Affliction of the CCP virus (aka I got Covid)

So, I'm currently recovering from the CCP virus. It's surprising the things you experience at the hands of the medical system when you're on the receiving end of the Wuhan flu.

This started earlier this week, when I did not start feeling too good. My body temperature was within acceptable levels at this time, even by the time I left work early to go home. Now, as I was working out of town for the day, I also had a company car loaned to me to get by, so I used the car to get home. However, when I got home, I checked my body temperature again, and it exploded to 40C. I wasn't sure it if it was the CCP virus or not, so I decided to get purchase a PCR test kit from my local chemist just in case, and that turned out negative, so I thought it was going to be all good. Unfortunately, by the next day, my situation got worse, and my girlfriend (who fortunately, is out of town at the moment) suggested I should go to a hospital, as my symptoms were getting worse - specifically my incredibly high body temperature. Problem is, the hospitals I did call up apparently don't take people with high temperatures, for fear of the CCP - the Chinese Communist Pneumonia/Covid. So, at my girlfriend's suggestion, I called the emergency number (which is 119 in Japan, compared to 000 in my country). 

When the ambulance crew turned up to my place, I was already struggling to stay conscious. I know they needed to get information about the circumstances leading up to my situation, but goddamn, was one of the guys incredibly rude as fuck. His reactions to my answers were like I did the worst possible thing I could ever do. What's worse, is that while they could take me to a hospital to get me checked out, they would not help me get back home - also because of high fever, I'm not allowed to take a taxi or public transport to get home, leaving my only option to walk home, and at that time, I was no condition to be walking significant distances beyond the entranceway of my apartment. So yeah, fuck the ambulance crew for their rudeness, and fuck the lack of support for those that don't have private transport available to them to get home from the hospital.
Anyway, I called my girlfriend up while the ambulance crew were still at my apartment, just so I could clarify what was being told to me, and my girlfriend was able to some other questions. In any case, after a while, they managed to find a hospital they could take me to. They gave me another PCR test, and would get my results the next morning. As for getting back home, well since my girlfriend cannot drive (she came to check up on me and help me get home), we took a taxi (despite instructions to not do so, but fuck that shit), and I made sure to keep my mask on, not talk, and try not to cough. My girlfriend took the train back, while I went straight home.
Come next morning though, I get a call from the hospital advising that I do have the CCP virus after all, and that PCR test I took the day before going to hospital:

So, I was instructed to not go outside for 10 days, and I had to call the office to explain what's happened. While I do have food, it definitely won't last me until next week. Fortunately, my girlfriend has been sending me food via Amazon, along with antigen tests, and ice pads that help with lowering body temperature. 

Luckily, the worst of it seems to be over, as my fever broke on Thursday, and all that's remaining is a lingering light cough. Now that my appetite has returned, I can actually eat 3 meals again, rather than just eating breakfast and drinking plenty of fluids. As I don't have any accrued leave that I could use for my work, my boss has said it is ok for me to work from home if I'm up to it, and I may take them up on that offer, as it would give me something to do besides watching youtube videos all day long. I may try to get my site finally updated this weekend too. 

But yeah, the medical is completely merciless and bullshit if you don't have a car, or anyone who has a car, not to mention the ambulance crew that tended to me were rude as fuck. 

そいつらへ：うせろやろう！！(# ﾟДﾟ)

Japan's Day of the Dead (and other news)

Starting today, I have a few days off for the Obon break. For those not familiar, Obon is Japan's equivalent of the Day of the Dead, with people paying respect to their ancestors and loved ones who have passed away. During this time, people will go back to their hometowns, clean their ancestors' graves, and leave offerings at shrines. Working as an ALT previously, the entire month of August was a break for me, so I actually did not observe or even notice this period of time. I may actually do something during this time - of course, I have no ancestors buried here in Japan, but I feel I should do something in remembrance of loved ones that have passed away - and in recent times a lot of extended family members have passed away 

In other news, we had a bit of a scare in the office recently, with somebody apparently testing positive for the Wuhan flu. Fortunately, my employer was pretty swift about it, firstly disinfecting the person's desk (they went home obviously), and those that have either had close contact with him, or have desks within his vicinity needed to take a PCR test immediately, myself included. Unfortunately, my test result turned out invalid for some reason, but fortunately, a second test I took when I went home came up negative. While everyone else on that day also came up negative, a few more people in the following days weren't feeling well and took a few days off to recover, which later turned out to be just a cold and not the CCP virus. I kept an eye out for any symptoms popping up, but fortunately, I've been pretty lucky, and it's been over a week since it happened. 

Also, it would seem the Omicron/Xi subvariants have hit hard in Japan for the official 7th wave now. Tokyo has been seeing daily cases of over 30,000, whereas Saitama prefecture has weirdly been bouncing back and forth between 7000 and 13,000 cases a day. I won't deny I am a bit nervous as I have to take a crowded train daily to get to work, but just about everyone is wearing a mask, and keeping quiet - I mean, you really can't blame people for not being in a talkative mood when you have to take the train early to get to work, can you?

On the other, this summer weather is unbearable. Sometimes, I do miss having a car, as walking around in hot and humid weather sucks, especially when working out of town which requires walking for long periods without shade. Not to mention my apartment when I get home is pretty much a sauna, due to facing the sun - even with the curtains shut, it's still boiling hot inside. Though oddly, today has not been too bad actually.

(Not) Everybody Loves Shinzo

An opinion piece I happened to come across here on Japan Today probably best describes my thoughts on the late ex PM Shinzo Abe, and why the rest of the world seems to adorn him with praise, yet it's like a completely different feeling within Japan, the country he was serving. 

Basically, he put more work towards international policies, but on the other hand, seemingly neglecting domestic policies, and the people he was supposed to be serving. 
Also, it was no secret that he was really pushing for the amendment of the Japanese constitution, especially Article 9, which dictates the role of Japan's military in that it cannot operate outside of Japan, and is only meant to defend the country. Changing article 9 would have meant that Japan could send it's forces overseas - currently, Japan can only send non-combatants to other countries to help in technical/engineer type of roles. Yet while people in Japan are against any kind of change to article 9, the LDP is still hoping to push through eventually, though with things the way they are now in Japan and the rest of the world, amending the constitution isn't exactly a priority right now.

Most people will probably remember his domestic economic policies - or "Abenomics" as being a complete dud in the end after 2 years. And let's not forget the Abenomask, or as some had unflatteringly called it, the Ahonomask (aka, the idiot mask). Oh, and a quick reminder that I did a review on the Abenomask when they were eventually distributed out to residences for free - but only two per household. Basically, those masks weren't great for grown adults, but good as an extreme last resort if you can't purchase any other masks - but fortunately compared to 2020, finding masks to purchase ain't that hard anymore.

On the other hand, you don't get to be the longest serving prime minister in Japan without doing a few things right along the way, but the circumstances of his resignation really changed how I perceived Abe. His resignation citing health reasons seemed to be a really poor way to hide the fact he was running away like a coward because he dropped the ball on the handling of the CCP virus. While I wasn't a fan of his first successor, Yoshihide Suga, I definitely respected him more when he just came right out and said he wasn't up to the job of PM when he resigned. At the moment current PM Fumio Kishida seems to be trying his best to avoid the mistakes made by his predecessors.

It is tragic that Abe was killed, but it is good to see an opinion piece that highlighted why views and perceptions of him are so different domestically and internationally.

Japan reopening to foreign tourists from June 2022

 I am a little late on this news, since it was announced a few days ago, but it's still pretty important nonetheless.

Following up from my previous entry about Japan considering letting in foreign tourists, Japan has confirmed that the country will slowly begin allowing foreign tourists in starting from June 10. As I had also mentioned, 7 people from the US arrived in Japan as part of the first trials of their controlled group tours, with two different itineraries set up so far. The government is obviously starting small to see what needs to be done in the event that any one in these tour groups catches the CCP virus. 
Just as a reminder though, tourists will not have free reign over where they will go and what they will do. At least, not yet anyway, and some people have drawn parallels with North Korea's controlled tours - though the reasons are completely different: One being to control the spread of the CCP virus, and the other being a means to not highlight its country in any undesirable light, despite the truth of said country being pretty much common knowledge.

Regardless of this "packaged tour" approach, Japan will be classifying countries/regions in to three categories (blue, yellow, red), with blue being the lowest risk (and currently comprised of 98 countries in this category), and red being the highest risk. 

Finally, those coming from overseas will be expected to follow Japan's mask wearing policy. Many other countries have dropped their mask mandates, but Japan still hasn't. As part of the country's CCP virus countermeasures, overseas visitors will have to wear masks. I personally have no problem with this, but I can see a lot of people continue to stay from Japan because of this mask mandate. 

While a complete lift of restrictions entering the country isn't on the cards yet, this is a good start. While not a perfect solution, I can only hope that the Japanese government will make necessary adjustments as overseas tourists slowly start coming back to visit Japan again. 

Japan to finally allow foreign tourists in?

 According to this article, Japan is finally looking to begin accepting foreign tourists in to the country, possibly starting from June. If you're not familiar with the situation at the moment here at the moment, Japan has largely prohibited foreigners from entering the country since the outbreak of the CCP virus. In recent months (since March this year, I think), Japan has eased up on the restrictions on foreigners by allowing up to a limit of 10,000 per day. However, only international students, foreign technical interns, and foreigners who are coming to Japan for business purposes are allowed in at the moment. 

Another article goes in to more detail regarding the plan. It seems to want to do a trial run by allowing foreign tourists in to Japan, but only allowing them to run on a fixed itinerary, supposedly to "grasp their movements" and to determine what to do in situations where the CCP virus is detected in tourists.

This does look like promising news to many who want to enter Japan, and for my mum to come visit again, as she does enjoy travelling in Japan. When it does happen, I would like to take the chance to show mum around Saitama, as she never went to Ibaraki prefecture when she visited Japan in the past (though with it's reputation as the worst prefecture, I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to go there). It will also be good news for one of my friends who was planning to come some time this year on business.

Golden Week in Saitama

Being Golden Week this week, my girlfriend and I went to Kawagoe on Tuesday. This year seems to be significant not just in Saitama, but also across the country, as for many people, it has been two years since they did any significant travel during Golden Week. Of course, this also means a significant boost to local businesses that have been struggling since the start of the CCP virus in 2020 (or 2019 depending how you look at it).

Because it's Golden Week, we decided to rent kimonos to wear for the day. Compared to buying a kimono, renting is a significantly cheaper option, considering neither of us wear kimonos on a regular basis. My girlfriend booked an appointment online in advance, and we showed up to the rental store in the morning. She was getting her kimono all prepared at the front section of the store, while I was guided to the back for the men's section. I was a little bit nervous, being my first time wearing a kimono (whereas my girlfriend has worn kimonos previously), though the process was surprisingly made easy. There was a simple guide on one of the hangar racks for sizes which were also colour-coded accordingly. I picked out a black kimono which was about 5500 yen to rent, and the staff went about putting the kimono on me. Obviously, it was a lot quicker to get me all dressed up compared to my girlfriend, though it wasn't too longer after before we headed out. 

Obviously being 3 days of public holidays, it was busy with people. Many of the shops had long lines waiting to get in for dining or to purchase snacks or foods. My girlfriend lined up to get skewered eel, but I decided to skip on getting eel. I have eaten eel before, but I wasn't a fan of the oiliness. After that we had a walk around, and got our photos taken by one of the shrines before we decided to pray at the there. We had a look at various other shops, but since we were catching up with a friend later in the evening, we weren't looking to have a big lunch (if at all). However, we tried some soy flour ice cream served with red beans - and unlike typical soft serve ice cream, we found this particular ice cream to be surprisingly creamy.

Also a lot of shops were selling the usual soft serve ice cream, though there was one store that was selling watermelon-soda flavored soft serve, which I just had to try. For 200 yen, it wasn't too bad at all. I ordered one for myself, but apparently the shopkeeper mistakenly heard me say two (this was all in Japanese) and by the time I realised it, it was too late to change. Oh well, I gave the second one to my girlfriend, and she fortunately enjoyed the flavor.

One particular food that Kawagoe is famous for is sweet potato (さつまいも). At the souvenir shop in Kawagoe station, they sell many snacks based on the sweet potato, whether it be biscuits/cookies or cakes. However, the most popular form of the sweet potato that was being sold at various shops on Tuesday was sweet potato chips. However, just about every shop and stall that we went to was completely sold out of the snack. It wasn't until much later in the day that we finally found a shop that was still selling the snack. 

Another shop we went to had something unique going on. They had a "workshop" where you could make your own candy in a similar fashion to glass blowing. Apparently due to a lot of people wanting to do it, we were able to make a booking, though due to the time, we decided to have a café to rest our feet, as we had been walking non stop since before lunch time. 
After some time at the café, we went back to that candy store for "candy blowing" I guess is what you could call it. The staff will guide you on the process (along with reading the instructions that are on the counter). While my gf was able to do it with no problems, I wasn't so fortunate. The first step requires you to blow hard initially, but not too for too long, which I ended up doing and bursting the candy bubble. Luckily the staff were able to mend mine up and I was able to continue the second part of the process which is gently blowing while rotating the candy to ensure that it inflates equally. Though mine didn't turn out as nice, it was still a fun experience, and was a pretty cheap activity to do too. 

Eventually, we went back to the kimono rental store to return our kimonos, but the staff wanted to take photos of us, which we didn't mind. My girlfriend also asked to take pictures using her phone, before the staff helped us get out of our kimonos (after ushering me to the back in the men's section, obviously). I found after we left the shop that the staff apparently want to use our photos for their website, and asked my girlfriend for the ok, which she said yes anyway. While I have no problem personally, I just found it weird that they only asked my gf only, and not ask me about it (and it's not because of language barrier either, communicating with the staff in Japanese was not a problem at all). But what's done is done.

Though we did have a date night a little while ago, we haven't actually done anything like this since we moved to Saitama prefecture. We have both been pretty busy with our own things - with me being out of town during the weekdays, while she has been busy with her thesis. It was an enjoyable time, and I hope we get another chance to do something like this some time soon. 

Japan easing border controls from March

Recently, the Japanese government announced that it will start easing up on border controls from March. This will include increasing the current cap of international arrivals from 3500 people to 5000 people a day, and cutting the quarantine period upon arrival from 1 week to 3 days. These rules will apply not just to Japanese citizens returning home, but also foreigners who are entering Japan for purposes besides tourism. Furthermore, those that have received three doses of the vaccine for the CCP virus will be exempt from any sort of quarantine.

This will be good for many companies that rely on employing foreigners - especially ALT dispatch companies, who are looking for new ALTs for the new school year starting from April. This will also be good for students who had planned to study in Japan before the strict borders came up in November last year in reaction to the omicron (aka Xi) variant of the CCP virus.

More online classes! (and other stuff)

Due to the increasing number of cases of the Xi(aka Omicron) variant of the CCP virus across the country, including Ibaraki Prefecture, for the past two weeks elementary schools have been doing classes online. However, since there has not been a significant drop in cases at the moment (for the past few days, there have have been over 1000 cases in Ibaraki prefecture alone), online classes have been extended for one more week. I have mixed feelings about this.

I have no problem with this going on for my 3rd and 4th grade classes, as I can make progress even if they haven't taken the textbooks home with them (and I have the digital materials anyway), and I can make activities that involve everyone in some capacity. My 5th and 6th grade classes on the other hand... it is getting a little difficult without them being at school to really make progress. However, I am trying to take advantage of the school's online learning system to create some activities/exercises for them to practice what they (are supposed to) have studied. I'm preparing a listening activity which is similar in style to the listening tests that I have prepared, but I'm not preparing this as a test, meaning I'm allowing them to check the resources that I also intend to upload before the lesson.

In other news, I did submit my official resignation to my employer finally. I was bracing myself for some sort of grilling/haggling to get me to stay on board, but surprisingly it never came. I told them how I felt, but was careful not to tell them that I left because of money (even though that is part of the reason I am leaving). The truth was, I've been working as an ALT for over 5 years, and I have just gotten tired of it. Matters that came up back home just before school started last year really hit me hard, and the amount of difficult students I've had to deal with this year have really sucked the drive to continue any further. They extended an olive branch offering me some other positions elsewhere, and while I didn't openly refuse them, I did say I would consider it and let them know. I was expecting some sort of roasting about me quitting the HR training they were giving me, but given that I quit after two weeks, the damage and fallout was minimised on that front, not to mention that the position was never guaranteed in the first place. Besides, they didn't really assign me any important work aside from screening a few sessions with some ALT candidates and assessing their demo lessons. 

Finally, I have an appointment lined up to inspect a potential apartment on the 26th. I am a little bit concerned, as racism is rampant when it comes to renting an apartment in Japan. Up until now, I have been using Leopalace, a rental company that is known having no problems renting out apartments for foreigners, but this specific apartment is not a Leopalace apartment. The company that I have been dealing with asked me some standard questions, althought the questions have the potential to be grounds for refusing to lease an apartment to me. They asked my nationality; how long I lived in Japan; if I had an emergency contact in Japan; if I was a student or company employee, and why I wanted to move. Worst case scenario, I settle for Leopalace apartment that is maybe one or two stops away from my ideal spot. Hopefully, this won't be the case. 

It's not called Omicron. It's supposed to be the Xi variant.

Well, things have started going to shit at one of my schools. Since last week, it seems that the Wuhan virus has finally made a splash at school. It started off with the majority of 6th graders from one of my classes being absent - apparently they weren't all infected, but were considered close contacts to the person that was. Come today, and find out that the entirety of that 6th grader class is now taking the week off, the entirety of one of my 5th grade classes is also taking the week off. Furthermore, the remaining 6th grade class was down to around 10 students today, so I ended up cancelling my scheduled class, as there was really no way to continue progress with the text book, with 80% of the class not at school for this week. I spoke to the home room teachers, and we agreed to do a online/hybrid style lesson for the 6th graders this Thursday, but have to make the lesson in such a way that doesn't require the text book, as the students at home didn't take their textbooks home with them - which is understandable, as I never give them homework anyway. 

As a result, the school had a meeting on how to continue forward. From what I understand, any siblings of the students from those absent 5th and 6th grade classes are also required to stay at home for the week, which is a good approach at trying to contain the problem. Furthermore, while in the past, students could take their masks off during P.E. and break time, students are now required to keep their masks on at all times at school... except when they're eating lunch, obviously.
It is a bit concerning, given I have regular contact with the students. Since finding out about this last week, I've avoided playing with the students outside during break time. On the other hand, it gives me an opportunity to prepare for future lessons during that time, but it does kind of suck. 

Speaking of things sucking, my city seems to be in a State of Emergency again - where restaurants will close at 8pm, no alcohol to be served during that time, and some places have chosen to close during that time - including my regular gym. Again. Fortunately, the other gym near my apartment seems to still be operating, so it looks I'll be going there in the mean time until my usual gym opens up again. 

ALT companies desperate for foreigners

 I came across an article on Mainichi Shinbun regarding the effects of the CCP virus on companies that largely rely on employing people from overseas. This article covers the impact on the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program (or as it is more commonly known as the JET program), where foreigners will come to Japan and help teach English as an ALT to elementary, junior high, and high school students, while at the same time taking the opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture. The catch with this program vs. working for a ALT dispatch company, is that you can only stay in the program for 5 years max, as this is never intended to serve as long term work - only a "cultural exchange". 

I have heard from other people also that ALT dispatch companies are feeling the pinch, and - if rumor is true - Interac is apparently not doing so well in terms of retaining or recruiting foreigners. The fact that the Japanese government has effectively locked out foreigners that aren't permanent residents from entering the country, has forced ALT dispatch companies to look within the country for prospective candidates. Most cases though, foreigners living in Japan will probably already have a good job, or at least hold on to the current job, especially given the stress that comes with moving to another part of the country. My current employer has also been pushing on us to recommend anyone to sign up with them, but I always give the same answer: I don't know anyone (or at least, anyone that would want to sign up with them)

I will need to submit my resignation some time soon also, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. My coordinator has made it clear that they would like me to stay on in my current city for one more year, and upper management has finally got its act together in interviewing me and trying to train me up for a position at one of their offices. Fortunately, the pay they're offering is significantly less than the company I'm choosing to jump to, but I still need to confirm some things about this training before dropping the bomb on them.

Merii Kurisumasu---!!!

メリークリスマス皆！

Merry Christmas everyone. Despite not being able to go home for Christmas (for the second year in a row...), my girlfriend and I went out with some friends for some yakiniku. In a post I made years ago about traditional Christmas meals in Japan, yakiniku is bit unusual in comparison. Even so, the yakiniku restaurant that we went to on Saturday was very busy. Fortunately, my girlfriend booked a table in advance for us. We also made sure to skip breakfast and lunch so we can eat big for dinner. 

In terms of presents, I got my girlfriend some nice chocolates and a nice one piece dress for her (which was also to make up for her belated birthday present), while I got myself a Gundam kit, but not just any Gundam kit, a solid clear version of the Master Grade Gundam 3.0. It was from an Ichiban Kuji campaign back in 2018, but I was very surprised at how cheap I was able to find a copy of it on Rakuten. It was around 4,000 yen (around $40), which is comparable to most regular release Master Grade Gundam kits, so I'm happy with my purchase. My girlfriend will be getting my Christmas present a little later this week. 

Unrelated, I was able to get back to going to the gym these last two days. After 3 months of resting (after fucking up my back doing something stupid in the gym), I was finally able to do some training. Of course, I'm still not 100%, but it definitely does feel great to be back. Though the gym will be closed for the New Year break, I'll be looking forward to going back afterwards. As long as I'm careful and avoid exercises that affect my back for the time being, and as long as I don't do anything stupid at the gym again, hopefully the recovery will continue without further issues.

As for plans for the New Year, I have none. We were planning to do a little bit of travelling, but unfortunately, with the Omicron variant of the CCP virus in Japan now, and everyone else most likely planning to travel during this period, we decided to hold off on travel until after the winter break has finished, and instead go during a period where not everybody is going to be travelling at the same time... possibly for my birthday maybe? Who knows. 

While I will be having a quiet one again this year, I hope you will have a safe and happy New Year. 

Why have CCP virus cases drastically decreased?

Following the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games, cases of the CCP virus have been steadily decreasing, and the State of Emergency that was in effect across many prefectures was finally lifted at the beginning of the month. Even more surprising is that Tokyo has finally reached its lowest number of cases since last year. 

Apparently though, nobody can seem to agree on why cases have seen such a significant decrease, especially following the chaos of the Olympics back in August. The most obvious conclusion would be that enough people are getting vaccinated. Apparently, Japan's rate of those fully vaccinated is 64%, which is a pretty respectable number. Also, for the most part, people seem to have no qualms about wearing face masks, which I guess is due to the fact that it was fairly common for people to wear face masks during the flu season. Also, the fact that only hundreds of people of anti-vaccination folk turned up to a Tokyo court in support of a current case that has been put forward that is opposing CCP virus vaccinations. The feeling I'm getting from all this, is that while the people that aren't jumping to take the vaccination aren't necessarily anti-vaccination, they're opting more for a wait and see approach, with concerns that there may be some side effects that may arise later on, months after the initial two doses of the vaccine. My girlfriend is taking this approach, and while I'm not pushing her to rush out and get the vaccine, she is also pretty careful when she goes out and about. However, at the same time, she is a bit annoyed when some of her friends and co-workers are pressuring her to get the vaccine. I feel the heavy handed approach in forcing people to get vaccinations will have the opposite effect, and people will dig their heels deeper in the sand rather than get the vaccination. Making it free is a good start, though I admit, I'm not really sure how to provide any further incentives to get the vaccine. I personally don't agree how some countries, such as Australia, that are threatening to sack employees to get vaccinated. Or supermarkets will turn away those that haven't been vaccinated. This seems like a very dangerous path to go down - I'd dare say this kind of thinking is in line with the CCP itself, and people don't seem to realise it.

Ultimately, I have no clue either why the number of cases have drastically decreased. Despite that, I'm just happy that they are decreasing. The only thing I can really hope for, is that this is not a prelude to 6th wave.

(Hi)New Gundam kit sold out in a day

Kind of following from an earlier post about an apparent shortage of Gunpla, I thought I would talk about the recent release of the Real Grade Hi-v Gundam, and how that sold out on the very day of it's release (last Friday). What surprised me the most was seeing images in the above video of people lining up for hours just to get their hands on a regular release Gundam. Just a reminder: this is not an event exclusive, or even a premium bandai limited run Gundam kit - this is a kit that (was) being sold in all stores. 

This kind of thing seems to be in response to a few things: first, as I mentioned in the past, the Wuhan virus has led to more people finding a hobby that they can do at home, leading to an increase in Gunpla purchases. Consequently, supply doesn't seem to be able to keep up with current demand, leading to people missing out, and a lot of people still scalping kits at a significantly marked up price (with the RRP being 4500 yen, and scalped prices are going for around 10,000 yen - in one instance on Amazon Japan, I saw it selling for as much as over 20,000 yen!). Second - and while I didn't follow news of this closely at the time - this seems to be a reaction to the recent releases of the High Grade UC Nightingale, and Master Grade Eclipse Gundam, with both kits also selling out in Japan fairly quickly, and this time people didn't want to miss out - which, unfortunately, happened anyway. Even with limiting it to one kit per customer, stores just didn't have enough of the product for everybody.

According to the Bandai Hobby Site, they will be doing at least two more reissues of this kit, with the first one being in November, and the next being in January 2022. 

As for myself, I was lucky enough to be able to order one through Hobby Search. I was working from home last Friday afternoon, and started keeping an eye on many online shops, including Amazon and Rakuten. By pure chance, I saw that Hobby Search was accepting orders for the RG Hi-v, and was able to put my order through before it sold out a few minutes later. To be honest, I was going to try my luck at my local Yamda Denki store on the day of release, but I was fortunate enough to see a window of opportunity to get the kit online.

Speaking of Yamda Denki, I went there after school today to check out the model kits section, and the amount of product available for purchase has dwindled significantly. Obviously no RG Hi-v, but I noticed that it's not limited to just model kits, but there was also very little variety left in toys in general - and from what I've heard, this shortage is happening for many other products, including printers (my girlfriend and I were looking to get a printer earlier, and the staff warned us of the backlog of orders, even if we decided on a printer there and then.)

This will probably be the last kit I will purchase for this year - aside from the P-bandai High Grade UC Messer F-02, and trying my luck with the Ichibankuji Gunpla campaign that will be starting later this month. But besides those, I've got a pretty decent backlog of kits that should last me well in to next year.

Has Japan changed me?

 So I just had a quick read about this post, and figured I should write about whether any of those applied to me, and why/why not. I mean, I've lived in Japan for 6 years now - five of those years dedicated to working in rural towns in Ibaraki prefecture.

 1. Your English will change.

Eh... not really. However I do feel my accent has changed a bit. Given that I'm from Down Under, I have to adjust my accent accordingly to teach English to students, as they're learning based on American English. The rare times I tell off students, or just having a bit of fun, I'll let loose the Aussie accent. At the very least they'll stop what they're doing and stare at me in surprise, confusion and horror that I can talk like that. 

When I'm outside of the classroom though, I swear like a madman, much to my girlfriend's annoyance - though I try to cut back on it. Also, hanging out with non-Japanese friends does help in avoiding the use of loan words.

2. Your alcohol tolerance will increase.

My case is a bit unique in that I quit drinking since coming to Japan, and haven't really been drinking ever since I graduated over 6 years back. Partly due to health reasons, partly due to being the only one among my friends and girlfriend who can drive us anywhere. So yeah, no alcohol for this guy anymore... though I do miss the cocktail parties, I'm not gonna lie.

3. You'll travel more around Japan than abroad.

Before the pandemic, I would often go to Tokyo to visit my girlfriend.  Unfortunately, Tokyo is the last place I want to visit right now, especially how cases of the Wuhan virus have spiked since the beginning of the Olympics. During this pandemic, my girlfriend and I have traveled to other towns - whether it be for berry picking, or going to an outlet mall where you can usually find a good bargain on retail goods. Also this year, before the summer break concludes, we're planning to go to a ryokan in Gunma.

4. You’ll find yourself automatically following the rules

I feel this is partially to do with the common Japanese expression "The nail that sticks out gets hammered in" (出る釘は打たれる) - and this applies especially to foreigners. For some weird reason, Japanese don't like the idea of people stick out or being unique. And when it comes to following rules, if you break them as a foreigner, you stand out even more - not to mention give foreigners a bad name. 

Also, while Japanese people generally follow the rules, the pandemic has shown me that this is not always the case.

5. You won’t worry about being single 

Given that I've been in a steady relationship for a number of years now, this really doesn't apply to me.  

6. You will join the church of the konbini 

 Anyone who has been to Japan for any period of time will know that convenience stores in Japan are pretty awesome and... convenient, especially in big cities. Though in rural towns, while there are convenience stores, your mileage may vary. In the previous town I was living, there were 3 convenience stores within a 5 minute walk from my apartment. In my current town? It's more like a 15 minute walk to get to two of them.
However, supermarkets are in most cases going to be the cheaper option. The only difference being that they're usually not open 24/7. But it cannot be denied that convenience stores in Japan are great for those times you need a quick bite or need to pay your bills.

7. You take an umbrella everywhere – even when it’s just drizzling

Haha. Nope.

8.You appreciate the seasons more

I appreciate that I would rather spend summer back in Australia than in Japan.

Also, before the pandemic, I enjoyed going to the summer festivals, especially when I was living in my previous town. Since I was living in the town center, where the summer festival was also held, it was a two minute walk to get there. Plus it was always a nice surprise to bump in to my students who were also attending.
Yeah, I really miss the summer festivals.

As for other seasonal events, I never really did pay that much attention to them. I haven't been to see the autumn leaves since I was in Kyoto 6 years ago, haven't been to any hanami-related events for perhaps 3-4 years now. However, I did go to a temple for New Year this year. 

So, has Japan changed me? If we were to use the above as a benchmark... no, not really. However, there is one aspect I feel that Japan has changed me that the article hasn't covered: patience. Since coming to Japan, I've learned to be more patient with things, and come to understand that Japan does certain things differently to Australia - for better or for worse. Also, despite working in elementary/junior high schools, it is generally better than working in hospitality in that I don't have to deal with drunk people. 

Searching for a (temporary) new gym

With the number of cases of the Wuhan virus escalating around the country, the city I'm in is not immune to all this. Numerous prefectures, including Ibaraki, have implemented their own states of emergency. Again. Businesses and have shortened their hours. Again. The gym I usually go to, however, has decided against shortening their business hours and, instead opted to close up for the month - much to my annoyance.

Fortunately, there is another place I can go that isn't far from where I live. It is nearly double the cost of my usual gym, though there aren't many options around at the moment. All the other gyms around here require you to enter in to a contract, and my usual gym and this alternative one are the only I ones I know of that allow you to pay as you go. My friend mentioned he had gone there before and said that there was a smith machine available to use, so I can at least work on my bench and squats. 

Aside from that, I was able to get a little bit of extra work for the past two weeks. I won't go in to details of the work so my employer (and myself) won't get identified as usual, but I will say it was a good experience. Not to mention getting some extra money that will go a bit of a way to helping me get by until the payday after this one - which will be in  later October. 

Gunpla shortage?

 

Prior to watching this video, I didn't think there was much amiss regarding Gunpla (GUNdam PLAstic model kits for those not familiar). Since there aren't many places in my current city to purchase - as far as I know, only my local Yamada Denki sells Gunpla - I simply dismissed the apparent absence of Gundam kits as the store being slack in stocking new Gunpla. However, after watching the above video, it seems to be a nationwide issue. The video does a better job of explaining the causes of this shortage - mostly the Wuhan virus being the main reason for the increase in gunpla purchases. With more people staying at home, more people are looking to take up new hobbies to keep themselves occupied, and gunpla is one of those hobbies that is pretty accessible to all, especially with the types of kits being produced these days. If I knew of this issue earlier, I would have gone out and purchased the HG 00 Sky Moebius sooner. Sadly, I held off on it, and even the reissues earlier this year did not include Moebius in the line up - plenty of other Re:RISE kits were included though, including the Core Gundams and the armor parts and weapons. 

As a result, it means I need to keep a sharp eye on when Gundam kits will be released and hopefully get my hands on them before they sell out or appear on online stores at inflated prices. I'm hoping to be able to purchase the RG Hi Nu Gundam that's scheduled to be released in September. I know my Yamada Denki will be stocking this, and I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on the RG Evangelion Mark.06 last month by keeping a close eye on my local Yamada Denki. However, I think the RG Hi Nu Gundam will probably be more sought after over the Mark.06, so I should brace myself for disappointment also just in case.

Aussie mate ship is a myth

 https://www.news.com.au/travel/people-just-dont-care-australians-stranded-overseas-come-to-terms-with-their-own-country-abandoning-them/news-story/a322777fbccf1ac9eb32f88a04844aa4

Reading this article just now, I can't but also feel the same way as other Australians stranded overseas. While I am fortunate enough to have a valid visa, a job, and a roof over my head here in Japan, there are many overseas that are not so fortunate. Some who cannot return home have expired visas and therefore cannot find a job in the mean time, while some are facing the real prospect of homelessness as they're waiting for an opportunity to return home. Many are missing out on being with their families, to witness births of their children, and even missing the chance to say their final goodbyes to dying loved ones. I am also one of those people, and have to live with the regret that I chose to stay here in the mean time as opposed to financially ruining myself for a chance to return home that is not guaranteed. 

While it is easy for me to hate on the government for abandoning its own people stranded overseas, it is saddening to see that Australians back home are backing and supporting the government's decisions for putting a cap on Australians trying to return from overseas. This is supposedly to help ease the strain on the hotel quarantine system, but it's clear that the hotel quarantine system does not work: people who return to Australia who aren't infected risk the chance of catching the Wuhan virus in hotel quarantine, simply because hotels were never designed for that purpose in the first place. Rather than put money in setting up dedicated quarantine facilities away from populated cities, the Federal government would rather continue with this flawed hotel quarantine system. However, state governments are to blame too for demanding border lock downs, gladly ignoring the plight of their own citizens stranded abroad. Then there's the average Australian who believes that those stranded abroad deserve their fate, citing that they had many chances to return to Australia, but didn't take it. I feel that this attitude smacks of tone deafness in that each Australian that is abroad has a reason for being overseas in the first place - many went overseas to find work, some went overseas to see loved ones and family. Especially for those working overseas, returning home is not as simple as packing your bags and going to the airport - it's not like a holiday: You need to give advanced notice to resign from your job, give notice to move out from your house or apartment, not to mention figuring out what to do with many of your belongings - furniture, cars and such - pretty sure you can't fit all of that in to a suitcase. To say that they had many opportunities to return home is also false - since very early on, caps were put in place that meant that the chance to return to Australia became essentially a lottery, and sometimes a very expensive one at that. As a result of the caps, airlines are forced to cancel seats, or prioritise business class passengers over economy class ones in an effort to recover some of their losses. It has also led to the significant increase in airfares, meaning only travel has now become the domain of the wealthy.

Australians have had a reputation of mate ship and always looking out for their own during hard times, but the Wuhan virus has showed me that Aussie mate ship is dead. Australians should be putting pressure on the government to get its own people home, not gladly throw them under the bus. Yes, people are scared, but that is no excuse for turning on each other. Whereas people were up in arms and throwing their support behind drug smugglers like Schappelle Corby, or the Bali 9 to put pressure on the government to get them home rather than leave them at the mercy of Indonesia's very strict judicial system, why should Australians stranded abroad be given the finger in comparison, especially since most stranded Australians have been well behaved, law abiding, and aren't facing life in prison or the death penalty for attempting to smuggle drugs in to another country? 

For those Australians cheering the government on for keeping Aussies abroad out of the country, I can only hope that you don't land yourselves in a situation where you require the help of the Federal government to bail you out. If you do, I hope you practice what you've been preaching and turn down any and all offers of government assistance, and get yourselves out of whatever mess you put yourself in.

Not looking forward to Summer break 2021...

 Yeah, not looking forward to it for a few reasons. One of which is the Olympics, which despite public opinion preferring that it be cancelled or postponed this year, due to the number of variants of the CCP virus that have emerged in recent months.
However, the one thing that has me concerned is the summer break which will apparently start from late July this year and finish around the end of August. Normally, I would go home to visit my parents, but since last year, I have not been able to do that.  Fortunately, my summer break last year was just two weeks, due to the late start of the school semester at the time (again, thanks to the CCP virus). This meant that for the first time, I would get paid for August, and I wouldn't have to struggle to save money from September until my next pay which would be late October. The company apparently has some sort of program for ALTs to teach online classes running. While this could mean potential for extra income during the summer break, the lack of any solid information other than, jobs will be posted when the city's BOE posts it doesn't give me much confidence for opportunities for extra during the break, as the company will contact ALTs directly about these job postings. I've asked the company for any kind of extra work, just to get some money coming in to avoid the two months suffering that will follow. They mentioned something about needing ALTs to help for some events during the break, but have been sparse on details other than "I'll let you when we have more information."

So yeah, not really looking forward to Summer break this year. I normally don't say this, but I'd rather be working than having 5 - 6 weeks of unpaid of holidays.

Teachers getting fast tracked for vaccines?

Japan Today has posted a recent article highlighting why Japan is dragging its feet on the vaccine rollout, something I briefly talked about briefly in a previous post.

On the note of the vaccine, I sat in on the usual teachers' meetings at one of my schools. What was of particular note was regarding vaccines for the corona/CCP virus. Officially, the city is rolling out the vaccine for the elderly residents. However, it appears that due to there being excess vaccine left over, it is being offered to teachers for the next three weeks, which I think is a good thing, given they have regular exposure to children for extended periods of time. In addition, this seems to be available to teachers at all schools. But, due to most people getting flu-like symptoms that last around 3 days after taking the vaccine, they seem to be utilizing a system where so many teachers from each school at any one time (around 2-3) will go get the vaccine, before the next lot teachers go. This is apparently to reduce the impact of absent teachers needing time to recover from the flu-like symptoms after taking the vaccine.
While this is great news for them, there really hasn't been any mention of whether this would apply to ALTs, who also work at these schools. Since ALTs are subcontracted to work at these schools, we don't fall under the usual school pecking order, and I suspect that we would be ineligible for this time period.
I spoke to a fellow ALT about this, where they mentioned that teachers were asking them if they had any allergies to certain vaccines in the past, though didn't say outright anything about the CCP virus vaccine that all teachers would have access too. Despite no outright mention of it to them, it would seem to match up with what I heard at the teacher's meeting. 

I want to speak to the company about this, though I suspect that they might not know anything about this, as this seems exclusive to my current city. In any case, given that we are working in close contact with children (despite attempts at social distancing), it would be worthwhile finding out if there is any sort of vaccine program available to ALTs if there are extra vaccines that are sitting around being unused.

I'm Tired...

Hello there. Yes, it has been nearly two months since my last post. While things have been happening in these last two months, some deeply personal matters also popped up that really killed any drive to do anything besides working. Despite having to force myself to do things recently (such as going to the gym, work on my site, or even post here), it will (hopefully) keep me distracted from what's been happening in my personal life.

As for what's been happening lately in Japan, well it's currently Golden Week. Parts of Japan, including Tokyo and Osaka are under another state of emergency - but without any real penalties or a proper lockdown, along with a change of thinking for many companies to embrace working from home, I suspect cases will dip down temporarily before going up. However, being Golden Week, and people wanting to travel, I could be completely wrong on this. 

Another issue Japan seems to be facing is that despite having ample vaccines to issue out, the medical system doesn't have adequate means to do so. Anyone who has lived in Japan shouldn't be surprised that unnecessary bureaucratic red tape has once again dragged things out, with vaccines lying around being unused.
I have heard some countries have adopted a system where any vaccines that haven't been used at the end of the day will be issued to anyone who happens to be waiting at the doctor's around that time, or are alternatively put on a special list where they can be contacted to come in for the vaccine. If not enough elderly people are taking up the vaccine, I feel that they should start administering it to people who do want the vaccine - which would be great for people who are in jobs that require regular contact with people (especially schools - good luck trying to enforce social distancing at schools - the best that can be done usually is making sure kids are wearing their masks).

As for what I've been doing during this period, my gf and I went to visit her aunt and uncle in Chiba where we had lunch and yakiniku for dinner. They also gave me an old school MG Nu Gundam model kit - this is related to my personal matter, and they bought it for me with the hopes that it would lift my spirits. They mentioned before we visited that they wanted to give me money, but I refused it, feeling it wasn't appropriate to accept it because of this matter - but they went ahead and bought a Gundam kit for me anyway. Perhaps once I've built it, I may write up a review for it for my site. It's a kit from 2000, and since I didn't get in to gunpla until around 2013, it will be interesting to see the kind of engineering that was used for kits back in those days.