If you live in Japan right now, you've probably seen this guy's face on about a million commericals and posters, yet to the average unknowing foreigner you wouldn't think this dude's anything special, right? His name is Bae Yong-joon, poorly katakanized to Pe Yon-Jun「ぺ・ヨンジュン」 and is the media darling of Japan. He's a South Korean actor who stars in the hit imported TV drama 'Winter Sonata' and has become the worshipped idol of millions of middle-aged Japanese housewives who watch his drama every week, buy up anything with his face on it, and is the sole reason for Japan's new-found fascination with neighbouring and inferiority-complexed S.Korea. Japanese people have added the '-sama' ending to his name which is only given to people who are glorified like gods, hence he's often referred as 'Yong-sama'. This sort of thing happened with David Beckham during the worldcup, where everyone and their brother were copying his mohawk cut, but I don't think it compares at all to this Yong-sama juggernaut. I'm just sickened by turning on the morning news everyday and seeing his vacant smiling face and hearing all the news about him. I saw today that Yong-sama came to Japan a few days ago and thousands of housewives came to get a glimpse of him, and a few of the housewives got crushed in the crowd. Apparently Yong-sama in a press conference later on, heard about the injured fans and got a little 'veclempt' as he shed a little tear, and this is the biggest news in Japan this year. Everyone's forgotten about the Niigata earthquake victims from just a few weeks ago, I guess they're all ok now...

I'm all for the friendly relations between S.Korea and Japan though, since I've lived in both countries (Korea for about a year and Japan for more than 2 now) and I know that there's definitely issues from the Korean standpoint that needs resolving that the Japanese have forever been ignoring, so ANY sort of activity going on between the two countries can only be positive. Koreans have been looked down upon by Japanese people for so long and if Yong-sama is their only ambassador, then so be it. I just hope that this Korean fascination just doesn't end as a fascination and that Mr. Yong-joon doesn't just disappear in 6 months without even bringing up at least one issue, although who am I kidding, he's just a (so-called) actor, who is selling out here for the yens. I'd sure like to hear what the Korean people think right now about this, they must be in an uproar.

A new video pour vous! My first school-based video, although no footage in the classroom. Anyways, enjoy! Click the image or here for the goods. It's a bit of a big download at 36 MB, but it's because it's a fairly long video at over 11 mins. although I don't think you'll mind!

On Thursday I had to give an 80 minute presentation to 170+ ALTs (us foreigner-folk) and JTEs (dem Japanese teachers who sort of teach English) on the oh-so boring topic of 'learning styles'. I was only given about 2 weeks notice before the presentation to prepare, but with the help of my other presenters it was pulled off quite nicely, and I got a lot of compliments afterwards from ALTs and my JTE of my presentation style. Maybe for my next job I can be a 'motivational speaker', except I don't think I could stand living in a van down by the river. Thanks for everyone's compliments though! I attribute my confidence with the mic from my many drunken hours at karaoke. Thursday night was the ALT-organized charity talent show, and I had a pretty good time there. Of course I got a barrage of questions from other JETs about what I'm doing after JET, and of course answered 'I don't know'. I can't focus on such things at the moment since I'm busy with the JLPT test in less than 2 weeks from now!! I haven't studied in over a week now, so today's the day to get back on the horse... I wasn't motivated to study this weekend but I did finish a new video that I would upload to my site if it wasn't for my school's wretched firewall that blocks any kind of uploading. I'll try to get it up tonight, but no promises. It's a video about my school activities like sports festivals, bunkasai, field trips, planting rice etc. Sorry, there's not many scenes of shirtless farm boys, ladies.

So I just finished my 'battle' with NHK-man again. I mentioned in the comments before that he'd come over again to my apartment last night while I was hiding from him, and after giving up ringing the doorbell, he dropped an english version of the NHK bylaw pamphlet in my mailslot. I found hiding wasn't going to deter this dude. So tonight, he came a knockin' again at 8:30ish, wearing his smart suit/tie with yellow jacket, and a determined look on his face. He pulled out another copy of the pamphlet, but I told him that I'd already read the pamphlet. Luckily, the pamphlet didn't have corresponding Japanese beside the most important part, which said that anyone owning a TV must pay regardless of watching or not watching NHK. So he couldn't point at what he wanted to communicate. He kept asking if I HAVE a TV, which I never directly answered, but at one point I just said 'NO TV'. He then had the suspicious look of 'oh you don't have a TV? Why?'. I knew this guy was too savvy to go for that, so then I used the ol' confusion ploy and just talked a lot, said I didn't understand the law, I mostly just watch videos, and watch TV sometimes but definitely not NHK (which is mostly true), and always used a tone of reasoning, never anger or frustration. By the end, he had the look of defeat, and I said sorry, and he said, 'thanks', stuck out his hand and we shook. Maybe he thought, "Good fight my friend. Maybe we will meet again.", and went off into the pouring rain. I actually felt sorry for him... for a second. Then I realized I saved myself from paying over 14,000 yen over the course of the year! Phew. Hopefully that'll be the last time I see him or any other of the gestapo. Actually I wish I paid him with the tons of 1 yens I have just to get rid of them, but he wasn't that much of an asshole for me to be able to do it. Maybe if there's another NHK man...



..and on that note, (even though it's not the same situation) here's an exerpt from Seinfeld:

Plaza Cable guy at Kramer's door, exhausted. Leaning against the
doorpost. After having chased Kramer across Manhattan.

(knock knock)

Alright I know you're in there, I know you can hear me. You win, okay?
You win!

I can't do it anymore...

What do you want from me? Apology?

All right. I am sorry... There! I said it! I am sorry, I am sorry... I
see now how we made you feel. How we made you sit home, waiting..

I don't know why we do it, maybe we just kind of enjoy taking advantage
of people!

All that is gonna change. From now on no more nine to twelve, no more
one to five. We're gotta have appointments.

Eleven o'clock is gonna mean eleven o'clock and if we can't make it
we're gonna call you... To tell you why..

For God's sake! If a doctor can do it, why can't we..

Anyway, that's it...

(Kramer opens door)
I am sorry boy..
(embraces the Plaza Cable guy)

So last night, after I'd come home from a nice Gusto burger dinner with Stephanie, I had the unfortunate luck of getting the dreaded visit from the NHK man. The NHK man is basically a dirty hired goon who goes around trying to extort money from residents, apparently because the local NHK television channel is a public service that everyone who owns a TV is required to pay for, even if you don't watch it at all. Anyways, when I answered the door, I totally wasn't thinking about if it could be NHK, because it was fairly late on a Sunday night and assumed it'd be a friend or a neighbour. But yup, it was my big mistake, of course I had the TV blaring in the background, but played up the fact that I was gaijin, and didn't understand a word he said (Of course I understood everything he said). I was able to fend him off but it sounded like he was gonna come back with some English pamphlet and maybe more hired goons, so I'm not out of it yet. The lesson to be learned is, NEVER answer the door unless you're expecting someone, and to mute the TV when you do answer the door. Almost two years ago, I got a visit from a different NHK goon, but was able to scare him away with the help of ex-ALT Mitch who happened to answer my door while he was half-way through changing out of his gym clothes, expecting it to be Luke. I may need to pull the same kind of move this time!

So less than a month left to study for JLPT, which could stand for Just Let me Pass This!!!. Actually I don't have any real need to pass, but there's no need to walk into the test destined to fail! Morally, I need a boost of confidence that my brain still has a few active neurons that the 生ビール's haven't killed off yet. This stupid test, along with downloading games for my xbox have taken over my life at the moment. Teaching classes is far from my mind at the moment. Yet, I have to run a seminar session in Hachinohe in a few weeks that'll be one, long, 80 min. snore-fest for all I'm sure. Maybe if I learn how to unicycle?

I've been studying at least an hour or two everyday (except on weekends) for the JLPT (Japanese language test), and even though there's just over a month left until test time, I'm definitely feeling the pressure! I'm taking level 3, which means I have to know 300 kanji, a bunch of grammar and 1500 vocabulary. I feel confident enough with my kanji level, as I've had the level 3 kanji posters hanging in my bathroom for over a year now. So through osmosis I'm assuming I should've absorbed at least 200+ of those kanji by now, right? But I surely don't know all of the on and kun readings for those kanji though, so I'll have to focus some attention on that at some point. The grammar, well... I think I can recognize most of it? Just from studying the CLAIR intermediate course last year, I think I at least would have some vague idea of the grammar to be tested. But, I haven't exactly focused much studying time on it yet, so again, I need to set aside some time on that stuff too. So, what HAVE I been studying? The 1500 frickin' vocab, of course! This is going to be the most difficult section for me I think, because I really don't know that many words yet, especially the verbs. Looking at the list now, I MAYBE know 40% of the words and that depends on if they show the word with its kanji, or in just hiragana. Even with all the free time I have during school, I'm seriously going to have to start studying in the evenings and weekends. Reading back on this post, I don't sound too confident, do I? Hopefully I'll be singing a different tune next month. Here's some resources for you JLPT-taking folks:

Meguro Language Center : Great source for lists, info etc for JLPT. Plus it has a cute video introducing their staff. Just scroll to the bottom for the PDF downloads.
manythings.org : My current homepage.
pikkle.com : Good for grammar reference.
nihongoguide : Great for grammar study!

P.S. Happy 30th birthday Kitty-chan!

Click on 'Black Love' to see some pics from Reyn's birthday party on the weekend. I had a good time in the retro-styled 'living room'? , so thanks to him for inviting me. The place was pretty cramped as there were a few extra bodies who crashed the party, but it all worked out in the end. I noticed how Reyn's friends Yukari and Taka were in 'kanji-mode' i.e. party hosts, making sure everyone had drinks, had enough food, and were on edge for most of the night. Hopefully they had a good time? Much thanks goes to them too. I aspire one day to be as good a kanji as them!