Kumamoto

Alright. It's now day 6 of 180. I'm on GMT +9 based on Osaka's Time Zone. Been really lazy these few days to blog about life in Japan. Somehow the activities done here although very little, but it's usually very tiring.

Day 1 - 0000Hrs, October 1st 2009

We met up at Changi Airport Terminal 3 where we departed Singapore on a 6 hours flight to Fukuoka International Airport. CSC came to send me off and gave me a farewell gift. Thanks guy, hopefully I get to use it.

Then it was hugs and goodbyes before entering the departure hall. Kind of a weird feeling because I'll be away for 6 months. But enough of that mushy stuff. We rushed down to gate A16 after going to the toilet and stuffs. By the time we had reached the boarding gate, we realised we're the last few to board. Our seats were all the way to the back. Flight was okay only. The flight stewardess wasn't all that helpful. Maybe because we're not Caucasians? I don't know, I'm guessing majority of Singaporean SIA girls are SPG while the Japanese SIA girls were much more hospitable and friendly.

Flight Stewards are okay, acceptable.

Throughout the flight, it was difficult to sleep because I had the window seat, there was very little ventilation and exceptionally hot and the plane's engine was roaring throughout the entire flight.

Blahblahblah, had our flight meal which was Teriyaki Udon. Horrible. The banana muffin was good, but the rest were horrible. Plus I had a gigantic meal with my family the night before, that worsen by the fact that the plane went through 2 to 3 hours worth of turbulence, by the time we were reaching Fukuoka, my stomach felt like it was gonna come out.

0810Hrs

At this time, our plane SQ656 landed at Fukuoka International Airport right on time. The airport looks like Seletar Airport, extremely broken down and poor looking. Interiors were nothing exciting, there was no air conditioning by the way. At the time we arrived there were 1 SQ, 1 Thai Airways, 1 China Airlines, 1 ASIANA and 1 ANA flight. Which meant foreigners outnumbered locals.

Being a Japanese gives alot of privileges, of the 20 plus counters, only 2 are serving foreigners while about 15 were catering to Japanese. It took us 1 long hot hour to get out of the airport. But the staff were generally friendlier as compared to Changi Airport except that the facilities are extremely old and broken down.

The arrival hall was no improvement, Fareast Plaza would have fared better in a beauty contest.

We got our highway bus ticket from the airport to Kumamoto which set us back ¥1600 each. That's a 20% discount as compared to buying individually at ¥2000 each.

2 Hours on the bus was horrible, the bus was hot and humid at the back and I got carsick. That all cut short, we finally reached our destination where we met Shimakawa-sensei who drove us to KNCT. But before all that, he brought us to a Ramen House and which was about 5km away from KNCT.

Each bowl was about ¥600 but Shimakawa-sensei paid for us, so it was on him. The ramen was above average, very few ingredients and abit too salty. But not bad for a empty stomach.

After finishing our lunch, we finally arrived at our destination - KNCT. We got our room keys, received some briefing and we settled in. Afterwards, we walked about 1km to a convenience store to buy some stuffs. I got a bottle of green tea at ¥155. Here are some pictures taken around the school and the convenience store we went to - Lawson.

Day 2 - 1300Hrs, October 2nd 2009

Woke up early to have our breakfast, can't remember what it was. Everything cut short, it was a boring day. We went down to the city ourselves, Weichuan who was the only one who could speak acceptable Japanese didn't come with us, god knows why. So 3 of us, totally clueless about Japanese headed to the city central ourselves.

Almost got lost but managed to trekked at least 3km under strong winds and rain with only a hoody.

All of us felt the trip was worth it because we finally found Daiso and got some cheap snacks and stuffs.

The day is here already. 1 more day before flying off to Japan.

Busy packing my bag to ensure that I don't miss anything over there.

Sadly, I feel I'm packing too much and I've already reduced alot of stuff like from a 25 piece clothing to 15 and reducing my bottoms amount by half. Still I'm exceeding the limit by a couple of KGs.

Damnit.. Any excess would be charged at USD22/kg. WTF!

Japan

Departing on Wednesday night, be back next year March 31st.

6 months.

I hope that I will have time to at least blog twice a week with many pictures!

Major Project

Finally, our major project is falling into place and we have only a few minor touchups to do and to go live.

I think, we've been very lucky. Firstly, we have a Japanese exchange student in our group and secondly, for every project since year 1. No matter how late we start on it, we will still be able to produce something of top quality on time.

I think this project is very good and that as long as we deploy live, A is a given.

We could have been relaxing now if we didn't spend the first few weeks of MP doing nothing and playing counterstrike everyday.

Luckily, our Japanese exchange team member - 永井　誠さん (Nagai Makoto-san) has helped us alot to get our web application working. It's amazing, in the whole team, everyone is using and learning this new language but he managed to grasp it faster and better than us all.

Plus, the way he codes is really amazing, it's simple yet complex but once you understand it. You will realise why Japan is such a economic powerhouse.

I'm just glad that this will all be over soon and in 7 weeks, I'll be flying off to 熊本 (Kumamoto) for 6 months and be ready for graduation. Somehow, it still feels like yesterday that I was choosing what course to enter.

Most of the time, I feel like I'm in the wrong course but this course has made me learnt alot about myself and given me many opportunities. Today, our group had lunch with our MP supervisor and Course Manager as the CM wants to talk to the 誠さん before he leaves for Finland on monday.

Hearing the CM talk about his experience in Japan, makes me really wonder what the future holds for me and how will I carve it out. Maybe it's time for us to put down what we're doing and think about what we really want and go for it?

With less than 60 days before my departure. I'm slowly building up a checklist of what to bring to Japan lest I become miserable during the 6 months stay.

It'll be the end of autumn by the time of my arrival, so I'll need alot of thick clothing for winter.

日本にいきたいん!

And I'm such a idiot.

I got awed by myself when I accidentally looked through my lens wide open. I was directly looking through the viewfinder using the lens.

Nice.

Happy Birthday

Technically, I was on the same week as the nation's birthday. This was long due but I only had the time to post it up only now.

44 years and counting.

You can't deny the wonders that the ruling party have done to this small island, their propaganda although obvious and getting desperate - does work.

I grew up studying MOE approved Social Studies and History textbook which means like 98% of Singapore children, I've viewed the founding father Lee as a hero.

When internet became widespread, information was readily available, information not available in Times Bookshop or Popular. That's when the ugly truth shows itself.

I would still be supportive of the ruling party if it wasn't for their self glorifying means - Giving themselves a pay hike and the master and slave mentality. I suppose everyone understands about pay hike and all hikes. Pay hike? That's minister pay hike not your pay hike.

Master and Slave mentality. Ever read Neil Humphreys? As a british expat himself here, even he knows that most of the so called Caucasian directors here in Singapore are just average joes back in their homeland.

What with all those SPGs throwing them to them like free water? It's a sign on dependence much like the colonial times when the whites were the rulers and asians are just expendable pawns.

Disgusting.

I don't hate foreign talents, in fact, I welcome Bangladeshi workers, ASEAN workers here in Singapore. Because they work jobs that we don't want and they are Asians.

Two groups I hate most are Caucasian expats and PRCs. Actually, make that 3, I hate asians who view Caucasian as higher beings whether is it suddenly being very friendly about them, praising them for nothing or even attempting to mimick their accent.

I feel it's very fake and disgraces our own asian heritage. Nevermind if you're borned in a western country and grew up with it.

If I ever had my ways, all caucasians expats would be expelled from Singapore. Though they will be given option to take up Singaporean citizenship and not allowed to transfer more than 15% of their monthly income out of the country.

20 Years and Counting..

As the days went by, I was closer to be being 20 year old. It's like a milestone to me because I'm entering my twenties now.

I was really moody then, even though I had a fun celebration with the boys and prior to that, I went out with Rachel, Zhihao and Yongzhi for a night of fun.

Listening to some words my friend said, what a friend blogged about. It really made me wonder about myself.

Here I am, 20 year old. I have no qualifications yet, just a lousy O levels certificate. I have less than $2,000 to my name. I am living under roofs not paid by myself. Sometimes I feel guilty that I'll be leaving for Japan and it's still not paid for by myself, sometimes I wonder should I just stay and earn my own keep.

Maybe I'm just being selfish, but in this world - who isn't?

My friends wanna go to Taiwan next year. I wished I could go too, I probably would be short of cash by then. One friend suggested to borrow money from parents.

I rather not, it's not a excuse. I wanna go but I don't wanna burden my parents anymore as long as I've graduated. Things are getting from bad to worst.

Besides, I already have plans for the money I would have then. I don't think the short term gains would be beneficial for the long term.

Photography

Haven't got much time to use my camera nowadays, I've had an idea in mind but I just can't find the time to put it into motion. I was kinda disappointed when I saw a set from ClubSnap which is somewhat similar to what I would have done.

Disappointed that I spent so much time to look around and brainstorm about this and now from Original, I've become Unoriginal. Then I'll probably have to execute mine far better than the other set, which I think is very difficult.

I took this shot some time back, it was suppose to be the prelude to this set, but time hasn't been very kind to me.

Awesome!

Thankfully, that waking up 6am today was pretty fruitful. Had to report to Science Center at 8.30am for X-Site 2009.

We were lucky, we came in second place out of 2 NYP teams and 3 ITE teams, We were the only TP team to make it to the finals.

Almost could have gotten first and that awesome Ipod Touch. But not that too bad, we got the latest Ipod Nano 8gb. I'm looking to sell it now, $200. Let me know if you're interested.

After that, I took half my journey home on train and cab. Then went down Pasir ris to play field soccer. After that, went home bathe and cabbed down to parkway parade to meet Rachel and Zhihao. God, I spent $30++ on cab fares today.

We had dinner then talked alot to catch up since it's been some time that we've last met. Then we walked around Roxy square to look at cheesy pubs. Initially wanted to head down Clarke Quay to go some pub but they didn't really want in the end.

Then we went to Paramount and god, that place is filled with dirty pubs and badly scantily dressed thai/vietnamese girls. After walking through that porn scene, we went to Joo Chiat because according to Rachel, it's the new red light district.

No prostitutes on the streets, or at least they didn't disturb us enough for us to notice them. The whole stretch was filled with indecent pubs and uncles way past their primes.

Finally, we played a lame game and I lost. I had to choose a pub from those dirty lanes to go in and get a seat. Luckily, I spotted a decent looking pub and went there, the moment I opened the door. There were indonesian girls, truckload of them.

Thankfully they didn't bug us much other than the occasional push to get another jug.

Overall, it was a fruitful day. It's pretty interesting actually, quite fun. And I was forced to sing a song which I don't know why I eventually did.

Fun with Prime

Well, the weekend was spent just as normal. Some time for myself on Sunday and work on Saturday.

But saturday was awesome, went to OCH ard 10pm to get some pictures with 4 other friends. Contrary to what most people say about it, it isn't dead cold inside, I perspired like mad the moment I entered and it just rained.

Managed to debunk some things said about OCH also.

Footsteps
Many people who go there have reported hearing footsteps climbing up the staircase and behind them. It happened to me, then I slowed down my walking and hear carefully - It was my slippers hitting my feet and shuffling against the steps.

People Talking
This is perhaps the most eerie of the reports, if you hear carefully you might just make out some soft whispers like there's some other people about 3 to 4 rooms away. Sometimes it's just the building talking - it's a old building, there's bound to contractions and expansions within the structure. Or it could simply be echoes.

A & E Admission
This area, is perhaps one of the most haunted place. There has been many past reports of sightings of a little girl running around. I've seen a report before that the girl was spotted by a group of youngsters to be crying, they called in the civil service and everyone there saw what happened. In the end, a priest was called in to bring peace.

We didn't see anything there or feel, just saw an old bicycle, perhaps used by the former security guard and 4 aluminium trays places in the open.

Attic
My friend said this is the most haunted place in the whole building and that many people have said they hear children running around and laughing, some even seen them. We spent about 5minutes looking deep into the attic, no idea why, maybe waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

SAF Medical Ward
The legendary ward where many died at the hands of the Japanese in WW2. Before entering, one of them commented "This is a angry place". I admit, this place is eerier than every other parts of the building with rooms all around, you'll be wondering if anything's around the corner.

And it doesn't help that the thai buddhist talisman here are bigger than usual.

Didn't get much good shots, here's a simple shot to share, will post up more in depth stuffs next time round. A simple picture to share and the dark spot at the end of the hall is burnt marks, not what you're thinking of