JET Placements are out

[Pierrot le Fou]

My coworker showed me the list of next year's incoming Kyoto prefectural JETs. Not that it helps any of you. But the towns have been informed, so those of you waiting or unsure of what the dilly is may be getting a call from a local ALT like me saying, 'HOWDY.'

If any of you are successful JET applicants living in Hull, MA read this forum, you may be living in my town. The chances of this are minute, mind you, but I figured I'd ask.

[Crowley]

Did you get your supervisor post then, I take it?

[Azrael]

I'm gonna go to the BOE this afternoon and find out who my successor is going to be.

I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope it isn't someone who's familiar with the site.

[Pierrot le Fou]

No, I don't know about the supervisor thing. I simply know that I can't recontract in my town, therefore they have a replacement person coming. And I know that he's from Hull Massachusetts. And I really hope that they do know about the site Az, because it would make for a few amusing last-blast editorials either for the sake of disinformation or the hopes to shame the person in question into shutting up.

[Azrael]

Well, I know who it is now, although as of now I don't know if they are familiar with the site.

He's kinda similar to me in some ways....and our first names are alike as well. THAT's going to drive him nuts for awhile.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Just get your BOE to call him by his last name. That's what I'm trying to get them to do with my successor. I told them that while he may prefer being called by his first name, much like in Japan, it's entirely rude to begin by calling someone by their first name without knowing which they prefer.

[luvleeyong]

Isn't it Golden Week in Japan? Do you think they are completely done with all placement? We had to submit our reply form by April 28th... and they are already done with placement?

[TrendSeven]

Man... this is depressing... and stuff...

[peachie]

My coworker showed me the list of next year's incoming Kyoto prefectural JETs. Not that it helps any of you. But the towns have been informed, so those of you waiting or unsure of what the dilly is may be getting a call from a local ALT like me saying, 'HOWDY.'

If any of you are successful JET applicants living in Hull, MA read this forum, you may be living in my town. The chances of this are minute, mind you, but I figured I'd ask.
:bang: Thanks a fat lot, I just knnnnnnew a placement email was waiting for me in my mailbox after seeing your topic title :P guess more waiting:duh:

[Komachi Angel]

There is a lot of sorting out and work to be done before placement details are sent out to participants. Don't be too hasty - I doubt everything is finalised yet, and it's only natural that the prefecture gets information in advance.

I don't remember the exact date when I received mine, but it was at least about two months in advance of the departure date.

Edit: I took a look at the JET website, and it says that this stage all that is going on is that CLAIR is sending candidates to various host institutions - the JETs still need to be assigned workplaces and the selection finalised.

[tamago]

I found out my placement a few days ago directly from my predecessor.

I'm in the inaka of inakas. Judging from my predecessor, it's pretty much just fish and rice as far as the eye can see.

My excitement knows no bounds.

:knockout:

I guess I should've seen this coming, seeing as how it's JET and all, but I was living in such a happy state of denial for a while...

[Komachi Angel]

:o

Nice.

[peachie]

I found out my placement a few days ago directly from my predecessor.

I'm in the inaka of inakas. Judging from my predecessor, it's pretty much just fish and rice as far as the eye can see.

My excitement knows no bounds.

:knockout:

I guess I should've seen this coming, seeing as how it's JET and all, but I was living in such a happy state of denial for a while...

But at least you know and can start planning accordingly :D aka buying stuff (and justifying) that disgustingly expensive Alienware laptop and all the games you can throw at it, or whatever else floats your boat :)

[jingi893]

I found out my placement a few days ago directly from my predecessor.

I'm in the inaka of inakas. Judging from my predecessor, it's pretty much just fish and rice as far as the eye can see.

My excitement knows no bounds.

:knockout:

I guess I should've seen this coming, seeing as how it's JET and all, but I was living in such a happy state of denial for a while...lucky bastard...i guess i will just pace the floors until i find out:duh:

[tamago]

But at least you know and can start planning accordingly :D aka buying stuff (and justifying) that disgustingly expensive Alienware laptop and all the games you can throw at it, or whatever else floats your boat :)

I was initially planning on not getting internet at my apartment in Japan so that I wouldn't be tempted to sit at home all the time (the internet really IS an addiction), but now? Shit. I'll need to be HOOKED UP. By IV.

My predecessor's social life seems to consist of taking traditional Japanese arts. That's all well and good, but...I mean...that's it? The nearest town is an hour drive away, and Kyoto is a good 3 to 3.5 hours.

Wheeeeeeeeee!

But hell, I guess I'll get to know my kids well. Each school only has 40 kids or so TOTAL.

[peachie]

I was initially planning on not getting internet at my apartment in Japan so that I wouldn't be tempted to sit at home all the time (the internet really IS an addiction), but now? Shit. I'll need to be HOOKED UP. By IV.

My predecessor's social life seems to consist of taking traditional Japanese arts. That's all well and good, but...I mean...that's it? The nearest town is an hour drive away, and Kyoto is a good 3 to 3.5 hours.

Wheeeeeeeeee!

But hell, I guess I'll get to know my kids well. Each school only has 40 kids or so TOTAL.


Did you say ADDICTED?? Man I need a 12 step program, like um 2 hours ago, finals week too :eyepop: Nice though with the school count, hopefully they are all well behaved angels ^_~ Maybe now's the time to consider writing or starting your great American/whatevernationyouhailfrom novel ?

[Liliputian]

i'm just dying to know where i will be placed but as everything move at snail's pace this side of the world i guess i may have a couple more weeks to wait

[Pierrot le Fou]

If you're in the backwoods of Kyoto, you could potentially be without high-speed internet access. That'd make me chuckle.

Anyway, I doubt that JET will mail you anything for a while now (because they're slow), but you may get a call from someone (like me) saying, "Your placement is ass" or "Your placement is great" or "They're forcing me into indentured servitude, SAVE ME!" in my case.

[jingi893]

^if my placement is ass...i guess i could always make a documentary film about the grass growing...or maybe on rice growing...:duh:

[luvleeyong]

Anyone else here where they're placed?

[MNJetter]

Tamago, the inaka's not all that bad. You get free food from your neighbors if you're nice to them. :D

Looks like I will have to step down as "most rural OP9 member," though. I mean, Tokyo is a good 12 hours away and the nearest true metropolis is Sendai, a 4-hour drive (unless I wanted to take the train to Hokkaido), but there's a city of 70,000 only a half-hour's drive away.

[tamago]

Trust me. "Most rural OP9 member" is not a contest I want to win.

Found out my predecessor will sell me a car, but the shakkin is due this year! Which will cost about as much as the car itself. Yaaaaaaaay.

I asked her what speed of internet she had, but didn't answer me...just said she would make sure it was set up for me. That makes me think it's dial-up. I haven't heard that good ol' modem sound in so long...

I wish there was a way to suddenly like the taste of fish...even if I get free food (good!), I'm afraid it might still be moving or something (bad!).

At least a rural post might help me get over myself, at least. Listen to me complain. :rolleyes:

I hope some other people find out where they are soon...I seem to be the only one!

[Pierrot le Fou]

shaken -- not shakkin. 借金 means 'debt' methinks, or is it 謝金?　車検 (shaken, I think the kanji are right) is what you pay to drive a car every few years.

And I am BY FAR the most rural member of the OP9 forums. Osaka station is a WHOPPING 25 minutes away. UNBEARABLE.

[tamago]

Yep, the kanji's right. It is shaken.

And here I am, a Japanese major.

I think this should tell all of you just how little a degree can mean. :duh:

[silentplummet]

Shaken, not stirred.

...sorry

[Frankey-eh]

Shaken, not stirred.

...sorry

heyy! that's the logo on the back of our class sweatshirt.
and we got to customize the bottom right corner of it, and one girl whose name was Margarita put her name in there. :)

...sorry

[MNJetter]

Isn't it "shakken" and not "shaken"? Piddly detail, I know, but it is a whole mora's worth of difference if you spell it in hiragana.

Found out my predecessor will sell me a car, but the shakkin is due this year! Which will cost about as much as the car itself. Yaaaaaaaay.

I asked her what speed of internet she had, but didn't answer me...just said she would make sure it was set up for me. That makes me think it's dial-up. I haven't heard that good ol' modem sound in so long...

I would be careful about the car. I bought my predecessor's car, and I do like the car, but if I had to do it over again, I would have looked elsewhere as well to compare prices - scooters and kei-cars are cheaper, and you might be able to find a better car deal on the AJET classifieds. I paid a reasonable price for my car, but in terms of what other JETs paid for theirs and how few years I am staying here, I ought to have looked for a better deal.

And I wouldn't worry about internet. If you've got a normal phone line, you can get Yahoo Broadband just about anywhere. I got the fastest possible modem from them, and it works just fine. Not exactly a direct LAN connection, but it's still a heckuva lot better than standard dial-up. (Dial-up here is expensive, too - you have to pay by the minute for phone use even on a land line!)

[Pierrot le Fou]

There is no kanji for shakken, so I figure it must be shaken as that not only works for kanji coming out, but the first one is 'car' and the second one I can't read, which means it's probably right, since it's something to do with cars that doesn't seem to make much sense.

[Komachi Angel]

It's 'shaken'. Just the one k. The word is formed from the characters 'car' and 'examine'.

If your predecessor is offering you second-hand items, try get as much in the way of information as you can before making any decisions.

I am interested to know what kind of car it is being mentioned. Prices usually vary quite a bit depending on whether the shaken is up or not, and if it's a K-car then the ones I have seen sold usually go for no more than maybe 5 man.

[MNJetter]

I could have sworn that it said shakken in all of the CLAIR guidebooks and handouts and whatnot that I got when I came here. And that was reinforced by the fact that all the Japanese people in my city seem to pronounce it "shak-ke-n" and not "sha-ke-n"

But there is a very thick dialect up here, so I don't view the people in my prefecture as a reliable resource on that. Maybe the guy who wrote the JET stuff was from Aomori. :D

And I just looked it up in the dictionary, and it said that it's shaken.
I learn something new every day. ^^

[Pierrot le Fou]

So I think the point we're all trying to make is that I am a Kanji God, and you should all kiss my feet.

Feet, by the way, is 足. I am wicked smart. And centipede? It's 百足. Just like English. Only in Kanji.

[kilreli]

No, I don't know about the supervisor thing. I simply know that I can't recontract in my town, therefore they have a replacement person coming. And I know that he's from Hull Massachusetts. And I really hope that they do know about the site Az, because it would make for a few amusing last-blast editorials either for the sake of disinformation or the hopes to shame the person in question into shutting up.
i know the "i am a japanese school teacher" editorials will be done when Az goes back, but this site will still be here right? im going back in the same month as Az(well i think hes also leaving in august), and ill desperately want to cling to this, so i can feel in some way still connected. :gloomy:
besides, its hard to find people through the ocean of anime freaks, who actually know japan for what it really is. also, since im currently planning to go to japan through JET after i finished college (and do homestays during college. maybe even to different countries), this would be great to keep in touch with...but...thats 4 years from now.
anyways, please stay alive outpost 9. i need you for my japanese sanity. a place where 95% of the people arent japanophiles..
plus........
....i still need to buy a t-shirt

So I think the point we're all trying to make is that I am a Kanji God, and you should all kiss my feet.

Feet, by the way, is 足. I am wicked smart. And centipede? It's 百足. Just like English. Only in Kanji.
I bow to my 漢字神 .....if thats even right
please dont kill me for my insolence....:gangster: :box:

[羽之助]

I declared myself 漢字の王様 a long time ago. You can bow to me first, thanks.

And Az is not going back in August. He's staying in Japan.

[Chinpokomon]

anyways, please stay alive outpost 9. i need you for my japanese sanity. a place where 95% of the people arent japanophiles..

I believe this is a misnomer.
Everyone in this forum posts stuff about things Japanese (hence the forum name). If they didn't like Japan, I doubt they would post, or keep coming back here.

Hence, the people who come here are Japanophiles.

I refer to the people who have an unhealthy obsession with Japan, and haven't even visited the country, who base their opinions of Japan on Japanese anime/manga, drama, and *ahem* Az's editorials "Japantasizers", and distribute JapantasyLand badges when appropriate. (Picking on the weak and naive makes you look cool, doncha know). I assure you that they account for more than 5% of the people on this forum.


I'm not going to be able to convince anyone on this one, am I?:meh:

[Urban~Ninja]

And Az is not going back in August. He's staying in Japan.


Really he is staying in Japan? Is he planning to live there or just for extended period of time?

[kilreli]

I declared myself 漢字の王様 a long time ago. You can bow to me first, thanks.

And Az is not going back in August. He's staying in Japan.
fine fine....sorry PLF, but you just got dropped to 漢字の王子...well...unless you prefer 女王?
i still get to be the 無敵外人 though.

really? he's staying?
why and when did he choose to stay? and wheres he gonna be? just wanted to know. wow im suprised.....unless 羽之助 is just being a jerk and fooling me...:meh:
btw, what does your name mean? i know the first kanji is wing, feather, or bird counter. my kanji book is in my bag, but im just a too lazy to get it. i put it through yahoo.co.jp's translator, but nothing plus im not sure if ive seen the second kanji before.
wait....
i figured it must be something chinese, so i put it through chinese to japanese, and then japanese to english..it says "I help a thing of a feather" .....well, time to translate the jap part myself... chinsese to japanese makes it, "羽のものは助ける" feather things/things of feather's...help?
but then i put just the middle kanji through the translator, and it translates to "これで"....(-__-; )
you know what, ill just let you answer the question for me. im a kanji retard.

Edit: now im even more of a retard. i just read someone call you Hane, so i looked at your name and saw right under it that hanenosuke is under in your..uh....whatever that place is called. so that kanji reads hanenosuke, huh? ...its your name (japanese name?) then? still...what does it mean? something along the lines of what i tried? or am i still just a big retard?

[Pierrot le Fou]

I declared myself 漢字の王様 a long time ago. You can bow to me first, thanks.

So I think the point we're all trying to make is that I am a Kanji God, and you should all kiss my feet.

Clearly you deserve a demotion. I state I'm a Kanji God, and you state I can't be a Kanji God because you declared yourself the Kanji KING. Your mastery of the Kanji is lacking. I suggest you go pull a Mishima and do the whole Harry Carey thing. Which of course in Japanese is ヘア切り.

[kilreli]

Clearly you deserve a demotion. I state I'm a Kanji God, and you state I can't be a Kanji God because you declared yourself the Kanji KING. Your mastery of the Kanji is lacking. I suggest you go pull a Mishima and do the whole Harry Carey thing. Which of course in Japanese is ヘア切り.
nice, but i think 腹切り　may also be a nice selection:yes:

[MNJetter]

I believe this is a misnomer.
Everyone in this forum posts stuff about things Japanese (hence the forum name). If they didn't like Japan, I doubt they would post, or keep coming back here.

Hence, the people who come here are Japanophiles.

I refer to the people who have an unhealthy obsession with Japan, and haven't even visited the country, who base their opinions of Japan on Japanese anime/manga, drama, and *ahem* Az's editorials "Japantasizers", and distribute JapantasyLand badges when appropriate. (Picking on the weak and naive makes you look cool, doncha know). I assure you that they account for more than 5% of the people on this forum.


I'm not going to be able to convince anyone on this one, am I?

Probably not, but that might be because the official English (note: I specified English, so we don't need to go back to its Latin roots) meaning of the suffix "-phile" in psychology refers specifically to an unhealthy attraction to or obsession with something. Like "pedophile." In psychology, generally it refers to a sexual fetish, but it can mean other kinds of attraction too (like logophile - lover of words). But either way, it generally refers to an abnormal one.

[Crowley]

Hanenosuke's name, I thought, meant "helper of birds", as in women... or something. It's probably a pun, he's a terrible smartarse :)

[Pierrot le Fou]

nice, but i think 腹切り　may also be a nice selection:yes:
I also declare myself master of sarcasm, and helper of the other type of birds.

[Eddie Echoplex]

Howdy? What, are they cowboys, or... Ew... Please, don't answer that one.

Az, please. Be nice to them. Give them a heads-up on what they'll except, I mean, it would be fun to imagine someone going through the hell, unprepared. But come on.

[kilreli]

Probably not, but that might be because the official English (note: I specified English, so we don't need to go back to its Latin roots) meaning of the suffix "-phile" in psychology refers specifically to an unhealthy attraction to or obsession with something. Like "pedophile." In psychology, generally it refers to a sexual fetish, but it can mean other kinds of attraction too (like logophile - lover of words). But either way, it generally refers to an abnormal one.

wow, where did you learn this stuff? i mean, i spelt though most of highschool cause it was boring as hell, and only really learned intersting things in my 11th grade english, government, and history classes.
so many classes i want to take in college though...i dont know if ill even get to half of them:meh:

[MNJetter]

I'm done with college. And I'm a linguist. And two of my best friends are in psychology. :D

[kilreli]

yeah, heres a weird thing. all through my whole life in school, i have hatd foreign languages more than any other subject. and now here i am in japan. and i plan to try out korean and maybe chinese in college.
i havent had any psych classes (at my school its only for 12th grade i think, which im currently in while in japan), but im interested in that range of stuff and wanna take it. man...why is it that now that im abotu to be out of highschool, i finally wanna learn?:boggled:
oh well, at least it didnt hit me after i finished college

[Faumdano]

kilreli: In case you've not figured it out, or in case Crowley's post didn't do it for you...

乃　～　之　＝　の

羽の助　"winged assistance" or somesuch... though I get the feeling there might be more to it

[Frankey-eh]

kilreli: In case you've not figured it out, or in case Crowley's post didn't do it for you...

乃　～　之　＝　の

羽の助　"winged assistance" or somesuch... though I get the feeling there might be more to it

a lot of japanese guys' names end in -suke. I imagine that's where he got the idea. tweaked it a little and changed it to hane no suke.

[羽之助]

Clearly you deserve a demotion. I state I'm a Kanji God, and you state I can't be a Kanji God because you declared yourself the Kanji KING. Your mastery of the Kanji is lacking. I suggest you go pull a Mishima and do the whole Harry Carey thing. Which of course in Japanese is ヘア切り.

Nuh-uh. I never said <I>which</I> kind of king. I could by the king of 天国 for all you know :liar:

And you can assign all the meaning you want to the name. I like Crowley's very much. However, the reasons for choosing it are quite simple.

1. My name is Pat. The kanji I chose to transliterate it is 羽刀.
2. I am/was a history major. Historically, many Japanese male names carry the suffix "-nosuke".
3. Therefore 羽之助.

[Frankey-eh]

羽刀
this sounds like a paradox. a sword made out of feathers?

[Pierrot le Fou]

But it looks cool, and that's what's important in a kanji name dammit.

By my aesthetics, naming a boy-child 男 (dan) and a girl child 女 (jo) is utter and complete genius. Able to be read by anyone, names that don't sound incredibly abnormal in either English or Japanese, and entirely and complete descriptive.

"You have a Japanese name?! Awesome! What does it mean?"
"Boy."
"No, I mean, what does the CHARACTER mean."
"Boy."
"..."

[Chinpokomon]

Probably not, but that might be because the official English (note: I specified English, so we don't need to go back to its Latin roots) meaning of the suffix "-phile" in psychology refers specifically to an unhealthy attraction to or obsession with something. Like "pedophile." In psychology, generally it refers to a sexual fetish, but it can mean other kinds of attraction too (like logophile - lover of words). But either way, it generally refers to an abnormal one.
Well, I can't speak for you, but I would say the amount of time I spend in this forum is definitely not normal. The amount of time I spend talking to my friends about Japanese stuff... not normal.

meh, color me a Japanophile.

[羽之助]

And I as well. A true Japanophile. Which means that you're allowed to kick your lover around.

[羽之助]

this sounds like a paradox. a sword made out of feathers?

Indeed. And yeah, I think it does look cool. Plus it's fun to try and have people guess the pronunciation. I've gotten u-no-suke, wa-no-suke, ha-no-suke, and some poor fool even thought it was ha-no-jo.

[MNJetter]

Ooh, PLF, more ideas to put on my list.

If my boyfriend is okay with it, I've got my heart set on naming my kids things that would have some sort of meaning in Japanese as well as being a fairly normal English name.

The favorites on my list are Ken for a boy and either June (in Japanese would be Jun) or Hana for a girl. But I like Dan for a boy too....then we could even say he's named after his father. :D

Okay, way off topic...I'll give the thread back now.....

[Pierrot le Fou]

June, Hana, Sara, Mari, Lina, etc. Tons for women.

For men it's a FAR shorter list.

Ken, Jo, Colin, Dan, and the one I'm picking when the time comes, Shion (sean).

志音 (shi-on, will/ambition, sound)

Killer name.

[MNJetter]

Somehow I don't think Shion is a common Japanese name. It's great if it has meaning, but I would rather it was an actual name in Japanese too. :P

I forgot about Sara, though. I love that name.

I did notice the lack of of decent guy's names that are the same in Japanese and English. The ones with traditional suffixes won't work, and some of the new ones just don't sound English at all.

I can not name my child Lina, though. I actually kind of like the sound of that name, but I live in Minnesota....Everybody's ancestors here are German or Norwegian. Do you have any idea how many "Ole & Lena" jokes there are out there? Heh.

[Pierrot le Fou]

It IS an actual Japanese name. Hence the reason I chose it. Shi-on is a perfectly respectable name that many children have. The 'stretch' with it as a name is pretending 'shi-o-n' is actually 'sean' in English.

[MNJetter]

Ah, sweet, I shall add it to my list. Actually, Sean is one of my favorite guy names in english to begin with.

[Pierrot le Fou]

That's the name I'm taking, dammit, so back off lest I have my kid beat up your kid.

[MNJetter]

Actually, my favorite boy name is Alex, so I would probably pick that over a Japanese name anyway. If my boyfriend agrees with my choices. And I bear a male child.

I would love to have a name that is the same in both Japanese and English, but I'm not going to hold myself to that rule. The only thing I refuse to do is give my kid a name that would be unpronounceable in Japanese, like my own last name is. At least my boyfriend's last name uses all sounds that can be reproduced with katakana.

[羽之助]

You could give your child a Korean name and then really let the feathers fly.

[MNJetter]

Hehe, then I wouldn't be able to pronounce it properly in either Japanese or in English! :P

[Crowley]

Call 'em junior. Then they can name themselves after a dog.

[TrendSeven]

It IS an actual Japanese name. Hence the reason I chose it. Shi-on is a perfectly respectable name that many children have. The 'stretch' with it as a name is pretending 'shi-o-n' is actually 'sean' in English.
Does it work for both guys and girls? A quick Google Image brings up all girls.

[羽之助]

Call 'em junior. Then they can name themselves after a dog.

I have fond memories of that dog.

[kilreli]

Nuh-uh. I never said <I>which</I> kind of king. I could by the king of 天国 for all you know :liar:

And you can assign all the meaning you want to the name. I like Crowley's very much. However, the reasons for choosing it are quite simple.

1. My name is Pat. The kanji I chose to transliterate it is 羽刀.
2. I am/was a history major. Historically, many Japanese male names carry the suffix "-nosuke".
3. Therefore 羽之助.
yeah my name is patrick. i was trying to look for something to use for my name, but i got lost/got side tracked/gave up a while ago.

[羽之助]

YOU FOOL! YOU GAVE OUT YOUR REAL NAAAAAAME!

Well, you have patorikku to work with, right? Change the IME on the computer to go from 般 to 人名, and start typing ...

pa 覇破張播端
to 都十説閉
ritsu 寽栗
ku 公組玖

to name a few. Just choose ones that are easy to write.

晴説 a clear day of telling!

[darje]

Ken, Jo, Colin, Dan, and the one I'm picking when the time comes, Shion (sean).

I thought Shion was a girl's name?

[Komachi Angel]

The kanji for Japanese names are hard enough to choose without making them correlate to a foreign name as well. Don't just choose a set of characters that look or sound cool, or Japanese people will likely laugh at you. I know this because I know some people that have done it / have kids named that way.

By all means, choose a name for your child that fits in with both Japanese and another language. But please be very careful in what characters you use. I would suggest some research on how Japanese people name their children, or talk to some people for ideas.

Best of luck

[Pierrot le Fou]

Shi-on is the name of a friend's son. The characters work well to every Japanese person I've spoken to. I am not just talking on a flight of fancy here, I have actually put in time and effort to coming up with a decent name were I to have a son, because of the problem caused by lack of names.

[darje]

I'm not saying it to be a pain, I'm saying it because I've seen an actress called Nakamaru Shion (written like シオン, according to her bio) and I thought it was a female name.

[Pierrot le Fou]

It was just one too many people telling me that the name I picked was bad, and I took it a bit more poorly than I should have.

It is a Japanese name.
It is used for boys.
The kanji are appropriate for a Japanese name.

Therefore I'm going to use the damned thing, because it's taken me about 10 drunken nights of thinking about boy's names to come out with one that actually worked properly within both languages and that I actually liked (screw this Ken stuff).

[darje]

:rofl: I never told you it was a bad name, I only asked if it was unisex, damnit. Besides, it's a good name.

(Just out of curiosity, can I see the kanji for the name? I'd like to see how it is written.)

[Danistar]

He said it earlier on this thread.
志音 (shi-on, will/ambition, sound)

[Pierrot le Fou]

And obviously there are other kanji that would work too. I just like the balance, meaning, and composition.

[kilreli]

YOU FOOL! YOU GAVE OUT YOUR REAL NAAAAAAME!

Well, you have patorikku to work with, right? Change the IME on the computer to go from 般 to 人名, and start typing ...

pa 覇破張播端
to 都十説閉
ritsu 寽栗
ku 公組玖

to name a few. Just choose ones that are easy to write.

晴説 a clear day of telling!
...no...patricks...only my......online handle......yes...yes thats right....:worried:
just kidding. anyways, thanks for that info. i didnt see that i can change that part of my IME. ill try it out when i get the free time.
-patrick (but...its not my real name...i swear! >_> <_< >_> )
:D

[MNJetter]

For those of you asking if it's a girl's name, there are a whole buttload of unisex names out there right now in Japan. Unless it has a traditional male or female ending on it, it can possibly work just as well for both genders. I've had instances of surprise where names that I had heard in anime or something ended up being on the opposite gender in the form of my students' names.

But before you go gender-bending, it's a good idea to find out if the Japanese did it first, like PLF did. Some names still have a specific gender, and your kid would get snickers from Japanese people if he/she ever traveled to Japan.

[Komachi Angel]

My post wasn't directed at anyone in particular, if that clears anything up.

>PLF

Sounds as though you put a lot of time and effort into choosing that name. Sounds great.

As a side note, making a passport for you child can be a whole lot of fun, as quite often you will end up being forced to use different 'formal' names on different forms.

[luvleeyong]

So I've been placed in HOKKAIDO!
:bang:

I am going to be C-c-c-c-OLD....:eek:

So any Hokkaido Jets on this Forum have some keep-warm advice?

[katobrucelee02]

Man I want to do JET so bad! I have to go to college first tho - -' man I really want to go to Japan!

[MNJetter]

I'm not in Hokkaido, but Aomori is the next prefecture down, and I come from a place that's about on the same coldness level of Hokkaido.

Do you know where in Hokkaido you are placed?

I'm almost jealous. It'll probably be easier for you to get to Sapporo than me, and Sapporo is one of my favorite cities in Japan. :)

So, anybody else know where they're being placed yet?

[katobrucelee02]

MINJetter, how good are you at Japanese? (Stupid question)

[luvleeyong]

Yeah... In Tsukigata-cho. From the map, it looks like its about 30 Miles North of Sapporo.

I was really bummed about being in Hokkaido because of the weather, but after doing some research it doesn't look THAT bad.... although the concept of now Central Heating still sends shivers down by spine.....

[MNJetter]

When I first got here, or now?

When I first got here, I knew some grammar and some vocab and I could understand simple things if they were spoken to me slowly. But I could hardly put a sentence together.

Now, I am in that range where I can operate just fine on a daily level, and even speak well enough to have friends who hardly speak English at all. But my knowledge is limited to daily conversation and school-specific topics. I feel like I'm cheating if I ever try to call myself "conversational."

......out of curiosity, why do you ask?

EDIT: Response to post

Hokkaido actually has central heating for the most part now. Or at least a more efficient heating system than the oil burners they use on Honshu.

Weather-wise, if you're from New York, you should be fine in that part of Hokkaido.

Lucky person, so close to Sapporo!

[katobrucelee02]

To be honest, I am really depressed about my progress, I hate failing because not only am I depressed about it I feel (for eample) if I fail a japanese quiz (badly) I have also let my sensei down, but it sounds like I can realte to you.. So living there really helps the Japanese... How long have you been there?..yea just my depressed rant....

[luvleeyong]

Thanks MNJ.... You've pulled a huge weight off my shoulders!

[MNJetter]

Living here helps the Japanese tremendously, especially if you are in a rural area and therefore don't have much of a chance to use English outside the classroom.

I've been here for about nine months. I got used to most of my conversational basics in the first couple of months, thanks to a panicked self-crash-course because nobody around me spoke English. There's something about the survival instinct that can really jump-start the language center of the brain. ;)

It wasn't passive osmosis, but I did find that independant study while surrounded by the language is much more effective than either independant or classroom study in your own country.

Thanks MNJ.... You've pulled a huge weight off my shoulders!

You're welcome. ^^

A guy in my office says that Tsukigata is about 40 km from Sapporo, and that there is a train line that actually runs through Tsukigata, so it shouldn't be too hard to get into the city. And I'm sure there will be fun stuff to do before you get downtown as well, since Sapporo is the 5th largest metropolis in Japan. It's very clean and modern, and a fun place to go hang out. We looked up your village, too. It seems very pretty. Famous for tomato growing.

[katobrucelee02]

man, if you look at the Japanese practice forum..would I be able to live? I didn't use a distonary or anything because I wanted to see what I could do....wich apaerantly is not much.

[stsparky]

Sapporo is rather nice. You'll make friends fast and love the town soon. I did.

As to naming one's child - the wife fought me on Nami, Naomi, and Mina. I wanted to name the baby with characters honoring her dad and my grandfather. But the name wasn't auspicious enough. Hence Satomi!

[luvleeyong]

=A guy in my office says that Tsukigata is about 40 km from Sapporo, and that there is a train line that actually runs through Tsukigata, so it shouldn't be too hard to get into the city. And I'm sure there will be fun stuff to do before you get downtown as well, since Sapporo is the 5th largest metropolis in Japan. It's very clean and modern, and a fun place to go hang out. We looked up your village, too. It seems very pretty. Famous for tomato growing.

Oh that's great... I was wondering about if there would be a train near by. I wonder if I'll need a car, then? Although I think it would be great to have one.

Tomatos are good... I was actually thinking that if where I live has a place for it, I would like to grow some vegetables since they are so expensive in JP...

[Pierrot le Fou]

I didn't get my 5th year placement. So no more JET for me come August...

[MNJetter]

Aw, PLF....Sorry, man.

Oh that's great... I was wondering about if there would be a train near by. I wonder if I'll need a car, then? Although I think it would be great to have one.

Tomatos are good... I was actually thinking that if where I live has a place for it, I would like to grow some vegetables since they are so expensive in JP...

You might want a car. Sapporo is pretty close, but there's only one train running through your village, so if you want to go places in your immediate area, it might be a little far to walk.

I'd say you might be able to get away with just a bike, but it's Hokkaido, which means bikes are unusable for half the winter.

Actually, the guy in the office who helped me said he thinks there is some sort of program in your village where you can rent a vegetable garden and tend it/pick the vegetables/eat the vegetables all yourself. So even if you're in an apartment building, there's a chance.

If you want, take a look at http://www.ohatoma-tsukigata.jp/
It's some sort of official website for recreation and attractions in your town. No English version, but it's got fun pictures even if you can't read Japanese.

[Liliputian]

i got my placement like 10 minutes ago and i'm supposed to be in Yoshii city. does anyone know anything about it? i was gonna asked the lady about it but she kinda rushed off the phone.i guess she had more people to call. i googled it as well but cant find anything really helpful about Yoshii.

[katobrucelee02]

Whats the Jet site?

[luvleeyong]

MNJ:

Thanks for the additional Info!! I'd love to get a bike, but riding in the snow is not my idea of fun... but I will definately look into getting a car.

It's great that I can grow my own Veggies... That is fantastic news! I wonder if I plant them in August, if I can harvest something before the snow comes.... I guess I'll grow some herbs inside...

[jingi893]

looks like i'm in wakayama - arigadawa-cho to be exact...can't wait!

[Seaflower]

I recently found out that I got placed in Mie Ken, Tsu Chi!!!!!!!!!!

From the pictures on the net and blogs, it seems to be an extremely green and beautiful prefecture.

Is there anyone on this forum from Mie or knows a lot about Mie and/or Tsu Chi? Helping a newbie is good for the bones! Smiles…

As a new Jet, what are some of the things I should prepare myself for?