InaRie in Melbourne

Now in Japan, we have a holiday called 'Golden Week'.  During this week, we have

several national holidays. And some people get 9 a days holiday from their company.

If not, some people take day off to make their holiday longer. In Japan, it is very

difficult to take such long holiday if they work for their companies. So that's why

we call this holiday as 'Golden week', which usually starts in the end of April and

ends in the beginning of May.

 

Other long holidays in Japan are during a Bon festival period and New Years day.

Both of them are usually 7 to 9 days holidays. So, in Japan, unlike in other countries,

it is extremely difficult to have a month off or more, if you have a position at a

company. But if you work as part-time worker, then it won't be a problem to take

a long holiday.

 

Well, so, I'm on 'Golden Week' holiday now. On the first day of the holiday, I went

to a Moroccan restaurant in Nagoya with my colleagues. On Saturday night, the

restaurant gives a belly-dance show, which I really enjoyed a lot. I updated 3 photos

from that night on the file 'drinking party'.

 

On 29th April, I had BBQ party in Kariya with my colleagues. Until I went to a park

where we had BBQ party, I never thought that BBQ was that popular among Japanese

people! There are many groups of people who had BBQ party.

 

And today, I went to Nara and Kyoto with my family. Nara and Kyoto are very old

Japanese cities. Actually, both of them had been a capital city in old time. But Nara

is older than Kyoto. In Nara, most popular spot to visit is 'Todai-ji' (a temple) where

a huge Buddha statue is housed. And Nara park is another popular place to visit, where

you will find lots of deer. There are some interersting temples around Todai-ji. But

they are more simple and less colour than temples and shrines in Kyoto, In Kyoto, there

are so many places and buildings to see. Unfortunatelly, we didn't have enough time

to see around Kyoto, so we decided to visit only Byodo-in (a temple) located in Uji.

This temple is illustrated on the back of 10-yen coins. Anyway, it was the first time in

a last few years that I had a trip with my family.

From this april, I started working for a company. Usually, newly graduated students

start working from April, as a business year (and a school year) starts in April.

As I have mentioned before, I've already got an offer from this company in early

September.

 

I will explain a bit about Japanese system in getting a job. Though this is just for

university students. We usually start looking for a job or at least thinking about what

kind of career we want when we are in 3rd year at university. Some of them apply

for internship during summer and winter vacations. Although attending internship does

not always mean that they can get a position from such companies. Then from October

or November, most of companies start recruiting activities for students who will graduate

in 1 year. So, they recruit 3rd year students, and 4th year students from April. Most of

recruiting activities end before autumn. Some of students get job offers by endorsemenr

from their supervisor or university. But this system is usually available for students in

the science and math majors. And what we do after we got a job offer while we are

in 4th year at university? Well, we start working on our study and thesis. Sometimes

companies give 'homeworks' until they officially join their company.

 

There are ciritics that say this system distract students from study. Another ctirics say

thia system help creating a education-conscious society. Also those who are older than

other students (if a person went to university straight after graduating high school and

graduate without repeating a year, he/she will be 22 years when he/she joins a company)

will have disadvantage in finding a job.

 

Anyway, I was really lucky to find a job, and recruited as a permanent full-time worker.

Now I am working for one of Toyota group companies. My job is to translate Japanese

patent statements into English, and then apply for US and EU patent.  I'm in a training

now, and found there are heaps of things I must learn. So I think my job is very challenging.

 

A month has passed since I returned from my trip to Melbourne and Tasmania!

Time flies...

 

Well, my stay in Tasmania was absolutely fantastic. Local people said that visiting

Tasmania in March is good, especailly because the weather is usually stable.

But I also think visiting there in early summer (December) to summer would be

nicer. Those who loves lavender, Tasmania is a best destination to enjoy bloom of

lavender. Beaches in Tasmania are also very beautiful, but it was a bit too cold to

swim when I visited there in March.

 

After I got back to Melbourne, I took my friend to Yam-cha lunch at the restaurant

called 'Shark Fin House' located on Little Bourke street, which I think is the best

Yam-cha restautant in Melbourne. Forunatelly, my dear Chinese friend gave me

a list of recommendation in Chinese, so we had really nice dishes. I also took my

friend to best-known Italian style cafe 'Brunetti' and chocolate shop called

'Coco Black' where lovely chot chocorate and other chocorate desert are served.

 

Exploring Southgate is also lovely. When I visited Melbourne, the city held 'Wine and

Food festival'. So there are lots of tents where orners of wineries gave tasting and

sold their wine. But don't forget to buy a ticket to have tastings, they are not for free!

 

Also Melbourne hosted the World Swiming Championship from 18th March til the begining

of April. So, I saw many swimmers in the city. Moreover, there was a festival for greek

people. Melbourne hosts heaps of international festivals throughout a year. So whenever

you visit the city, you will find some interesting festivals. Which is one of reasons why

I love Melbourne. Shopping and cafes, restaurants are other reasons, though

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes! I had the very last class in my life (maybe..., if I won't fail any subjects). The last class was 'US Foreign Policy'. The other subjects I took were: International Relations: Theories and Methods, Governance of International Institutions (mainly about the UN), and Global Justic (it's philosophy, and I found I am not a philosophical person!). Although I finished all of lectures and classes, I still have to work on 4 essays. I hope I can finish them before I leave here on 16th June.

    

But tomorrow, my parents are coming down here in Melbourne. They must be in the airplane now. And they are going to stay here for 5 days. It's very nice to have my parents here, and show them around the city, but maybe it's not a good timing.... Well, maybe I can use them as an excuse to get extension.

Since the last week, some new things happened to me. Firstly, I made a new friend from China. Her name is Jiayan, who is my friend Yuxin's friend. We came to know each other through Yuxin, and actually she set up a meeting for us. So, on 19th April 2006, we met, and we had lunch together with other two Japanese friends. I always have difficulties with 'breaking the ice' with people I meet for the first time. But this time, it seems like things went alright. Maybe because we have the common friend. Anyway, we jusst had a chat for a few hours, and we went back to study after that.

 

On 21st April, I went to shopping with Maria and Jiayan. We walked along Swanston street

as usual, and dropped at Melbourne Central, QV (at QV we went to the Chocolate cafe and had coffee and chocolate cakes), Myer, GPO, Royal Arcade, and the Information Centre at Federation Square. For Jiayan, it was the first time she looked around the city, so I took her major places in Melbourne. If you are looking for clothes, then Melbourne Central, Myer, David Jones, GPO would be the places you can try. Melbourne Central is more like fashion complex, and you can find most of shops from Melbourne. Myer and David Jones are department stores. GPO is quite new fashion complex facing Bourke street, and next to Myer. The clothes and other stuff are more expensive there compared to Melbourne Central. But if you are looking for a bit different, and designer things, GPO would be a right place to shop. In QV, there are some clothes shops, cafes, restaurants, supermarket (Safeway), Asian footstuff shop, and so on. If you are looking for brand name things, then you can try Collins street. Collins street is interesting not only because of those brand name shops, but also because there are some historical buildings along the street. There are a few historical buildings on the corner of Collins street and Queens street. The Information Centre at Fedaration Square is very substantial. Well, we walked around the city for almost 4 hours! But I really enjoyed having a chat with Maria and Jiayan.

 

And on 23rd April, I got older! Yes, it was my birthday. Now I am on the second half of my 20's. I can't believe that I became 26 years old. It's quite scary. There is a kind of metaphor about the marrige age of women in Japan. People compare women with 'Christmas cakes'. Christmas cakes are well sold until 25th Dec, but people don't buy it after the Christmas. Japanese used to say so does women. I mean, people banter that women can't get married a 'good' guy (with good money, good looking etc) when her age hits to 26, or she has to be 'undersold' to get married. It's quite funny story, but as you know, the average age of the first marrige of women gets older. So, it's not the case that much in recent days. But still people use this story as a joke. So, am I going to undersell myself? Well, I don't care about it! I will wait until the right person and the right time to get married come.

 

 

 

Today, I spent a few hours with my friend Maria at a cafe called Brunetti. The cafe is located very close to the University of Melbourne (on Faraday street near Lygon street), and serves us really nice coffee and cakes.I usually use this cafe to meet my friends and have a chat. I think this cafe is one of the best cafe in Melbourne. Other cafes I sometimes go are: Max Brenner in QV (I call it as a chocolate bar as most of drinks and cakes are made with chocolate) and Koko Black on Lygon street and in Royal Arcade (this cafe also has really nice hot chocolate and chocolate desert). Those cafes are what I really recommend to try if you visit Melbourne.

 

Well, Maria is my really good friend whom I can talk everything.. Today, we talked about my essay, studying, jobs and relationship. I think it is really good to have someone to discuss about essays and study, esepcially with people who have different views and background. By discussing with other people, you can make up for your weakness in your study fields. Also explaining something to people who don't know much about your field or projects require you to have sufficient knowledge and understandings in it, and a skill to make it clear.

 

We also talked about career and family. (This topic seems very hot around me recently! Maybe because I am in such age to think about it really seriously.) She said it's an option that women work hard to support men. It's true that money can't always make people happy, and it's not right to judge your partner by their income or social status. But in Japan, that idea is actually a bit radical. As I talked before, a Japanese man is supposed to have a good job and sufficient income to support his wife and children. Especially if he is in a high position at a company, it's really rare that his wife works. In Japan, people really care about how they are seen and judged by others. And other people judge you that you don't have enough income to support family if your wife works. Also parents of doughters tend to think that they don't want to see their doughters work so hard to make up for the lack of funds. Also in Japan, guys usually don't want to have girlfriends or wife who have better education, higher income and status than them. Maybe because they are worried about their relatively weak position in a house getting much weaker, I don't know. So, I think it can be said that in Japan people are really couscious of social status rather than individual personalities. Also in Japan, the first-born sons used to be highly valued, and I think still are. That is because the eldest sons usually succeed to everything - hourse, lands and most of property left. In a law, the distribution of property left is mentioned, but still old tradition seems to remain. So, doughters were expected to get married to a eldst sons, though it seems like this view has been changed, especially because parents are more worried whther their daughters will be able to have a good relationship to mother-in-law, and because more and more parents have only one child - means a doughter has to succeed to property left and take care of her parents. But why people are so conscious about heirs? One reason is that someone have to take care about the family graves (unlike in Western countries, in Japan family members are buried in the same place), and the other is that people don't want to cut off the family flows. 

 

Well, the weather was not that good today, but I had really good time with Maria at the cafe!