The Japan Guy - Part 2

How to Get Your Japan Residence Card

October 18, 2012
By
How to Get Your Japan Residence Card

In a previous post I mentioned to you that there have been some pretty significant changes to Japan’s Immigration System, many of which are changes for the better. For example, those with a valid Japan work visa, unless you’re staying out of the country for longer than a year, you reentry will be as simple as showing your new card to Japanese officials at the airport. The maximum visa length has also been extended to five years instead of three. Rumor has it that it’s a little more difficult to obtain permanent residency, but I’m not sure how true that is because I’ve haven’t applied to be a permanent resident. Now that you know...

Read more »

Tales From Japan 1

October 14, 2012
By
Tales From Japan 1

If you live in Japan long enough, you are undoubtedly going to experience a funny, weird, or strange incident at some point or another. So here is one of my recent stories. I got on the train with badly sprained foot*, I was in a splint and all bandaged up. There was a kind, Japanese gentleman who offered me his priority section seat. I was incredibly grateful because nobody wants to stand for an hour on a banged up foot. I sit down, relieved that I don’t have to stand. The relief becomes minor discomfort when I realize that the man next to me is taking up 1.125 of his seat, which means he’s...

Read more »

You Won’t Like Me When I’m Angry!

October 13, 2012
By
HulkDonnieCloseup

I had the strange pleasure of playing one of my favorite, childhood superheroes on Japanese TV, well, sort of. I got to do a reenactment of one Enrique dos Santos. If you’re not familiar with the story, there was this Brazilian man who enjoyed painting himself green in order to look like Marvel Comics’ “The Hulk.” Having “Hulked out” several times before, one more time couldn’t hurt right? Well, on this fateful occasion, though, he went the the shop where he would normally buy paint, except they didn’t have the normal brand that he used. So the store owner gave him a “special” brand of green paint. Little did the clerk or Enrique know...

Read more »

3 Reasons Why I Like Tokyo Disney Sea

October 12, 2012
By
3 Reasons Why I Like Tokyo Disney Sea

I’ll be honest with you, I AM a Disney fan and I have been since I was just a little guy. I mean how can I not like a studio who has a duck named “Donald” as one of their most beloved characters? I used to hate that connection in elementary school, though. Everybody thought it was a funny joke to “Donald Duck!” “Donald Duck!” It gets a little old after the first thousand times you hear it. Childhood scars aside, one of the cool things about Japan for all you Disney fans out there is that Tokyo has both a Disneyland theme park and a Disney Sea theme park that sit right next...

Read more »

Ten Days of Japanese School Lunch 給食

October 11, 2012
By
Ten Days of Japanese School Lunch 給食

Though I may not be teaching elementary school anymore, while I was there I found that there were some interesting differences between a Japanese, public elementary school and an American one. One of the major differences was public school lunch (I’m sure that’s no surprise). In the US, I knew of kids who brought lunches from home (more often than not, I was one of those kids) and those who at the school-made lunches. When I was teaching public school, I never saw anyone carrying a lunch from home. Everybody eats the school-made lunches. Having eaten both, I have to admit that I think Japanese public school lunches (給食, kyushoku) beat the pants off...

Read more »

Foreigners in Japan Profile – featuring Chris McCombs

September 13, 2012
By
Foreigners in Japan Profile – featuring Chris McCombs

A Supermodel in the Making 1.Tell us a little bit about yourself, Where are you from originally? Where did you go to school, etc. You got it mister! My name is Christopher McCombs and I am originally from Andover, Ohio. When I was young I moved to Cleveland, and began working in entertainment as an actor when I was 15 years old. From there I went to a small college in Florida. After graduating, I worked for 2 years on cruise ships. When I quit that job I moved to Las Vegas where I began working as a model. Having saved up a bit of money from modeling, I decided to go back to...

Read more »

Japan’s New Residency Management System

September 12, 2012
By
Japan’s New Residency Management System

This may be a little late, but I still think it will be very useful info for some of you. I have gotten quite a few emails asking about the new Japanese residency management system for foreigners along with the Alien Registration Cards (ARCs). A fellow teacher of mine recently did a visa renewal and in the process got a new visa sticker in his passport along with a brand, spanking new card. As of July 9th, 2012, Japan has new residence cards and a new residency management system. I am not up for a visa renewal until April of 2014, but I still was incredibly curious about Japan’s new system. I was supposed...

Read more »

Dragonball Quiz Answers

September 12, 2012
By
Dragonball Quiz Answers

Thanks for taking a look at yesterday’s Dragonball Quiz. Okay, as promised, here are the answers: How did you do? Did you get them all right? From what I saw on the Japan Guy Facebook Page and the comments section here, I know for a fact that several of you did. I should’ve known that many of you ladies and gents are anime fans to say the least. That quiz was like kid’s stuff for some of you. I guess I’m gonna have to up the difficulty level next time. Man I wonder what kind of quiz I’d have to create to really get you. Hmm… See you next time, Donald Ash

Read more »

A Dragonball Quiz

September 10, 2012
By
A Dragonball Quiz

It’s time for another quick and fun Japan Guy Quiz! I don’t know how many of you are Dragonball fans, and admittedly I can’t I’m a Diehard fan, but I am a fan. I came across these cool, limited edition, Dragonball sodas, and I was INSTANTLY interested. So here’s the quiz. I will show you 9 different soda cans, and I want you to guess which Dragonball character the can’s bust belongs to. If you’re a die-hard fan, try to guess without cheating (going to another site) and without looking at the options below. If you’re a moderate fan match the names below with the respective cans on the screen. If you’re not a...

Read more »

What Musical Link Do These People Share?

August 26, 2012
By
What Musical Link Do These People Share?

Let’s start today’s post with a question… Some of you may have caught the connection right away, just by looking at the pictures of the artists. But for those who may not be familiar with, or fans of, some of the artists in this picture, you still might find this pretty interesting… It’s hard for me to pass up a perfectly good chance for karaoke. Fairly recently I went to my good friend Gareth’s farewell pretty (the Nintendo music, piano dude) and we all went to karaoke. I sang my usual songs, Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “A Whole New World” (yes, I sing...

Read more »

Why I Stopped Teaching as an ALT in Japan – Part 2

August 25, 2012
By
Why I Stopped Teaching as an ALT in Japan – Part 2

HEALTH REASONS I don’t know if it was an weight-training or karate-related injury, but during the past six months I starting developing some pretty serious shoulder and knee pain. I later found out it was related to arthritis trouble (Really? In my early 30’s!?!?!). There were days where the pain was bad enough to just want to skip work altogether. I couldn’t for the life of me, understand why I was having more health issues than ever during my short stint as an ALT. It’s really strange, because these were issues I wasn’t having at AEON, and if there were an any kind of issue it fixed itself relatively quickly. Could it possibly be...

Read more »

Why I Stopped Teaching as an ALT in Japan – Part 1

August 24, 2012
By
Why I Stopped Teaching as an ALT in Japan – Part 1

I mentioned last week that I made the decision to quit my job as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) with Interac. How can I explain my reasoning? Why did I stop? Where do I begin? Well, I guess we’ll just take it from the top… I had been working as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) with the dispatch company Interac for about a year-and-a-half when I decided to stop teaching. This decision wasn’t a sudden one at all, it was one that I had been contemplating for a several months. There are four major reasons why I decided to stop teaching as an ALT: 1) time constraints, 2) pay, 3) health-related reasons, and 4)...

Read more »

Super Potato: A Video Game Time Warp!

August 22, 2012
By
Super Potato: A Video Game Time Warp!

Have you been to Akihabara before? Well Akihabara better know as Japan’s “Electric Town.” When you walk the streets of Akihabara, it’s hard to walk for ten seconds without seeing some type a major Japanese electronic store chain or an electronic mom and pop shop. There are stores that sell, plugs, connectors, and just about any electric device known to man. Akihabara is also famous for anime-related shops, maid cafes, and video games. Often the closest I get to Akihabara is going to the JR (Japan Rail) Akihabara Station to change trains somewhere; Akihabara is popular JR train station hub. But over the weekend I took some time to actually walk around in Akihabara...

Read more »

Where the Hell Have You Been, Japan Guy??

August 20, 2012
By
Where the Hell Have You Been, Japan Guy??

Heeeeeeyyy everybody! How have you been? Good I hope. Okay, okay, enough with all the formalities, let’s get straight to the question at hand…Where the hell have I been? That’s an AMAZING question. Of course I could just answer you straight, but it wouldn’t be my style. So I wanted to see if I could come up with some witty answer, but I guess my attempts to be clever just ended up being a little lame. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with a lame sense of humor. Some people find it endearing. So, here are the potential answers as to where I’ve been: Reason # 1: “I don’t know.” Reason #2: “I’ve been...

Read more »

The Japan Guy Featured in a France Bed Commercial

August 18, 2012
By
France Bed Reha tech

I wanted to show you guys a commercial I was in a few months back. I delayed putting this up because I didn’t want to catch any heat about it from my job. But now, I don’t have those constraints anymore, I can post to my little heart’s content. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to do a commercial for FranceBed, but actually the commercial isn’t about beds at all. It’s a commercial about a wheel chair (no I’m not the one in the wheel chair). At first I was all like “Hell yeah! I’m gonna be in a commercial!” Then I was like “Wait, it’s a wheel chair commercial.” It’s a little...

Read more »

Tokyo Gundam Project 2012 Video Post

July 1, 2012
By
Tokyo Gundam Project 2012 Video Post

You know, all this time I thought the giant Gundam in Odaiba was just that…a statue. Did you know it was battle-ready??? NO JOKE!! I was standing there taking pictures when this music came on and the Gundam machine started moving its head. The Gundam’s eyes lit up, and some steamed from the robot. I peed myself a little bit, because it was unexpected. Granted, the Gundam didn’t do a whole lot, but seeing something that size even moving it’s head around can really catch your attention. Did I want a display of the RX-78’s (Gundam model number) missile & cannon arsenal? Of course! But I guess, running the battle demonstration program and shooting...

Read more »

Tokyo Gundam Project 2012 Picture Post

June 24, 2012
By
Torso of the might Gundam

It’s official…Japan is now creating functional, humanoid robot war machines!! Ahhhhh! Not really, but over the weekend I did see Japan’s giant Gundam statue in Odaiba City, Japan. I have wanted to see this statue ever since I got here, but have never been lucky enough to catch it. When I first came to Japan, the statue was always displayed in …, which would be a bit of a trek to get to. I got REALLY close to seeing it last year, but was just a little late, only getting a chance to see disassembled Gundam parts. This time, it was different. Last weekend, a former student of mine posted a phone pic of...

Read more »

The Japan Guy Facebook Page

June 23, 2012
By
The Japan Guy Facebook Page

Guess what everybody? I discovered this new, amazing site called Facebook. It’s really cool, you can create your own personal profile, connect with your friends, share photos, chat, and even use these cool things called “apps” to enhance the overall user experience. I made this thing called a page a while back and never really mentioned it to anybody, but I thought there’s no time like the present. I figured I could go about asking you to like my page in a few different ways: THE JAPAN GUY HYPNOSIS APPROACH THE JAPAN GUY HAPPY-GO-LUCKY APPROACH THE “HE’S CRYING SO MUCH I CAN’T TELL HIM NO” APPROACH THE SIMPLE POST APPROACH Over in the sidebar,...

Read more »