Interests:Japan, Judo, BJJ, MMA, Soccer, China, drinking, vid games. Expertise:Nothing that's the problem Occupation:Holiday Inn Front Desk Industry:Customer Service
Not really related Japan, except Terminator is big in Japan. Also it seems post apocalyptic world is common in Japanese movies.
I went to watch Terminator Salvation at the threatre. I thought it was ok, even though the reviews said it was terrible. It could have been worse, or been better. It wasn't amazing, but then if you think about it its the 4th story of the exact same thing people running from robots that are killing machines. Also it seems like they downgraded the Terminators. Terminator 3 had this silver metal morph type one, now this one has the standard Terminator(Swartzneggar) etc.
I read a comment in the paper it said, man vs machines, watch the Matrix its way better. haha.
I was just thinking I saw this Japanese movie too on an Air Canada flight. I can't remember the name. Its about the Japanese government injecting Japanese children with little chips that may or may not kill them later in life. You get a 24 hour notice you are about to die, and can have the best food, best place to stay etc, then you die. It was pretty good. Had a sad element to it, and followed different peoples lives that were interconnected. If I could remember the name I would recommend it. Terminator maybe not so much. Will probably have a sequel.
So I went to get my haircut today. It was the usual place I've been going in Vancouver. I go to this really cheap place 6$ plus taxes. Although it just went up to 8$, which is still pretty good. I went to a Japanese place in Vancouver and it cost 40$. Who wants to pay that? Especially for a guys haircut.
So the only reason the place is so cheap is because its a student that cuts your hair. Today I had someone new. She was Chinese and I said "Do you speak any other languages?". She said she spoke Chinese and I'm like oh good for you. Then, she says to me "Are you Christian?". Since Christianity has nothing to do with language I thought it was weird. I was going to say no way, but thought she might be so just to play it safe. Not exactly, I have no religion. "Oh she answered". I said, "Well, are you Christian?". "Yes", she answered. Then she looks at me, "You seem nice, even though you arn't Christian". "Thanks I guess", I said. I told her I lived in Japan and she asked me if there were many Christians. Since there are very few, I answered no. She said I see. End of conversation.... Silence for the rest of the haircut.
Since it was silent I started to daydream and remember getting my haircut in Japan. It was kind of funny. I went to this really cheap place near the Heiwado Super Market. It was like 1300yen or 15$, which is fairly cheap by Japan standards. They always asked me if I wanted a shave. Well, since the shave was included of course I wanted a shave. I would make sure I wouldn't shave the day of, to get extra value for my money. The only problem was that they would ask me to lean back as far as I could. Then they would put boiling towels on my face. It felt good, but when they brought a huge blade across my throat I used to worry. Since, I didn't see Sweeny Todd Demon Barber or whatever its called, I could only make my own images of having my throat slit. Since I have a massive adam's apple I was always worried it would get cut. Luckily, aside from a little blood, I never got cut too bad. Afterwards, they would wash down my face, shampoo my hair(extra 200yen 2.50$) and finish the cut, with a soft massage by a girl. Oh the massage was nice, I'm not going to lie. I wish they gave massages at Canadian places at lower cost. I've only seen it at upper level places that cost the big bucks. One day at school I told my students where I got my haircut and they all laughed. I wondered why so funny. Finally they told me that's where criminals worked. I wasn't sure if they were joking. I did think all the people who worked there, seemed like smoking, darker skinned(sometimes descriminated against in Japan), no teeth or gold teeth typed people. It didn't really matter to me since the price was right and so was the service. I finally asked one of the English Japanese teachers what he thought of Samitto(Summit Barber). "Oh he answered, I wouldn't go there. I think its all former criminals released from jail. I heard the government helps sponser the place". WTF? I was going to a place where criminals who just got out of jail ? I thought someone was playing a joke on me. Appernetly one of the students mom's worked there. I had mentioned numerous times at Samitto, that I worked at a really bad school called East Juniour High where the students were all asses. Well, now I found out I was probably telling their parents. Whoops! Some students also told me to look for signs, like slit wrist scars and neck scars or missing fingers. I started to keep my eyes open for these things. I was surprised by how many I saw. I felt bad for the women who were cleaning my head, since I could see massive scars across their wrists where they had tried to committ suicide. I also wondered if they might want to hold my head under the water to kill me. Everytime I leaned back when I saw the barber with his sharp blade and his golden teeth, I worried he might want to accidentally cut me a little.
It seems pretty funny looking back at it now. I only went to that place a few more times. We became friends with a girl that worked at a really good hairsalon across town. That has a few stories too, but not related to the service. I think I'll include this as a chapter in my book of strange stuff that happened to me in Japan.
So I got an award at work for signing people up for Priority Club. What is it? Basically its a program to get people to stay at Holiday Inn and its affiliates. How does it work? The customer has a choice between points or Air Miles. They choose which one and we tell them if they sign up every time they stay with us they can collect points or Air Miles. For each qualifying Priority Club member we sign up we make 1 dollar. It seems easy, but a lot of people say no. I've been watching one of the masters at work and copying what he does and my numbers have increased 10 fold. I managed to get 145 qualifying memberships last month. 145$ extra dollars is nice but the amount of time it takes to explain do the paperwork for it etc might not be worth it. That means I explained the same thing over 145 times, wrote out over 145 application sheets in one month. I can't believe it. Still extra money is good. I got an award that is framed for my wall. It says high enroller this quarter. My motivation has been down recently as I've been doing morning shifts and booking tours(which make money much easier). Anyways, if you stay at Holiday Inn or its associates definitely sign up for the program. I realize now any AIR Miles programs or hotel programs are a good deal. You get upgraded(if you are a higher level member) to really nice rooms for the cheaper price, get different free things at each hotel, get express checkin etc. If you choose points, you can use those points for free stays. Its great! Apperently Priority Club has won a number of awards for being such a great program. If you are going to stay at Holiday Inn google "Priority Club", the program is interesting and totally worth it.
Cheers and no I don't get paid for telling you this I just thought it was interesting cause no one really knows about it.
I've never enjoyed working for free. When my hours are done I try to get the hell out of dodge. In Japan whenever it was 4pm I would leave on the dot. I never left early, but I didn't stay later. I figured my contract said 4 so I have the right to leave. On the occasions when I did stay late, if I was ever offered compensation(a few hours off the next day) I took it. I never asked, but if they offered and only a few times they did, I took them.
Last night it was 11pm and I was working at the desk of the hotel. There are usually 2 people on until 11pm, but last night the other person wanted to go home early. She had a flight at 7AM and had to drive about an hour to get home. I can't blame her. As soon as she left it got really busy. The phones(switchboard and 2 side phones like the one above) rang off the hook. Plus there were people checking in and only me. Luckily the manager came out to help me but still there were so many things going on at once. The time hits 11pm. I hadn't got a chance to count my money or do my closing duties so I realized I'd have to do those. The phones keep ringing at the 11pm guy is trying to deal with all these problems. A prominent guest can't get in his room and the security guard is new. So I'm like ok I better help. So I deal with all these problems and don't get a chance to do my closing duties or count my money and its 11:30pm! I'm like crap I gotta get out of here. I ran downstairs got all my stuff together and remembered it was the day to have my suits dry cleaned. I throw them behind the desk and dash outside. I see a bus and its 1 block to the stop. I'm running like hell and the bus is just a bit ahead of me. The bus stops everyone gets out, 10 metres left and I'm covered in sweat cause I'm really running. Bus pulls out and goes! F!!! I just missed it. I hoped another bus would come. Covered in sweat and its cold so I wait 25 mins for the next bus. Get home at 12 midnight! I hate working for free!
So I've started to learn Chinese. I'm not taking a class or anything, just listening to CDs and reading books. This is one of the books I bought while I was in Japan. Today I was looking at it again and thinking how easy it is for Japanese to read Chinese. I can't believe it when Japanese tell me they can't read any Chinese. I remember showing this book to my Vice Principal and saying it must be easy for him to read. He said he couldn't read anything. There is no way that is true. If I can read half of it, Japanese must be able to read almost all of it. Sure there are a few differences. A few strokes here a few there, more simplified in Chinese, but essentially its the same. I can guess if its not a character used in Japan anymore. Take for instance volleyball. バレーボール is the Katakana(foreign loanword). Most young Japanese shorten this word to バレー by itself. The Chinese word is 排球。That is a word that most older Japanese used to say. When I showed it to a student at school he said he couldn't read it. I said the reading is はいきゅう. He said he didn't know that word. I was surprised since one of the older teachers always says that word. Also soccer. The loanword in Japanese is サッカー. In Chinese it is 足球. Let's break down the characters, the first is leg or foot, the second is ball. So foot/leg ball. That equals soccer, makes sense right. When I asked my students what they thought it was they said they didn't know. Common! Guess! I know you can do it. Think outside the box. If you don't know the character add 1+1 to equal 2. 滑雪 I thought this was an interesting character and seemed to easy for the students to figure out. 1st character sliding/slipping 2nd character snow. Sliding (on) snow = Skiing. They said they couldn't figure it out. So if you have a base of Japanese do you need to be a foreigner to understand Chinese? It seems like Japanese can read half the language to me, but it appears based on my examples they can't. I find it hard to believe.
I've started the basic grammar and most of it is straight foward. No particles like Japanese and similar address of respect as Japanese. Family name + teacher Tanaka Sensei, Wang Laoshi etc. The pronunciation is the hard part. For all 4 tones I hear the same thing. I'll just have to add some oil as I wrote at the top. This expression is the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese GANBATTE 頑張る、頑張って、頑張れ！ The Chinese version simply means add some oil so that's why I'm going to do.
