OK, you can have it if you come work a couple of days for this business.
100,000 yen is a lot of money for a day of work !! This works also because porn acresses in Japan are not necessarily professionals. You don’t need a boobs job. Acting shy and passive has its appeal and surely comes easier than the aggressive exaggerated acting that is seen in porn from western countries.
In all this, I sometimes try to think what it means to be a young girl.. to be in a situation where you have to decide what to do with life and be courted by countless guys offering you drinks, food, presents just for spending your time with them. And easy money for being promiscuous.
..it’s easy if you are easy 8)
Posted by Davide Pasca as Society, Japan, work at 2:47 AM EST
1 Comment »
As the month started, I started working too. My new employer is a popoular Japanese game developer and publisher.
On my first day, I got in the office at 10:30 in the morning. There I underwent the general introduction for new employees along with 10 other new recruits, although only one other programmer, which actually ended up in my team.
I can say that I’m pretty happy with how things have gone so far. Working for a big company has it’s advantages. I got a superfast Dual Core Pentium 4 3GHz, 2GB of RAM an nVidia Quadro FX, a 24 inches Dell LCD monitor (Dell is selling some huge and cheap monitors here in Japan recently !) …and a crappy, supercheap ball mouse from Microsoft. I guess real programmers aren’t supposed to use mouses 8)
My coworkers are pretty cool. They all seem motivated, talkative. There is palpable excitement, it’s a great feeling, it makes me want to work ! The other day I had a private meeting with a guy in my team just to talk about graphics.
After many years I’m also being asked to go to GDC and Siggraph !! Yes !!
Admittedly, I’m in a sort of a special team, concerned more about research and less about immediate development. Other coworkers are working very long hours, and I fear the day when that will come for me.
The offices take several floors of a pretty large building. There are little or no directions around. So, one has to pretty much carry around printed maps of the floors !
It’s so different now that there are actual refreshment rooms. I can just step out and grab a coffee or a snack.
Work time is also flexible. One is expected to do at least 8 hours of work per day but can get in anytime before 11 AM and leave by 4 PM or so (provided that 8 hours have past). ..well at least in theory.
The actual work time rules seem to be a bit more complicated but I honestly didn’t catch the details. It was all explained in Japanese.
Some of my coworkers speak good English, but otherwise a minimum level of Japanese is required.
cool cool
…and my new TeraStation 1.6TB gave me problems again. After downgrading the firmware and restructuring the array, disk 3 failed again. I then restructured again, made a disk check (takes several hours) which says that things are OK, but I doubt that !
I’m now trying to see if the support at Buffalo can give any hint, before sending the TeraStation back to them for eventual repair.
Sort of sucks.. and I’m sleepy !
zzzzzzzzzzz
poof
Edit: Fack ! I fixed the spelling error !
Posted by Davide Pasca as Diary, Japan, work at 3:59 AM EST
13 Comments »
Yesterday I watched Equilibrium again. I like science fiction, but mostly I like the idea of a simplified world. I have so many different t-shirts. To me a t-shirt is something wear under the shirt. I want them to be interchangeable.
Recently I’ve been buying packs of 3, v-neck t-shirts from Uniqlo (it’s a relatively cheap clothes brand in Japan, I don’t link the site because it’s full of Flash crap that uses 100% of CPU time !). Plain t-shirts that come in black, gray and dark-gray. With those I can pick any of them cause color doesn’t matter and they all have the same size and consistency.
I like the idea of being able to dress without worrying if I’m going to feel comfortable or not. But then there are the sensitive people: my mother gives me loads of t-shits, many of which end up being sleepwear because of their large sizes or very colorful design.
I suppose that if I wore nothing but plain t-shirts I wouldn’t think so much about other people ! ..ummm
However I like to have my mind free to think. My apartment is full of crap that has mostly no use. Recently I’ve been hunting for useless unmarked CDs. Many went right into the trash bin, some of them I reversed on my Terastation (I’ll soon need to upgrade to the 1.6TB model ..forget the 2TB one, it uses ultra-expensive 500GB hard-disks).
I often feel like the urge to trash things I see laying around the apartment.
I’d like to optimize things. For example I wish I could have all my books in digital form.. I can’t wait for all books to come out in digital format ! I’d probably be willing to pay more for that !
I have some DVDs.. I buy them very rarely. They take up space !!
I have a lot of electronic gadgets and they all come with one or more cables, power bricks.. arghhhhh !!!
I hate all this, I want to live in a very simplified environment, but I’m also attached to physical things, things that remind of people, things that if I trash I feel like I’m letting someone down.
Trashing things in Tokyo is not so easy. One needs to pay a special feel for large items. I think one needs to phone somewhere to describe size and weight and then be told to buy some sort of sticker at the convenience store.
A year ago there was a red sofa lingering by the trash area of my apt building for the longest time. The trash area is very small, so this sofa was basically there by the street with no one picking it up.. that’s facked up !
Trash trash trash.. for small things I have to overcome whatever mental block I have and for large things I have to overcome the pain in the ass of getting into some procedure.
Material things suck !!!
Posted by Davide Pasca as Society, Diary, Japan at 4:48 AM EDT
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There should be a legal limit to how much one can say “yes” without understanding what he’s saying “yes” about !
“Hai” in Japanese is mostly used as a reassurance, especially over the phone where one is constantly supposed to acknowledge things.
So, Friday I finally got the offer I was waiting for, but I wasn’t sure it was an offer.. I understood more or less, but I had to wait until I got something in the mail to be really sure 8)
The situation with work now is that the larger company has made a pretty good offer, the smaller one was caught a bit off-guard as I asked for a delay. They said it’s their fault for not trying to find out what I was up to (shopping around). But of course it’s also my fault for not trying to make things clear from the start. Although I think I may have hinted in one of the interviews that I was really looking around.
It’ wouldn’t have been too smart of me to resign from a company and go look for another position to just one company.
Having more than one offer also raised my perspective salary quite a bit, which is only fair I think 8)
I will have to go for two more interviews and really take a decision. By now I have a pretty clear idea of where I would like to go to, but I also need to make sure I value all offers and keep in good terms with everyone.
I will have to reject some offers and I’m not too comfortable with that. Refusing good working positions for good money has a rather strong consumeristic taste.
In one case I may have a chance to join a team that filled my programming I dreams ever since my arcade games addicted teenager years.
It feels so good to be so close to realize a dream, but also feels bad to think that I may have to give up on that.
One has to trade constantly.. it’s all matter of time, how do you spend your next N years ?
I’m generally happy however. I’ll need strength to make a final decision soon, but however it goes I feel like I’m achieving great things from my perspective.
As it’s often said, anyone can achieve his or her dreams, it’s only matter of being very dedicated, very very patient and daring at the right time.
And now back to DSharingu coding. The current version is buggy as hell and I’m working on some major changes (multiple connections with tabbed views).
I’ve somehow managed to get my mother to install the application and help me to debug it. I still can’t see her computer’s screen… being able to do that is my mission for the time being !!!
woooooo !!!!
Posted by Davide Pasca as Diary, Japan, work at 5:52 PM EDT
26 Comments »
Yesterday I went for a last round of interviews. The second round for a very popoular developer, and the first (and only ?) with a larger company which perhaps used to be more famous in the past.
They both were group interviews. I had the first one with the popoular developer at noon, with my prospect coworkers. I think it was mostly to see if we’d make a connection, and I think it went fairly well. We all had fun but we also spoke of our past experiences and the things we like to do. I had a chance to briefly speak about image compression, but also a chance to mention that I go clubbing from time to time 8)
It was bright outside and I really felt at ease.. but I should not be too relaxed until I hear the result !
The second interview was with the larger business located not exactly very near Tokyo, but sporting its own set of cool looking buildings, although the interior was definitely more on the functional side…
Because my reading abilities are very limited, I was given one extra hour to do the multi-choice tests, plus the possibility to use whatever electronic dictionary (specifically the Nintendo DS to rapidly consult kanji).
The skills tests varied greatly. I started with a warm-up section that was a concentrated litteracy-level test for native Japanese readers. I could only see kanji I coudln’t recognize and I had 4 minutes.. I stared at the paper until the alarm rang and the lady in charge came into the room to see how I “did” 8)
Other tests were simpler, involved understanding little or no Japanese. Doing equations, making sense of numerical series, associating figures, basically a simple IQ test.
I regret that I was not able to solve a simple equation with two unknowns. I was definitely not well organized, I tried to skip steps and I found myself possibly making mistakes and possibly misunderstanding the equations which were to be derived from a plain language explanation.
The attitude test had about 120 questions to which one had to answer either with 5, 4 or 3 possible answers, depending on the type. I did as far as I could, starting at about 14:50, and then came the interview at 17:00.
This was again a group interview. Everybody was pretty kind, although not necessarily upbeat. I was told that I could resort to English if I had problems, but I did not, aside from introducing 2-3 words to make sure I was understood. The word 残業 ([zangyo] = overwork) this time came from one of the interviewers. I was basically told that the norm is to work about 11 hours and sometimes on weekends.
Overall it seemed to me like a very Japanese (so to speak) work environment. Making no excuses for working late everyday but also being honest about it.
The icing came when, after the interview, I was kindly given unlimited time to complete the attitude test. That was a bit harsh. I went on and used another hour and a half to complete the test, but this time I didn’t really try to understand well every question, as it would have taken me at least 3-4 more hours.
I understand the company policy, but if that piece of paper really matters, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to make it fill it up to someone that has obviously problems understanding the questions. However I didn’t complain and I took that as a good exercise 8)
As I’m standing, I’m one more company should supposedly contact me to set an interview. The contact at this company answer with an average 10 days delay (!). I was also told by a friend that sook some business with them in the past, that they are basically snob asses.. so I’m not holding my breath !
Another company has yet to give any answer (did they get the resume ?). And another big foreign one, which recently had no more need for a position for which I was introduced by some contacts (in English), finally apparently answered to my original (mandatory) online inquiry for another position (in Japanese).
They now ask me to send my resume, over one month later, while it should have taken 1-2 weeks. Honestly, I have 8 days to go before I’m jobless, I need to start doing paperworks for the apartment, and I have a sure offer from a good company that was kind enough to promptly show its interest.
While I don’t like the idea of having to reject any offer, I hope I will soon have a chance to choose and finally relax.
We’ll see !!!
Posted by Davide Pasca as Diary, Japan at 11:24 AM EDT
5 Comments »
The summer heat has come.. and with it the seasonal rains.
With the years I somewhat got used to it, I tolerate it more now. But I had make changes to adapt.
On my first visit to Japan, I managed to somewhat get sick as I wandered around in the summer heat. For a few minutes I had difficulties breathing. The muscles of my throat started contracting as to swallow my own saliva.. something that definitely never happened to me before.
The cause I suspect it was a combination of things:
* I was 10-12 kilos overweight (fat fack !)
* I was used to California’s heat but not to the humidity levels of Tokyo.
* The big jumps in temperature from glacial cold air conditioners inside buildings and trains and the heat outside.
* The pollution inherent for such an active and tightly packed city.
I was only 28 at the time and I got a bit scared. But I realize that is only normal to feel the effects of heat if one really doesn’t do much to fight it.
Aside from another episode of shortness of breath during that period, I never felt sick again. The simplest thing one can do is to use the vending machines (which are plentiful here) to grab a bottle or water, tea or any of those Gatoradish drinks that can be found only here: Aquarius, Amino Supli, Calpis, Pocari Sweat [Wikipedia], Healthya, are the most famous. Aquarius and Pocari Sweat taste a bit like watermellon skin ! ..actually surprisingly good. Calpis is more on the sweet side, and also comes in popsicles !
Humidity implies a lot of sweating. Many men carry around a small towel to dry the sweat from the face. There are also a couple of lines of wet-napkins for men, for the face, for the body. I use those the morning when I get to work.. Although I find that they carry a bit too much menthol for my taste. Menthol gives that cold burning sensation very popoular here. It reminds me a bit of the sour-dough matter in California. I hate the stinky sour-dough bread and it seems that everyone is trying to sell that around LA !
Speaking of sour and stinky.. Japanese men’s sweat tends to be pretty sour in smell ! I actually remember some non-Japanese smelling the same here in Tokyo.. so it’s probably not simply a genetic matter. A similar smell is also produced by the black fungus that accumulates around the hole of my bathroom sink in summer.
Deodorants aren’t very popular here, and that’s a shame, because while Japanese are historically clean, you can still find quite a few smelly people ! ..I personally get my deodorants from Italy where the selection is wide.. although Italians themselves aren’t champions of good smell ! Comparatively, I find that the nicest smelling people are in California (can’t speak for the rest of USA).
Best for last, the really drastic step: body shaving ! Being quite hairy, that sure came as a big change and has continued to keep me very busy under the shower. I went on and shaved chest, legs, arms all at once, and felt the pain for days. If anyone suddenly decides to start shaving his hairy body after more than 30 years, I’d suggest to take it slowly. No need to do a perfect job all at once. The first times it may also be useful to use some sort of after-shave cream.
Now that sounds faggy.. but then again, it’s so common to shave the beard off, and that’s the most visible part of the body.. ..I guess.. well I could make more excuses !
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posted by Davide Pasca as Diary, Japan at 2:01 AM EDT
4 Comments »
First things first. It seems that I have a girlfriend now ! wowwww !!!
It’s weird, it’s rare. It took a good dose of luck but also something has to be related to the fact that I’ve been more selective on who I hang out with.
There once was a time when by the time I thought that a girl might have been interesting, she was already being banged by one or more of my friends !! It’s a wild wild world out there ..but it’s also filled with dumb girls !! Girls that fall in the arms of whomever grabs them first and cry about being mistreated. If you act like a piece of meat, don’t be too surprised if a butcher walks in !
What I really like in a girl is when she likes me for my personality. A person that can appreciate my sense of humor, not a boring stuck-up, but also not a plain airhead.
Still, it takes time to get used to a person. I’m very good at spotting defects and making a big deal of them in my head.. I suppose that that’s what keeps me fairly asocial: I don’t feel at ease with people I don’t know well enough and that gives them a negative signal.
Talking about relationships, I’ve built a pretty good idea on certain aspects of how Japanese girls view relationships.
Apparently, cheating isn’t a big of a deal ! I see people having fun with “optional” partners all the time here in Tokyo ! It’s mostly the men that get the fun, but I definitely can tell that women can have their good share of extra-curricular fun… I actually asked around, and it turns out that Japanese women (including young girls), accept the idea that men like to “have fun”. So, one can go out have fun, but ! must make sure that his girlfriend/wife doesn’t find out, and that she isn’t being neglected. A lover has to be strictly a lover, to be met on spare time.
I guess it makes sense. Sooner or later relationships have to mature. Morph from the instability of sexual tension into some sort of family. Family meaning a strong reliable bond designed to be there for the sake of everyone involved.
Still, it’s kind of sad that there is this sort of implicit compromise, I don’t like that. I’ll be a sad day when I screw around and have to make up a bunch of bullshit for my girlfriend. Then it’s not so much about hurting someone.. it’s about hurting your own pride, living with lies, I don’t want to do that !
Well, it’s 2AM fack ! Time to zzzz !!!!
poof
Posted by Davide Pasca as Society, Japan at 2:09 AM EDT
10 Comments »
Here comes a long overdue update !
Last week my mother was here in Tokyo for a vacation. Three days were national holiday, I got two more off and spent the whole week to spend with her.
This string of holidays is called Golden Week here in Japan. It’s a yearly recurrence that most Japanese use to take a trip to somewhere. My mother didn’t know that, but somehow managed to improvise with good timing. Actually it’s quite possible that the running travel ticket costs led her to pick those dates. Coming when most of the traffic is going out and leaving when most of the traffic is coming back in, must have an influence on availability and price.
My mom’s plan was to came to relax.. thus there wasn’t any particular intent to overtake any major touristic action. It was her third time, so she was relatively independent. Still, I did spend quite a bit of time with her, following her shopping sprees. An all-around exhausting experience !
Shopping for cute stuff is, first of all, quite boring, it also requires a lot of walking and standing. To make matters worse, fashion shops are filled with hot chicks ! Either working there or just shopping.
There is about a billion hot girls (at least from behind 8) in the Shibuya area alone. Mini-skirts are as popoular as ever, but this year over-knee stockings are also hip.. which adds ever more fuel to the fire ! (BTW, my mother took those pictures.. it would have been too weird if I did.. 8)
It’s not very sensible to tell those things straight out, but I’d be an hypocrite if I didn’t. Every time I see a couple of foreigners visiting Tokyo, I pity them a little bit.. because it’s obvious that the man is like a kid in a candy store (although my mother made me notice that there actually is some interesting “material” for women as well). It’s true that there is a relatively high quantity of complicated mouths and orthopedic challenged people, but as generations go by, there are more and more nice legs and fine mouths. Also, teeth can be fixed and some orthopedic defects can result appealing (inward bent knees are cute to many).
The morale of all this is that there is a lot of fish in the sea.. so to speak. In Tokyo it’s easier to notice because those fish put more effort in dressing up, and also seem to be more free to swim around half-naked without the fear of being eaten alive. It comes to think that this evening I had lots of sashimi (raw fish) with rice for dinner.. raw fish is raw fish.. but it’s different when it’s fresh, clean and nicely cut ..woo !!!
Posted by Davide Pasca as Diary, Japan at 12:53 AM EDT
6 Comments »
