I love my life right now. I love it, because I now have peanut butter. I was feeling very frustrated with food because I know so little and I was growing very tired of Japanese take out. I was walking around Besia (almost exactly the same as walmart) hoping to find something different to eat, and then I found it. A jar of peanut butter! Peanut butter is one of those rare import only foods in Japan and its not everyday you find it. Even at around $5 for a small size, I was overjoyed. I then had one of those, wow my life is awesome moments. 5 minutes from my house and I have peanut butter. How many English teachers in Japan can honestly say that? I could have been placed anywhere in Japan and I got Kamogawa. I got a place that has two used Game/DVD rental stores, two large grocery stores, several different Karaoke places, and all of the odds and end stores that I need. All within 10 minutes of my house. On top of that my schools really aren't far away at all. I am only going to one school tomorrow and it is only about 5 minutes away. Kamogawa has everything that I honestly need. And Tokyo is just right there. 2 hours on the bus and I'm there. I've been to Chiba city a few times and it really isn't all that bad of a trip.
And then the people here are so nice. All of the teachers and the BOE people I have meet have been fantastic! Taking me out to lunch, helping me clean my apartment when I first move in, bringing me random vegetables to bring home. I feel so unworthy to receive such kindness. And it goes beyond work too. I've been invited over for lunch with church members and I just got back from a little english conversation circle and they already are making plans to go Karaoke and eat bbq for a welcome party for me. It's wonderful.
And I love being called Sensei. It is weird. I mean I have no education training, I have no experience, and yet I am given the same respect as someone who went to school specifically for this job and has been doing it for years. I think the kids look up to me and I just feel wonderful being able to help them.
I really love my life right now. I am looking forward for school to start proper and I hope it is just as rewarding as helping with the speech contest has been.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Review of Torne for PS3
Japanese TV is sort of a puzzle, you know that Japan makes awesome anime, but actually finding anything but B list celebrities eating different food and saying how delicious it is, can be a challenge. That's why I was really excited when I heard about a Japan only DVR add on for the PS3 called Torne. I picked one up, set it up and got a chance to play with it for a bit and here is what I think.
For 10,000 yen (around $110 now a days) you get a very small box, some cables, and an install disc. You insert a BS card into the machine (sort of an ID card that all Japanese TVs use to pull a digital signal over the air), run the coaxial cable from the wall into it and that into the TV. And then a USB into the PS3. That is all there is to physical installation. Since the Torne box sits in between your TV signal you can use your TV like normal.
Installation is a snap, pop the disc in, run all of the updates you need and when you are done you will have a new icon on the XMB, "TV". From there you eject the disc and never use it again. Clicking on the Torne icon under the TV tab launches the program. You do all of the basic set up that you would if this was a new TV, choose a few settings, tell it where you live, and let it scan for channels. I was able to find all of the channels I have on my TV normally without any problem.
Once set up you have a couple different options, you can watch live TV with a nicer TV guide then my new Sharp, you can look at the schedule for the next couple of weeks, you can search for a particular show by genre, title, or keyword, watch recorded video, surf the web (with a split screen so you can still watch TV), and manage your content. Everything that you would possible need a DVR to do it has the function.
Torne also does a lot of things that I am surprised about. You can choose full or compressed recordings. Since this records everything in HD, files can get big. It is about 6 gb an hour on full setting, and 2 gb an hour of compressed. Compressed still looks good and unless you were looking for bits of compression you wouldn't notice the difference. Having this option is very important because it gives people options on storage. You can connect an external hard drive to the PS3 for additional storage or you can use the PS3 hard drive. I am using the PS3 hard drive so I need to keep an eye on it because with a 120 gb I get about 90 gb I can access. Considering I need to share that with games and downloads as well, I can't let my list get too big.
The big thing for me, but I doubt many other people, was the fact that you can turn subtitles on or off on recorded videos. My Japanese is not at the level where I can just tackle any anime without some help and subtitles really helps. Not every show broadcasts with subtitles and of course they are Japanese subtitles, not English.
Torne also connects to the internet to see which shows other Torne users are recording. Kind of a silly idea but it is kind of neat to see what is actually popular that week in Japan.
But the single best thing about Torne is that it can do all of this recording without getting in your way at all. The PS3 does not need to be fully turned on to record, it can do it from its sleep mode. Torne will not interrupt games or movies, you just get a little message saying that Torne will be starting soon.
So I know have a set up where anime basically comes to me in my sleep! This little magic box does it all for me, no more waiting for someone to release it and then tormenting it, blah blah blah. And considering regular DVRs are really expensive in Japan the fact that Sony was able to just add that functionality to the PS3 is amazing. With this the PS3 really does become the end all home entertainment machine. Its just awesome.
As awesome as Torne is, there is one problem. It is Japan only, and the TV signals are different so you can't import it. Sony has yet to make any plan to bring it to the states. I can understand a little. In Japan basically everyone has the same set up. There really isn't a cable box or anything like that. It is all based off of that BS card. In the US they would either have to make a Torne that could only do your broadcast channels (which who would be happy with just that?) or make a special Torne for each cable company. I hope they do, but we'll see.
All in all, if you live in Japan and own a PS3 or are even slightly interested in a PS3, get Torne. It is well worth the money.
For 10,000 yen (around $110 now a days) you get a very small box, some cables, and an install disc. You insert a BS card into the machine (sort of an ID card that all Japanese TVs use to pull a digital signal over the air), run the coaxial cable from the wall into it and that into the TV. And then a USB into the PS3. That is all there is to physical installation. Since the Torne box sits in between your TV signal you can use your TV like normal.
Installation is a snap, pop the disc in, run all of the updates you need and when you are done you will have a new icon on the XMB, "TV". From there you eject the disc and never use it again. Clicking on the Torne icon under the TV tab launches the program. You do all of the basic set up that you would if this was a new TV, choose a few settings, tell it where you live, and let it scan for channels. I was able to find all of the channels I have on my TV normally without any problem.
Once set up you have a couple different options, you can watch live TV with a nicer TV guide then my new Sharp, you can look at the schedule for the next couple of weeks, you can search for a particular show by genre, title, or keyword, watch recorded video, surf the web (with a split screen so you can still watch TV), and manage your content. Everything that you would possible need a DVR to do it has the function.
Torne also does a lot of things that I am surprised about. You can choose full or compressed recordings. Since this records everything in HD, files can get big. It is about 6 gb an hour on full setting, and 2 gb an hour of compressed. Compressed still looks good and unless you were looking for bits of compression you wouldn't notice the difference. Having this option is very important because it gives people options on storage. You can connect an external hard drive to the PS3 for additional storage or you can use the PS3 hard drive. I am using the PS3 hard drive so I need to keep an eye on it because with a 120 gb I get about 90 gb I can access. Considering I need to share that with games and downloads as well, I can't let my list get too big.
The big thing for me, but I doubt many other people, was the fact that you can turn subtitles on or off on recorded videos. My Japanese is not at the level where I can just tackle any anime without some help and subtitles really helps. Not every show broadcasts with subtitles and of course they are Japanese subtitles, not English.
Torne also connects to the internet to see which shows other Torne users are recording. Kind of a silly idea but it is kind of neat to see what is actually popular that week in Japan.
But the single best thing about Torne is that it can do all of this recording without getting in your way at all. The PS3 does not need to be fully turned on to record, it can do it from its sleep mode. Torne will not interrupt games or movies, you just get a little message saying that Torne will be starting soon.
So I know have a set up where anime basically comes to me in my sleep! This little magic box does it all for me, no more waiting for someone to release it and then tormenting it, blah blah blah. And considering regular DVRs are really expensive in Japan the fact that Sony was able to just add that functionality to the PS3 is amazing. With this the PS3 really does become the end all home entertainment machine. Its just awesome.
As awesome as Torne is, there is one problem. It is Japan only, and the TV signals are different so you can't import it. Sony has yet to make any plan to bring it to the states. I can understand a little. In Japan basically everyone has the same set up. There really isn't a cable box or anything like that. It is all based off of that BS card. In the US they would either have to make a Torne that could only do your broadcast channels (which who would be happy with just that?) or make a special Torne for each cable company. I hope they do, but we'll see.
All in all, if you live in Japan and own a PS3 or are even slightly interested in a PS3, get Torne. It is well worth the money.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
feeling dumb
In Japanese culture complimenting someone about something is very important, so as a foreigner you are often complemented on your Japanese, regardless of how good you are. Which as a sign of modesty you are supposed to reply �iee mada mada desu� which means �No I still have a way to go�, lately I have realized just how �mada mada� I really am. I have been studying Japanese for 5 years and have spent a year living in Japan before, so I can speak Japanese. While the word �speak� has very broad implications, I am at a level where I can be a contributing member of Japanese society, unfortunately I am a very stupid one. Normal conversations for the most part aren't any problems but stuff like setting up an internet account, buying car insurance, and figuring out the cell phone bill have really shown me just how little I actually know. I try and try but I just get so lost and there is so much vocabulary that is really never used outside of certain situations that I just don't know. Church today was especially difficult to follow because there was a talk about the Japanese festival of Obon, its history, it's connection to Buddhism and Shinto, and how Japanese Mormons approach a holiday that is so ingrained into Japanese society to transcend any religious belief. And then it some how got even harder in sunday school when they were talking about the old testament. The old testament is hard enough to understand in English!
But a bit of back tracking, let me talk a little bit more about church. Last week I wanted to go so I looked up on the computer when I was at work and got the address for the church. I found out that it is �near� Yatsumi station so I spent about $10 in train fare to get there and realized, I couldn't find it. I walked in circles all over the station but couldn't find anything. I was all hot and sweaty and since I didn't have a cell phone, I had no way to look it up. This week however I got a cell phone and was able to look up that it was actually about a kilometer in the opposite direction I was heading! So I after I finally got there, I was warmly greeted by everyone. I had forgotten how wonderful it feels to be so welcomed like that. Yatsumi is a pretty small nothing area so, of course, there are really only older people there and a few young families. But I did able to make some contacts and I'm now in the know for all of the single activities happening in the Chiba area so that's a good start on my quest to build up a good social life. But after church brother Sugimoto invited me over for lunch with his family. It was wonderful. It was a big (for Japan) house full of energy. I really felt the love that everyone had for each other and I was able to have lots of really good food. It was a fantastic day. It made me realize how much I really don't care for living on my own as compared to living with a family.
Besides that work has been good. I have done actual work lately, not just sitting around the office not doing anything. Since school is currently out for summer I am helping a handful of students with their speech contest practice. This is more work then it sounds like. You have to repeat the same short speech over and over again, really exaggerating everything. My tongue and throat actually hurt at the end of the day. You also don't realize how hard it is to explain how you make a sound. Native English speakers just naturally know that to make an L sound you push your tongue against your upper teeth, first year English students have to constantly think and adjust their tongue to make the right sounds. Sometimes you hear a word and it doesn't sound right but you just for the life of you can't figure out how to explain it to make it better. And then you have a balance you have to keep where you need to make practice but don't want to push the kids too hard. It is actual work. I think some times we think of the JET program as just such an easy gig that we assume that there isn't any real work involved, there is. But it feels really good to finally be salary. There is a new level of trust you are given by your employer. You don't need to be timed for exactly how long of a break you take, under the right circumstances you can leave a little early. There are times when I'll have to stay late but I enjoy this much more.
Driving in Japan requires a lot more concentration then it does in America. The whole left side right side thing becomes natural very quickly, but what gets you is how small the roads are, how much people will block traffic, and how much old people just don't care about any sort of traffic safety.
On a side note, there are a bunch of little frogs outside my patio right now. I don't know how they got there, I'm on the second floor. I almost want to catch one and keep it as a pet.
But a bit of back tracking, let me talk a little bit more about church. Last week I wanted to go so I looked up on the computer when I was at work and got the address for the church. I found out that it is �near� Yatsumi station so I spent about $10 in train fare to get there and realized, I couldn't find it. I walked in circles all over the station but couldn't find anything. I was all hot and sweaty and since I didn't have a cell phone, I had no way to look it up. This week however I got a cell phone and was able to look up that it was actually about a kilometer in the opposite direction I was heading! So I after I finally got there, I was warmly greeted by everyone. I had forgotten how wonderful it feels to be so welcomed like that. Yatsumi is a pretty small nothing area so, of course, there are really only older people there and a few young families. But I did able to make some contacts and I'm now in the know for all of the single activities happening in the Chiba area so that's a good start on my quest to build up a good social life. But after church brother Sugimoto invited me over for lunch with his family. It was wonderful. It was a big (for Japan) house full of energy. I really felt the love that everyone had for each other and I was able to have lots of really good food. It was a fantastic day. It made me realize how much I really don't care for living on my own as compared to living with a family.
Besides that work has been good. I have done actual work lately, not just sitting around the office not doing anything. Since school is currently out for summer I am helping a handful of students with their speech contest practice. This is more work then it sounds like. You have to repeat the same short speech over and over again, really exaggerating everything. My tongue and throat actually hurt at the end of the day. You also don't realize how hard it is to explain how you make a sound. Native English speakers just naturally know that to make an L sound you push your tongue against your upper teeth, first year English students have to constantly think and adjust their tongue to make the right sounds. Sometimes you hear a word and it doesn't sound right but you just for the life of you can't figure out how to explain it to make it better. And then you have a balance you have to keep where you need to make practice but don't want to push the kids too hard. It is actual work. I think some times we think of the JET program as just such an easy gig that we assume that there isn't any real work involved, there is. But it feels really good to finally be salary. There is a new level of trust you are given by your employer. You don't need to be timed for exactly how long of a break you take, under the right circumstances you can leave a little early. There are times when I'll have to stay late but I enjoy this much more.
Driving in Japan requires a lot more concentration then it does in America. The whole left side right side thing becomes natural very quickly, but what gets you is how small the roads are, how much people will block traffic, and how much old people just don't care about any sort of traffic safety.
On a side note, there are a bunch of little frogs outside my patio right now. I don't know how they got there, I'm on the second floor. I almost want to catch one and keep it as a pet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)