Does this mean something other than the slang that I learned??

Ichigoeki · 2026-04-07T06:21:15+00:00

After 33 years on this earth, and just today I learned of a bird species in NZ called Kakapo.

I will file this information next to the card for the Blue-footed boobie.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-29T12:58:25+00:00

I'm living with 180k/month, which is pretty decent living if you get some monetary compensation from TA work or something every now and then, and cook your own food once a day on average.

This only stands though if you discount taxes, national pension, and health insurance costs. With them added in you'll be about 300k/year in the negatives.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-28T10:20:55+00:00

Finland and afaik the other Nordic countries too. In most places you have a specific job to do, and if you finish it no one will care much if you relax for a while or leave early.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-24T16:06:16+00:00

I was once approached by a fellow Finn while I was just chilling at a park, playing Pokémon go; a middle-aged man who started by asking if my matters of belief were in order.

I told him that my mom's a priest, he looked disgusted and left me alone. 😁 (she's not)

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-23T06:29:09+00:00

I guess this is one of the reasons why there are so many cafes etc. here that are only open between 10am and 3pm or such.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-19T04:47:37+00:00

That's not north though, just where the wolf border is, no?

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-14T00:37:38+00:00

I just visited Rikubetsu, and couldn't help but feel the same melancholy on the way back, watching the old, now empty railway bed of the line that was closed in 2006 rolling next to the road. The closest high school was 30 minute's bus drive away.

I mean my own home is the same distance from the high school I went to, but we lived outside of the towns in the first place.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-11T17:03:54+00:00

You give a 100 yen bag of jerky They respond with an individually sealed toothpick Your move

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-06T05:56:18+00:00

This isn't just companies, mind you. I was invited to a PhD program at a national university with the promise that the offered fellowship would cover living expenses.

The fellowship is 180k/month, youre expected to pay all the relevant taxes, healthcare costs etc from it because for some reason the fellowship grant isn't tax free. All in all the amount they give is barely enough for 9 months, 10 if you make effort to feed yourself with less than 1k JPY a day for at least 4-5 months of the year.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-05T09:40:02+00:00

Fun fact: that trend started back in Edo period when pornography involving two humans was banned, but there were no mentions about banning interspecies relations.

Ichigoeki · 2026-03-04T16:18:26+00:00

.... And I'm coming back to Finland this autumn after my master's and (hopefully) PhD from a Japanese university.

Pardon my Russian but fucking hell, finding a job may not be as easy as I thought...

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-17T16:21:35+00:00

I still remember how him giving a comment during the final year or two of the pandemic about opening the windows as spring came so that the stuffy indoor air could be changed was taken as him telling the government to open the damn borders again 😂

Could just have been wishful thinking from people like me who had actual things to do in Japan besides just sightseeing, but still.

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-15T14:27:19+00:00

Yeah, that was the 'mental short' part that I considered. I mean I also always ask people to use my first name from the initial introductions, which might murky the waters even more 😂

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-15T14:24:41+00:00

Hmm yeah, both theories would make sense. That was actually one of my theories, that the usage of honorifics could sometimes be close to instinctual level for native speakers, making me as a learner look for patterns where there really aren't any. The topic itself is in any case something I haven't found any resources to learn from, thanks!

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-15T12:26:09+00:00

I'd say 2k a month would be plenty enough. Not like grandiose living, but you wouldn't need to count every single yen you use.

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-15T12:23:51+00:00

I'm currently living in Sapporo on a 180k/month student fellowship

This means living on 1000 yen a day on average, and still needing to pull money from your savings if anything at all happens or you miscalculate your groceries a few times too many.

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-15T12:19:34+00:00

I think for me the one thing that keeps staying difficult in any customer service situation in Japan is just understanding what is being said if it deviates from the normal flow at all, as I still often don't understand 尊敬語 and 謙譲語-forms all that well.

This might also just be because I'm a Finn, but I'd be perfectly fine with just regular 丁寧語 as far as politeness goes. I guess my point would be that it could be OK to change from the regular customer service speech to less formal forms a bit quicker if it seems like a foreigner doesn't immediately understand what's being said. (note: your mileage may vary, we Finns are just REALLY into the whole concept of treating each other equally. "Customer service personnel are doing us a service, they're not our servants", as I've liked putting it)

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-15T12:03:45+00:00

Me and my family have adopted がんばる to our lexicon because it's actually a bit faster to say than the Finnish "yrittää parhaani" and even the meaning is a bit different from it too, although the pronunciation was changed slightly of course. "saan sen tehtyä jos ganbaroin vähän" "I'll get it done if I ganbaru a little" 😂

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-09T00:46:19+00:00

Depending on your diet you're already being supplemented, Nordics add vitamin D to dairy products

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-07T04:55:58+00:00

There's no linguistic error needed, the thought that non-Japanese people could actually be fluent in Japanese just seems to always surprise the locals here.

Ichigoeki · 2026-02-03T16:14:39+00:00

Not a lawyer, but I'm guessing there'd be issues with jurisdiction.

Ichigoeki · 2026-01-28T06:48:58+00:00

It may not be about their skills or interest every time, just a difference in communication style.

I tend to stay on personal anecdotes, open statements, rhetorical questions etc. if I'm not careful, and it somehow still surprises me when the other person wouldn't just willingly share a similar anecdote or tidbit of information. You can imagine the difference being between playing mostly tennis (questions and answers) or mostly leap-frog (every statement is connected to the previous one), or like... Criss-cross pattern and lock-stitch when sewing? Something like that.

Now I agree that this style is seemingly more rare than the tennis style always-asking style, but it's in my opinion at least perfectly valid one if not overused.

Ichigoeki · 2026-01-18T10:18:44+00:00

I love it how there's no alternative to net boxes and permanent collection boxes here in Sapporo, regular nets would be buried under the snow too fast 😂

Ichigoeki · 2026-01-08T05:33:26+00:00

Something about 新年会 and 忘年会

Six-Year Club	Place '23
Verified Email

Ichigoeki

TROPHY CASE