Japan.. A dream becoming true..

Yes, Japan also researches about toilet paper!

2010-02-25T05:06:00.000-08:00

And this research can save you 100,000$/year!

A revolutionary machine that transforms shredded office paper into toilet paper!! Yup you heard it right! The useless shreds of paper has a role now, an important one!

10 tips before you come to Japan..

2010-02-08T01:44:00.000-08:00

Actually this post is not mine, it is for kirainet.com, but I found it very interesting and useful. Please note that these tips are for those who come to Japan as tourists.

1.-Do not worry
Yes, Japan is very weird, very different, but the Japanese aren’t going to eat you raw as if you were sushi! Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, it has an impressive transport network that makes tourism easy, the whole country is full of signs (sometimes only in Japanese) and there is 127 million Japanese willing to help you in case you have any problem. With this, I mean you won’t get lost and you won’t miss anything in Japan. Above all, Japan is a “useful” country (Are you climbing up Mount Fuji and you feel like having a coffee? There you have a vending machine!). Summing up this first tip, even if it sounds a little bit silly: the only thing you should worry about when you come to Japan is the Japanese language.

2.-Buy a Japan Rail Pass
The best thing to do when travelling is using the trains from the JR network (Japan Railways). The cheapest option is to buy a Japan Rail Pass that will allow you to travel on a “flat rate” basis using any train from JR all around the country. You can ONLY buy this pass outside Japan, so ask your travel agent of choice for information. You can find infomation in this website. The typical question is whether it’s worth the price to buy the JR Pass. The answer is YES. It is really worth it, so do not hesitate to buy it. It’d be a huge mistake to come to Japan as a tourist without a JR Pass.

3.-Plugs
Electricity in Japan runs at 110V and 50Hz, and plugs have a different shape. I recommend you read the small print on the transformer of the device you want to bring. If it says, for example, INPUT: 100V-240V (from 100V to 240V), there’s a good chance you won’t have problems when using it in Japan. If it only says INPUT: 2**V, you may only use that device in other countries. In that case, you’d have to buy a transformer that’d probable cost you between 20 and 50 Euro depending on amperage, blah, blah, blah… I recommend you only bring devices with the INPUT: 100V-2**V thing. Nowadays, most laptops have those universal transformers, but mobile phones, for example, don’t. As far as the plug is concerned, I recommend you to go to the first electronics shop you find when you arrive here and buy an adapter, which will cost somewhere between 200 and 500 yen depending on the place.

4.-Mobile phone and Internet
Most European/American phone companies offer roaming with Japanese companies. Before coming to Japan check if your company offers it! You may also rent a mobile phone at Narita Airport when you arrive. Ask at the information desk and they’ll nicely help you find the renting place, etc. You may also rent PHS cards for your laptop which will allow you to surf the Internet anywhere in the country. They say you can even get a connection with a PHS card on top of Mount Fuji.

5.-Japanese language and manners
Learn how to say a few things in Japanese, like ARIGATOU (Thank you), SUMIMASEN (Excuse me), etc., and the Japanese people will surely appreciate it. Also try to bow as a sign of gratitude when someone helps you during your trip.

6.-Electronic devices shopping in Japan
There is this myth that says that all electronic devices in Japan are supercheap, the cheapest… and maybe that was true in the 90’s when we still were “globalizing”. Nowadays prices are very similar to any place in Europe/North America, and even some things are more expensive here. For example, laptops are usually cheaper in Spain than in Japan. The only thing I recommend to buy in Japan is digital cameras because, due to the huge competition among Japanese companies in the local market, sometimes they can be between 50 and 100 Euro (depending on the model) cheaper than in Europe/North America.

7.-Accommodation
You may stay at a traditional Japanese hotel or Ryokan for a few days, or at a regular hotel, or at a youth hostel, etc. Choose where you want to stay and send an email in very simple English to make your reservation. As for the prices, finding a place to stay for less than 10,000 yen in Tokyo is cheap, and outside Tokyo, less than 7,000 yen a night is cheap.

8.-Route
The basic route would be: Tokyo, Nikko, Kamakura, Yokohama, Kyoto and Nara. You could extend that to Okinawa, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Osaka, Izu, Nagano, and any other place far from the big cities that you can think of.

9.-DVDs
If you com from Europe, there is no problem, Japan uses the same zone as Europe. If you don’t know Japanese, make sure it has subtitles in English before buying it.

10.-Misc.
The weather in Japan changes very quickly. You wear a t-shirt one day and you may need a jacket the next. In summer, the heat is very humid, but they set the AC system to freeze indoors. It normally rains a lot, but don’t worry because this is the country with more umbrellas per square inch in the world. It is easy to find one laying around on the street, so don’t bother wasting space in you bag.

Homework is fun!

2010-01-27T04:33:00.000-08:00

Homework is fun, especially if it is the Japanese way.

A while ago we had a writing homework to do, in Japanese. The homework was to describe specific scene and write about them from different point of views. Here is the scene of our last homework:

It was fun, yeah. But never an easy task. At the end, we sure learned alot!
Creative, eh?

Lines.. why?

2010-01-19T00:27:00.000-08:00

Do you see the lines on the ground appearing in this picture?

Why are they there?
This is a public hospital in Tokyo. Why would they draw lines on the ground?

Can you think of a good reason?

Ok I will answer you now.

Lines in this hospital are everywhere, and in every color. Lines simply connect offices together. So when you (or the ill 70 years old man) come to an office, they process your papers and then just tell you "Please follow the red line and submit your papers there". Or "Please follow the yellow line and wait on the chairs there until your name is called"!!

Yes. No more giving directions. No more turn right, turn left, or search for a desk or window. Just follow the line. As simple as that, and convenient for the majority of hospital visitors: ill people!

"شوف يابا. بتاخذ أول دخلة على ايدك اليسار أيوه أيوه عند بياع القهوة. بعدين ثاني يمين ها مش أول يمين! يعني بتترك أول يمين تبع الحلاق و بتاخذ ثاني يمين عند مطعم أبو الفول. امشيلك أبو ميت متر بتلاقي دكانة أبو أحمد الخضرجي. اسأله وين دار أبو ابراهيم و هو بدلك".

Our visit to the city of Kawagoe..

2009-12-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

We were invited by our Japanese friends to visit their city, Kawagoe in Saitama.

The feeling was indescribable. The old city of Kawagoe did a great job in keeping its influence on us. It is my first time visiting an old typical Japanese city, and I could notice a lot of difference compared to Tokyo. It was a refreshing experience away from the metropolitan atmosphere.

I will leave you with some pictures.

Have fun surfing with Furigana Injector..

2009-12-21T04:25:00.000-08:00

I like to surf Japanese websites. They are usually full of news, and sometimes they are the first to post the news on the web (for example videogames news).

Eventhough I reached a level where I can understand the Japanese grammar and sentence structure well, I still have difficulties understanding the meaning of the Kanjis. Sometimes I feel if I knew how the kanji is read, I can know its meaning. That is why I try to avoid using Rikaichan, which gives the reading and the meaning of the kanji.

Now my wish can become true with Furigana Injector. This is a tool for Firefox and Chrome browsers that injects the furigana reading of all the kanjis in a webpage!! Absolutely amazing! This will make me enter a whole new dimension in the process of learning kanji. I just love it, and recommend you to use it.

Monbusho students are poor. Yet... Rich!

2009-12-11T03:59:00.000-08:00

The reason for writing this topic is the short dialog that took place while I was waiting the train the other day.

A Japanese old man was next to me, and was peeking on the papers I was reading. He noticed that I noticed that he was peeking, so he started some little small talk about Japan and life in Japan. Then he asked me about the reason why I came to Japan, and I answered him that I am here to study. As he knew that I am a Monbusho student, his tone kind of changed to a sad pitying tone. He told me, and I am quoting here, "A Japanese man can not eat with this small amount of money you are getting". Our conversation ended when we took the train, each in a separate carriage.

Here I have to confirm one thing. Yes. Monbusho students are poor, financially. The amount we take compared to usual Japanese salaries is low, but sufficient enough to live in the most expensive city in the world. For example visiting one's home country, Jordan in this case, is not an easy decision to do due to the financials. I, myself, have not visited for two years now as I also was too busy to take such a vacation.

Yet.....

There is one important statement that should be confirmed also here. Monbusho students are very rich. And now, I am not talking about the financial aspect, but from the perspective of power.

Once you say you are a Monbusho students, doors magically open in front of you. If you are in trouble, all you have to do is to say that you are a Monbusho student. If you want to extend your visa, just say you are Monbusho. If you want to work after your graduation, say the magic word: Monbusho. If you want your family to be granted a visa to visit you: Monbusho. If a police officer stops you to check your ID, just say it: Monbusho. If you want to impress someone, spell out the word: Monbusho.

So, the lack of finance is overcome by the presence of power for Monbusho students.
But still, we kind of a li~~~ttle bit wish that the Japanese government takes some of this power in exchange for a li~~~ttle bit of a raise in our monthly income!!

Takao-san, in pictures..

2009-11-26T01:49:00.001-08:00

Click "Read More" for more..

Test your Japanese level online..

2009-11-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

Now you can test your Japanese language ability online using the website of Tokyo University International Center.

The test is aimed towards students who wish to enroll and take courses at the International Center of Tokyo University. Yet, as the test measures general Japanese knowledge, you can use it to know your level too. The test is professionally prepared and covers the most essential parts for each level, while the last three questions of each level measures your listening ability and how much you can understand conversational Japanese.

Give it a try, and tell us your result, either to congratulate you or cheer you up and help you continue.

Keep your legs warm for 7 hours, in bed!

2009-11-22T07:48:00.001-08:00

All you have to do is put this into your Microwave, then under yours legs while you are in bed.

Neat, eh?

The black side of living in Japan..

2009-11-12T05:27:00.000-08:00

Is Japan an all perfect country?

No it is not. For me, it is the best country in the world, relatively. And I will tell you now about one black side of living in Japan.

Every day, at 13:35 I reach that station. Not 13:34, not 13:36, it is 13:35. Every day I exit the train from that right door of the same train carriage I am in, and with me there the man in the tux exits and heads directly to the same vending machine. With us an older woman exits and heads left. Today she is wearing all black maybe she has some kind of a special occasion.

Going up the escalator, yes, there are these 3 people ahead of me: A school girl and two school boys. I then head towards exit #1, where I will find the traffic light flashing to tell the world that it will change to red any second now. So I run, along with the school girls beside me, who are laughing. One of them sees me and mumbles some words to her friends in Japanese thinking I can’t understand, but I just reply with the usual head shake and smile.

On my left a car is ready to leave a building so I stop to give it space. The same driver, same head shake and same smile. I shake my head back, and I do my best to smile fighting the Jordanian blood in me preventing me from smiling back on streets. I walk for 5 minutes and enter that store to buy something to drink, and there she is that old lady who is shopping and looking at some items. Sometimes I find her on my left and sometimes on my right but she is there! She shakes her head to me, as we have become best friends because of our daily meetings in the store. If one day I did not find her, I should definitely hurry to attend her funeral.

You got the idea. Every day is the same and before is the same as after. Weekdays in Japan have the worst routines, to its maximum extent.

The change comes on weekends. Not because I have much free time, but only because these people I see on my way everyday to university are taking the day off, unlike myself. Yes everybody takes the weekend off except for the major portion of "Toudai" students. On weekends, on late nights and until sunrise they are there in their places working, as usual. Ofcourse after the huge effort I spend all week, the one day I take off, if existed, is usually spent in bed.

Yes, I get results.

Yes, there are achievements.

But all this is not for free you know?

McDonald's in Japan..

2009-10-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

As I wake up in the early morning getting ready for a very long day of continuous heavy work, I made a new discovery. McDonald's sells the very best coffee I have ever tasted. Not only that, it contains an amount of caffeine enough to keep me awake throughout the whole day.

In addition to that discovery, there is another one. McDonald's in Japan is not a fast food restaurant, but a restaurant where you sit and spend a long time eating and doing your own activities, including sleeping!

For example, inside McDonald's there is a free WiFi connection for those who wish to play Nintendo DS. So you can find lots of people who finish their meals then sit there playing DS for a long time. Also, if you visit McDonald's in the very early morning you will notice people sleeping inside. Those people are the ones who most probably had a long night partying then missed the last train, so they go to McDonald's instead of staying in the street and sleep there! They spend the whole night sleeping and then take the first train early in the morning back home (or back to work!).

The picture is from boingboing.net

Note: As far as my knowledge goes, McDonalds in Japan is not considered halal so basically I do not eat any meat there. I buy only coffee or ice cream.

الصين: الهبوط من الجنة الى الارض

2009-10-25T03:25:00.000-07:00

اعذروني فما سأتحدث فيه اليوم لا يصلح الا ان اتحدث به بالعربية. ففعلا ما شاهدت و رأيت و أحسست جعلني ادرك انني عشت تجربة لا أقدر على وصفها الا كالهبوط من الجنة الى الارض.

فقد هبطت من جنة تعيش فيها كل حقوق الانسان الى مكان تشك ان ساكنه انسان. هبطت من من جنة تزخر بالامان الى ارض القانون فيها شريعة الحيوان. اصبت بصدمة ثقافية ايجابية حينما رايت و شاهدت اليابان بابداعاتها و نظامها و شعبها ، و ها أنا اليوم أصاب بصدمة ثقافية سلبية حينما غادرت اليابان و انتقلت لاسبوع واحد الى الصين.

الصين. تلك الامبراطورية العملاقة التي طالما هابها و ما يزال العالم. الصين ، التي علمونا انها قاب قوسين او ادنى من ان تحكم الارض. أقول فأطمئنكم، ما زال امامها شوط طويل كي تلحق او حتى كي تقارن باليابان او بدول اقل مرتبة من اليابان و غيرها. لم يحتج الامر سوى نصف ساعة على ارض الصين كي ادرك انني هبطت من الجنة الى الارض. فكما احتاج الامر الى نصف ساعة كي ادرك ان اليابان هي جنة الكرة الأرضية ، أيضاً احتاج الامر نصف ساعة او اقل لأدرك ما أدركته عن الصين تعرضت خلالها الى محاولة اختطاف و محاولة نصب و احتيال. نعم في نصف ساعة حدث كل هذا على الرغم من انه لو لم يحدث لما تغير رأيي قيد أنملة لما رأيته من الصين كدولة.

لن أتحدث عن تفاصيل ما جرى معي شخصيا معتبرا ان ما حدث هو "حالة خاصة استثنائية" رغم انني اشك في ذلك، لكني سأتحدث عن ظواهر اخرى حدثت أمامي و تكررت بشكل يجعلها من المستحيل ان تكون حادثة استثنائية. فمثلا بمجرد خروجك من المطار يتهافت عليك موظفوا الفنادق و شركات الاتصالات بشكل غير حضاري املا في الحصول على جزء مما تحمله من نقود. فالصين دولة ذات دخول متدنية و حتما اي سائح فيها هو أغنى من المعظم في الصين. ولذلك الناس معظمها في المطار تنظر لك نظرة موحدة هي كما ينظرون للدولار. فتجد في اعينهم شراهة غريبة لم تعهدها حتى في أسوء ظروف دولنا العربية. بسيطة.

ان حاولت ان تشتري غرضا و شاء الله ان تدفع بورقة نقدية عالية تساوي عشرين دولار مثلا، ففي البداية سيرمقك البائع بنظرة ( و في حالتي أنا شخصيا البائعة) تجبرك على أن تركع و تعترف بأي جرم من قسوة تلك النظرة!! فانا مثلا عندما رمقت تلك النظرة كدت ان اعترف انني لم أغسل يدي قبل وجبة الغذاء اليوم!!! تلك نظرة تأتيك لأنك تحمل فئة عالية من النقود و بالتالي اغلب الظن انك اما سارق او مخادع. ثم ما يلبث البائع ان يرفع الورقة النقدية باتجاه الضوء ليتأكد من شرعيتها و انها غير مزيفة. و حتى عندما يتأكد فانه يبدأ بالصراخ في وجهك باللغة الصينية غير مفهومة الملفظ لكن مفهومة المقصد "ما في فراطة؟؟؟" فتهز رأسك نافيا فيزمجر البائع لاعنا حظه الذي قاده الى ان يقبل بورقة نقدية من فئة عالية على الاغلب -حسب ظنه- مزيفة!!! هذا لم المشهد لم يتكرر مرة او اثنتين بل في كل مرة تبضعنا فيها و من أماكن مختلفة. و هنا تسبح ذاكرتي إلى مشهد البائع الياباني الذي يركع لك و يكاد يسجد شاكرا لك التبضع من متجره حتى لو دفعت ورقة مئة دولار لشراء اصبع حلوى بدولار واحد.

طبعا في السيارة المشهد عني ليس بغريب. الزامور و الضجة تستخدم دائما الا عند الضرورة. الدراجة تسابق الحافلة و السيارة تسابق الدراجة و سائق التكسي يفتح شباكه ليبصق على الشارع، او على سيء الحظ المار في تلك اللحظة. و طبعا التاكسي و بتصرف طبيعي يلتقط أكثر من زبون في نفس السيارة و الناس نفسها تقوم بإيقاف التكسي المشغول لأنها تعلم أنه ما زالت لديها فرصة بالركوب. هذا غير المذياع ذو الصوت العالي او تلك السيدة لم تجد مكانا افضل من وجهي لقشور لبها و من فمها مباشرة!! و طبعا لن أنسى منظر السيارات القادمة باتجاهنا بسرعة رهيبة و الموت الذي حام حولنا لان سائقنا العزيز فضل القيادة عكس السير ليتجاوز الحافلة على طريق رئيس! و طبعا لم ألمه كونني لم اعلم فعلا ايهما اتجاه سيرنا نظرا لان الجميع يسير في مسارب و اتجاهات الجميع!! فدقائق معدودة على احد شوارع الصين تخبرك ضعف التنظيم في حركة السير بل في الناس انفسهم الذين يسيرون في كل مكان حتى في منتصف الشوارع الرئيسة. هذا بالاضافة الى الدراجات ( الموتورات) التي تسير على الارصفة بشكل طبيعي بين الناس و كأن سائقها يظن أنه يركب دراجة هوائية!!

في المطار كدت ان أخسر تذكرتي كونني لا اجد مبنى المسافرين، و لا لائحة واحدة تشير الى مكانه. و عندما حاولت ان أسأل أحدا فان أفضل رد حصلت عليه هو التجاهل. و لك ان تتخيل شعوري عندما اصطففت في الطابور مرتين اقلها لنصف ساعة لاكتشف بعدها انني اقف في المكان الخطأ. و طبعا الذنب ذنبي لأنني أمي احتاج ان أقرأ كي اعلم اين اتجه و هذا المطار غير مخصص للقراءة فلا لوحات لا هنا و لا هناك. عندما خرجت من المطار حين وصولي كان الظلام دامسا لدرجة انني لم استطع رؤية كف يدي. لم استطع تمييز اين أسير لعدم توافر حتى ضوء إنارة واحد -بدون اي مبالغة- في المكان. و طبعا شرطي المطار ينظر من بعيد مستهزئا من ارتباكي و معه حق فانا سائح "غني" استحق ما يحصل لي. و هنا استرجعت ذاكرتي كيف انني و بعد اقل من ١٢ ساعة على و صولي طوكيو استطعت الذهاب الى الطرف الاخر من المدينة لوحدي كي أحققه حلمي بالوصول الى اكيهابرا مدينة التكنولوجيا و ذلك لوجود اللافتات التي توصل حتى فاقد البصر!!

قد يستغرب قارئ هذه الكلمات فانا عربي و ما ذكرته هنا يحدث و يتكرر في اي دولة عربية فلم الاسغراب لهذا الحد. اجيب و اقول نعم يحدث في عالمنا العربي و لكن لا تنسى اننا شعب عندنا اله معظمنا يخشاه. فتخيل الصيني كالعربي الذي لا يخاف الها و لا يخشى احد. ففي بلاد العرب ان. ضعت سألت فوصلت. و ان شعرت بالوحدة تجد مئة يد تمتد لمساعدتك. و على اقل تقدير تستطيع قراءة ما يدو حولك فاللغة لغتك و زمام الامور بيدك.

أخيرا اقول: هل تجربة الصين كانت كلها سلبية؟ لا ابدا. كانت هناك العديد من الإيجابيات في تجربتي بشكل خاص و بعض الايجابيات في الصين كدولة بشكل عام. لكني سأذكرها في مقال لاحق ان شاء الله.

A kotatsu is your weapon to face winter in Japan!

2009-10-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

In Japan houses are made of wood. Even buildings in Tokyo, they are still made of wood. Wooden houses mean lots of holes, and incapability to preserve heat inside the house, and a very cold house in winter.

As winter is approaching fast, we have to think of a way to preserve heat inside the house, you know to save the environment, and more importantly -honestly!!- to save our pockets!

A Kotatsu is an ideal solution for this problem. Let me now introduce you to a kotatsu.

As you can see in the pictures, a kotatsu is a table that is covered from all sides with a heavy blanket, and a person can sit and put his legs inside the blankets to protect them from cold. Pretty warm yeah? Not so much before you know that under the table there is an electric heat source that will keep you, and your legs, very warm.

The basic concept solves the problem of using ordinary heat sources in Japanese houses. As I said above the wooden nature of the houses allows cold from outside to be in the house, which will render any heat source you use inside the house useless. But with a kotatsu, the head comes from under the table and stays there as it is protected by this heavy wall of blankets.

Some Japanese also sleep under a kotatsu, which is a very clever idea. But ofcourse, this will raise the chances of catching a cold!

Maybe I will buy one for my own house, you know as a spoil for my legs!!

Acknowledgement...

2009-10-04T03:50:00.000-07:00

In the name of Allah, the all mighty god, the one and only one, I hereby start my thesis.

Praises to Allah, for his mercy upon me. For his generous gifts of health and brain which allowed me to proceed higher studies at one of the best universities in the world, University of Tokyo.

Praises to Allah, for gifting me with a perfect wife, my supporter through this journey. Thank you Randa for all your support and your cheers through the difficult times of research. Thank you, for your acceptance to accompany me in Japan, while you knew I will always be busy, away from you, working in my laboratory. You went through a hard time, spending most of your time alone while I progressed in my research connecting days with nights, but you only greet me with a smile and a welcoming heart, when I knock your door. Thank you, for making your house, my home.

I deeply thank and raise the hat for my supervising professor, Prof. Ikeda for his continuous teaching and support. Each time I sit with him, I gain a huge amount of knowledge not only in my research field but also in life. His welcoming helped me to settle in Japan and feel it like home, while His teaching provided me with solid knowledge and helped me to become a better Electrical Engineer. This work could have never been achieved except for the guidance I received from him.

I also thank Prof. Asada for his guidance and support throughout the research, and his fatherly advices to help me become a better researcher. All the thanks for Prof. Nakura for his help during my experimental research and measurement. He was always open for any questions, and his words were fulfilling answers.

My appreciation and respect for Dr. Abbas, for his support. He tended to calm me down during rough times, and his experience in our field could help me through complicated situations by providing me his suggestions. He is like an older brother, always there when you need him. I also thank Dr. James Tandon for his support during the start my Masters, and for his precious advices.

I send my thanks to Jordan, for Dr. Khamis, for his fatherly support and help in any matter I need, and for Dr. Yaser for helping me when I got married and supporting me like his son.

I thank all my lab members and research-mates for the friendly environment and healthy atmosphere that makes research and creativity easier.

In addition, I can never forget the trust of Yamashita-san, or the faith of Kobayashi-sensei in me. I can never forget how Taymour-sensei helped choose my desired field, or how Saqf-san helped me through the difficult transition of starting a new life in Japan.

Finally, no words can describe my appreciation for my father, god bless his soul, who wished before he died to see me holding a higher education degree. And my mother, who provided me with everything I needed since I was a child until I left the house coming to Japan. Without her, getting a professional degree would have been impossible. I thank her for all the prayers she has made to help me through my research.

I feel so proud of that picture above..

But now is not the time to stand still...

Let me go back to research my way into PhD..

Iftar, Japanese style!

2009-09-12T01:40:00.000-07:00

So I would like to share with you my iftar for today. I decided to make it all Japanese, nothing non-Japanese is allowed.

I will leave the pics to speak for themselves..

6000$ as a monthly mobile bill....??!!!!!

2009-09-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

My legs shake, my hands sweat. My heart beats while my throat dries. My jaws drop, my eyes open wide and I get this very strong urge to run to the nearest bathroom..!!!

That was me, when I saw I have to my mobile operator, 6000$ for the month of august!

Yes, dear reader. You did not misread that figure. It is three zeros beside the six, to the RIGHT of the six. In yens, it is 600,000. I spent 5 minutes trying to count how many zeros there are in this number!! I forgot the 3rd grade elementary maths, I even forgot how to speak, in ANY language!!

Is this 60,000? no no, there are five zeros!! five means what?? five zeros means.. wait wait.. Ten has one zero, hundred has two zeros, thousand has... what? thousand is hundred multiplied by 10 or 100? Thousand is ten hundreds. No a thousand is hundred tens!! wait wait. repeat again! Ten has one zero, hundred has two zeros. Ok so far. Thousand has 3 zeros. Fine. Ten thousands has 4 zeros and hundred thousand has 5 zeros. So this is SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND. Ok this means what? roku man (counting in Japanese)? no no this is roppyaku! no, this is roku sen man? NOO! this is ROKU JYUU MAN!!

At that moment I regained my consciousness. I calculated, in a less than one tenth of a fraction of a second (Yup, that is the adrenaline effect!) how long it will be taking me walking from my house to Tokyo University every day to save the train money. In the next fraction of the same second, I thought of just buying an air ticket and run out the country leaving everything behind, and never look back!!!

After taking a deep breathe, (and answering the strong bathroom urge), I realized the reason for this amount is using 3G internet on my new iphone. Yeah, they told me it is expensive, but I never thought it is 6000$/Month expensive!! I dont even have to check my email through the phone as any email I receive will be pushed as a notification! Ofcourse I have internet at home and internet in the lab so I do not need to use the phone so often! Urrrgh, I thought, Softbank is sooo dead for me!!! Those freaking thieves!!!

And thats when it hit me....

Yup it did...

I remembered when I first signed the contract that if I use 3G packets with a cost more than 4,000 yen (40$), the price will be frozen at 4,000. Why does it show up as 600,000???!!!

I called them. And here was their answer: "Yes sir, you will pay only 4,000 yens. But this is only to show you how much you used, and how much we will ask you NOT to pay, to let you appreciate our greatest offer of freezing your bill at 4,000 yens!!!"

Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know what I answered then???

Can you guess???

Guess!!!

I said...

"4,000 yen?? Can you please tell me how many zeros are there in that???"

Khawater from Japan..

2009-08-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

MBC's TV show, called Khawater خواطر (Thoughts) is a program presented by a Muslim youngster called "Ahmad Shuqairi". It's the fifth year for the program to be broadcasted on MBC, and this year it talks about Japan.

Through the previous four years I liked that show a lot, as it talks about how to be better Muslims by applying the Islamic rules in our daily lives. My wife and I were watching it episode by episode every year. This year we were surprised that Ahmad-san will be coming to Japan to present his program, and talk about Japan as an advanced country which could successfully mark its name among the best in the world. The program asks one main question "if they could do it, why cant we?".

The way Ahmad-san talks about Japan is really great! It is very similar to how I talk to my friends about Japan, and in some cases he used the exact same words! To be honest, even though I like the guy so much, I was disappointed and mad to know he was in Tokyo and yet he did not even try to contact Muslims there. I would really have done anything to talk to him and help him go around Tokyo, in addition to giving some thoughts about the program.

Its an amazing show presented by an amazing guy. Its on the top of my recommendation list.

Here is a video for the first episode. (Sorry no translation).

A new era for Jordanians in Japan..

2009-08-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a great day, to say the least.

We, my wife and I, were invited to have dinner in a very friendly environment, at the house of the Jordanian ambassador in Japan.

The moment we stepped through the door, we felt that we traveled all the way back to Amman. The family gathering, the warm welcoming, generosity and ... ofcourse... the delicious food!

It was a private invitation to meet the ambassador, Mr. Demiye Haddad, and his wife, Mrs. Shifa Zgoul. We spent the time talking about Japan, and talking about our beloved Jordan. I went into a hot discussion with Mr. Haddad, who proved to have a clever mind and his talk was all based on logic. I enjoyed the talk as it has been a while since I was evolved in such a discussion. We also met the new Jordanian staff at the embassy who only recently came to Japan, so they were interested to hear our talk about the country.

I have been given a huge amount of support from their side when they heard about my research and my studies. I was so proud to be Jordanian at that moment, when I saw Jordanians very proud of me. I felt like I want to double, no triple, my efforts just to reflect the perfect image about Jordanian scientists.

Truth to be said, Mr. Haddad is bringing a new era to Jordanians in Japan. They have plans to gather all Jordanians together and to build strong connections between them, based on the fact that we come from one country and we shall stay one unit all the time. I totally like their new plans towards the relations between Jordanians and the embassy in Tokyo. I, without a doubt, am sure this new era will be the best.

From here, I thank Mr. Haddad and Mrs. Shifa for their generous invitation and great support. That night was a masterpiece drawn by the hands of brilliant artists.

Thank you.

Microsoft support, with Japanese flavor..

2009-06-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of Microsoft. Or at least, I think Micorsoft should only concentrate on designing Windows, and office. They should leave the internet for google, the gaming hardware for Sony, and the desktop sets for Logitech. Anyhow, they usually have competitive pricing so I get tempted and buy.

A couple of months ago, 9 to be accurate, I bought MS wireless ergonomic desktop 7000. Shown in the picture. The price was right and since at home I usually use the keyboard while on the couch, I needed something to well fit my position. I can say I am satisfied.

The story begins when, as usual, MS hardware started to fail. After almost 6 months of daily usage, the keyboard stopped responding. I did everything from reinstalling drivers up to changing the batteries, and I got nothing. This totally blew me up. I paid some good money on this set and I expected them to live 3~4 years at minimum, and they did not live 12% of that period.

It was time to try and taste how customer support really works. I know for a fact that if this happened in Amman, then kiss your money goodbye since no shop will still identify you as a customer after 6 months. So I wanted to see if things go different in Japan, or rest of the world or not. According to my friends with experience in returning items in the United States, they confirmed this should be as easy as driving to the store and replacing the keyboard with a new set. I liked the idea, so I called microsoft support center in Tokyo for more information.

Eventhough I still have far-from-perfect Japanese, I was easily able to call them and tell them my problem, and hear what they have to say, all in Japanese. They offered to give assistance in English, but I refused. If I can understand 70% of what you say, they why not make use of the free practice! They understood my problem, but I did not exactly understand what they wanted me to do. They said I do not really have to come to the store, as I only have to send my malfunctioning keyboard by mail. I liked that idea, thanked them and hanged up after giving them all my information.

I could not send the keyboard for being totally busy in the lab. Three days later, my door bell rings. I open the door and its a mail from Microsoft. A big box. I open it, and its a totally new keyboard set, just like the one I have. I was shocked. I did not send them my old keyboard! This was totally surprising for me! They sent the whole package with a new mouse, eventhough my old mouse is working fine. With the package, they had a massage saying please send your old keyboard to this address. This kind of service, was totally new experience for me. Right now I had two keyboards, and I could have ran away with the two of them and gained some good money selling the mouse! On another hand, what if I called them lying about my problem, and my keyboard was just fine? How did they make sure I had a problem? How are they guaranteed I would send back my keyboard? That is something I did not understand!

Ofcourse, two days later I sent the keyboard back to Microsoft, and as they detailed in the massage, I asked the post office to make Microsoft pay for this delivery.

My new keyboard now works just fine, and I like it. I am now confident if I had any problems, it wont be a problem! This was a very nice experience.

What I missed in Tokyo..

2009-05-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

During my time away from Tokyo, here are some of the stuff I missed:

1. The japanese female voice thanking me for choosing Tokyo metro to ride, eventhough i have no other choice!

2. The feeling of an emperor when entering a shop. Yeah, in europe they dont bow to u when u enter a shop. They dont thank you for not buying anything or just visiting their store. And when u buy, I missed the fact that the cashier uses his both hands to open the plastic bag for u not by using one hand and BLOWING inside the bag to open it coz the other hand is busy with the mobile! Yup! This is how the cashier treated me!

3. I missed paying for a 100 yen item using 100 coins of 1 yen each. I tried to pay an amount using 6 coins in Prague and I received a look I will never forget!

4. I missed strange people shaking their head to me only by walking past them.

5. I missed using the suica card, and not needing to count coins for every train ride. Using the suica card, you just put your wallet against a reader and it will read and charge your train card wirelessly.

Feels great to be back!

Europe in the eyes of a tourist..

2009-05-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

Living in an expensive city as amman, which has a very low income/price ratio, gave me no chance of feeling like a tourist when I visited other countries. But, living in a city with a high income/price ratio with very expensive prices but yet higher incomes as Tokyo, made me see Praha (Prague) as one of the cheapest cities in the world.

Yeah! Believe it or not I even felt that the chocolate in the mini bar of the hotel room is not actually expensive! I bought a whole L size pizza, with salads and a cold drink for 1000yen (10$)! A 500ml cola is for 80yen, and a one hour bus from one city to another is 350yen!

Let us just clear some stereotypes about the Europeans:

1. Europeans are very organized and exact in time.

Nope. Far from the truth. When the bus leaves 16:04, that means its 4 minutes late. In Japan, this would never occur unless in rare occasions it was accompanied with a huge apologies. 16:00 means 16:00.

2. Europeans are so open minded and free.

Yeah right! Thats why they kept staring at me and my Japanese professor. You have never seen a Japanese person before? Yeah, I do not drink Alcohol. Yes never. Live with it and please do not keep giving me that weird look and stop whispering about it to your friends!

3. Nobody drinks Alcohol more than the Japanese.

Oh yeah, except for the Europeans. Europeans drink a beer between each two beers. And even during their working hours they drink.

4. Europe is soo clean that we wish Arab countries to be the same.

You are far from the truth here. For two years living in Japan, i did not notice 1 paper thrown carelessly in the middle of the road. That was probably the default case in Praha. Writing on the walls is so spread that you wonder how a clean wall looks like. Ofcourse, do not let me start to talk about their subways and metros! Shinjuku subway station in Tokyo (3 million visitors per day) is much cleaner than whole Praha (population of 1million). Amman also is much cleaner.

All in all, it was a very nice trip where business mixed with pleasure! Ofcourse, since my beloved university paid for all this, who am I to complain? Haha!

Speaking english is.... Weird!!

2009-04-24T02:05:00.001-07:00

First let me state that I am no fluent in Japanese. Far from it, if u consider reading and writing. But what happened during my trip to Praha was just amazingly weird.

Since I left Tokyo and arrived Munich, I have this huge urge to speak nothing but Japanese. In Japan i would be extremely happy if I met a Japanese person who can make a conversation longer than 30sec in English, beside ofcoruse university professors. And now because I have the chance to babble in English, the words refuse to exit my mouth except in Japanese!!

In addition, English words sounded heavy on my ear and annoying too! I felt the language is slow and contains many unneeded particles. For example, I say to someone: “would you please do me the favor of buying this for me?” In English, or “kattekuremasenka” in Japanese! Yup! Short, fast, and delivers the same exact meaning you want.

After taking a break for one week from Japanese, I returned to feel that the language feels much easier, smoother and more understandable. Right now, I have no problems at all in detailed shopping, making long phone calls (like customer support calls) or understanding what my lab mates are talking about. I can also express myself and deliver the message I want to a person infront of me. In the class room, now I only ask my questions in Japanese. Ofcourse, that is in addition to daily life conversations that cause me no problems.

A strong language is defined as a language where you can express more in shorter time, or using fewer components. We say this man is a great speaker if he delivers his ideas using clear definite short words. And that is the case of Japanese compared to English.

Still, I have to apologize to the Japanese before I state, without any doubt, that Arabic is even stronger than Japanese. Since in Arabic you can express and deliver much better using much less components and in shorter time than Japanese.

I am sure now readers would be wondering why i am typing this English then.

I did not use Japanese because as I stated above I am not a fluent. And I also did not write in Arabic because simply typing in English is much faster. In addition, I have a lot of foreign readers of this blog and English would be the only suitable language for this.

Still, maybe in a couple of years I open a Japanese-language version of this blog! Who knows?!

Coming up on this blog..

2009-04-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yup. Back alhamdulellah safely to Tokyo from a long tireful full-of-events-and-joy trip to Praha (Prague) in Czech Republic.

This blog is only aimed at posting helpful information about Japan. So, I will be posting about my experience in Europe, from the eye of someone living in Japan.

Thanks to Lufthansa's old planes (but really, REALY amazing customer service) there was no video on demand in my seat so I spent the time reading books, papers, playing DS and preparing posts for this blog. I have prepared the following posts I will be publishing soon, enshallah:

- Speaking English is.... Weird!

- Europe in the eyes of a tourist

- What I missed in Japan

Soon.. Just keep following!

First paper published..

2009-04-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

In short,

I will be leaving to Prague, Czech Republic, very soon enshallah.

Through my research, I have reached to an equation that relates *cough, cough, Technical details alert* the noise in a wireless signal with the digital processor used in the receiver. I submitted this equation as a scientific paper to the 12th IEEE (Insitution of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) Symposium on Design and Diagnostics of Electronic Systems (DDECS) and it G O T A C C E P T E D!

I am so happy for such news. But, I could have never reached such results without the absolute full support of Tokyo University. They have provided everything starting from laboratory equipments ending with supervision by the professors. In addition, Tokyo University will be paying for the whole trip expenses I have to make to Prague to present my research infront of the world's scientists. I thank my god for giving me a chance to study in such a University.

Ofcourse, this full support in the University could have never had an effect except if I had another full support at home. My wife, may god bless her, has helped me all the time and always gave me the confidence I need to reach such results.

I will be detailing more about the trip soon.

AEON Laketown, a HYYUGE shopping experience..

2009-03-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy the last previous months that I did not even notice such a big event in my neighbourhood. The grand opening of AEON Laketown, one of the biggest (HUGEST?) shopping malls I have ever seen in my life. From their website:

Total commercial area of approximately 220,000sq m, diverse range of 565 specialists shops and service providers all in one place! AEON Laketown is being opened as the commercial hub of a new town called Koshigaya Laketown being created by the Urban Renaissance Agency in Koshigaya City.

Koshigaya Laketown is located on the shores of a 400,000 square meter lake (Chosetsuchi) and will be home to around 22,400 people (approx. 7,000 homes) and will include detached houses, condominiums, pedestrian paths and parks. Through its innovative combination of lakeside living and an urban lifestyle the Koshigaya Laketown will be unique in Japan. The AEON Laketown shopping center is located alongside an arterial road, the East Saitama Road...

On my first visit, it took us, me and my wife, around 2 hours to "fastly" scan the place. This mall is huge and has its own JR station, only two stations away from where I live (5 minutes by train). The mall is divided into two main sections called KAZE and MORI. To only go around KAZE section, while checking out "some" of the shops, it took us more than three hours. We did not even dare to check the shops of MORI by then!

Ofcourse, needless to say that its always packed with hundreds of shoppers. But since the place is actually not-Japanese-style-shopping-mall, you do not notice or feel the crowd. This American style (or Jordanian style?) mall reminded me alot with Mecca mall in Amman, but ofcourse at least four times the size. Restaurants are all scattered on the third floor with the cenima, while other shops and brands like Zara, adidas, Gap lie on lower floors. The shops are big and, to my surprise, are not packed with items everywhere, and they do not make full use of the space as I got used to in Japan. They have items I could not find throughout Tokyo so far! For example, I could not believe it when I saw a shoe that could fit my feet, or a tux that doesnt make me feel like a giant!

As for the prices, yeah everything is a little bit more expensive inside. But its worth the while since the mall is standing on a river (lake) and just sitting there enjoying the view from the glassy walls of the mall while drinking your favourite coffee is more than enough.

Here is a video for some parts of the mall (watch in youtube for high quality):

Question: How safe is Japan?

2009-02-13T01:10:00.000-08:00

I was reading this artice at Japan Times and found it to be very interesting. It answers the question of "How safe is Japan?" in some details.

I will post some of that article here and the rest is here.

In Japan, paper advertisements hang from the ceilings of train cars. In how many other countries would that be a viable advertising option? Certainly not in my hometown of Melbourne. Back in Australia, the majority of those ads would not survive any given Saturday night.
The buttons that train guards push to play those pre-departure jingles: They are fully exposed! Anyone can walk up and push them. And yet nobody does. They would back home in Melbourne.
The fire extinguishers frequently found sitting out by the sidewalk: No one rolls them down the hill at 3 a.m. Amazing!
Fish tanks that are less than fully secured: Oh my! Back home, the occupants of those tanks would greet the Sunday sunrise floating on their backs in a murky goo.
Valuables: When you lose your wallet in Japan, chances are you'll get it back — cash intact and cards untouched.
Salarymen asleep on the train: They are woken at the terminus with a sympathetic prod by railway staff. Inevitably, the bag containing both laptop and wallet is still resting on the overhead rack.
The last train: Hundreds of drunken people sardined into carriages and not a hint of aggression. Back home, guys would be squaring off on every second platform.
Violent crime: The average victim of violent crime in Japan is attacked by someone they know. Random violence is rare. Perhaps this explains why it is so common to see solitary girls and women wandering home on narrow, dimly lit streets — even in the wee hours in the entertainment areas of big cities.
Police apprehension: It has become apparent in the last couple of years that the average member of the Japanese constabulary is not exactly fleet of foot. Could the extraordinary number of wanted criminals who simply walk into police boxes and give themselves up be one of the reasons why?
The incarceration rate: The prison population of Japan tends to hover around the 60 out of 100,000 mark. For most Western nations it is at least twice that number. For America, more than 700.

iKnow.. Do you know?

2009-02-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

After hitting my head against the wall for several days for not knowing about this before, here I am carrying to you one of the best news ever for Japanese language students.

iKnow.

iKnow is a free Japanese language teaching website that provides great tools and techniques to help you improve your Japanese. iKnow will help you increase your vocabulary not only for conversation purposes but also gives you a good helping hand in memorizing Kanji and building complete sentences. iKnow is suitable for beginners, intermediates and advanced students as well.

iKnow is divided into three main sections:

1. iKnow study:

iKnow study helps you in studying new vocabulary and memorizing them. iKnow gives you a chance to select your current level in Japanese and starts with you from the point where you think suits you best. This section will help you memorize around 6000 words and phrases along with their kanjis.

As shown in the pictures below, this section first starts by introducing the new word along with its Kanji, voice pronounciation, type and meaning. Then, the program puts this word in a useful sentence, along with the sentence's pronounciation and meaning while being pronounced in voice with fluent Japanese. After you memorize a couple of words, the program will start testing you and checking if you really memorized the previous words, or not. I can no more explain this, you have to see for yourself.

2. iKnow dictation:

This section improves your listening skills along with your writing skills. A sentence, which you already have learned in the previous section, is introduced and you are asked to fill in some blanks. To do so, you have to listen to the sentence a couple of times. The picture below shows iKnow dictation.

3. iKnow BrainSpeed:

This section is like a test or a quiz for all information you have learned in the previous two sections. Its fun and can help you realize how much this learning was useful to you.

After knowing about this program, I have been using it and it totally helped me improve my Japanese and Kanji collection. You have to try it too. Try it, and post your comments about it here.

Ueno: the downtown of Tokyo

2009-01-27T01:04:00.000-08:00

People get surprised when I tell them that I have been living in Japan for almost two years, and yet I still did not visit Ueno! But that is the truth, at least until last week.

This weekend, I finally visited Ueno, and I was surprised.

Ueno felt like Amman's downtown. Shops are scattered on both sides of the streets, where shop owners yell calling people to visit their shops, just like what happens in Amman's downtown. Shops are small and barely fit a person or two, while most of the items are stacked outside the shop itself to give a chance for passing people to buy.

There was a huge fish store in Ueno, which is actually closer to Okatchimachi. In that store all types of fish, some that I have never seen in my life, are being sold. The experience was new for me and fun to see this many types of fish.

The great part was the suprise that many shops in Ueno sell arabic spices and goods like Hummos and Fuul. The prices were fair, eventhough they were a little bit more expensive than the prices in Saitama.

Ueno was a fun experience. If you still did not visit it, I advice you to do so ASAP.

I will leave you with the pictures.

Sorry for no-blogging

2009-01-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

Dear readers,

I apologize for not updating my blog so often.

I am going through a critical period, study wise, and I barely have time to eat or sleep.

I thank my wife for all her support during this very tough period.

I promise you all that I will be updating often very soon, once I pass the couple of deadlines I have.

A scream from Tokyo: Stop killing people in Gaza!

2009-01-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

A mixed group of Japanese and non-Japanese raised their voices asking for the very basic human right, the right to live, to be given to people of Gaza..

Let the whole world know who the terrorists are...

14.99 = 15.00 ?

2008-11-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

What is the default facial expression that you’d receive from ANY employee in Jordan if:

1. Your bill was 1.5JD and you paid him a paper of 50JD waiting to give you back the 48.5JD change?

2. The price of an item is 14,99JD and you paid him exactly 14,99 not 15JD??

3. You asked the waiter to give you back the 2JD change without leaving any tip behind after having a delicious meal at any respectful restaurant??!!!

Of course if the employee was someone patient and he doesn’t usually say it direct in the face, he will only give you this bothered shocked angry blaming facial expression that is telling you ARE YOU CRAZY??!!!

Yes, it is WELL-KNOWN that we shouldn’t bother employees to look for 48.5JD change in order to give it back to us. Also, 14,99 ALWAYS means 15, who said that there is something on earth called 14,99!!! Or you had a delicious meal and you don’t even care to give this little tiny tip for the person who served you??? What a shame!!!!

These are what I’ve always thought as the default rules, or the least thing we can do as a social etiquette. And people who do such things deserve such a reaction. But for my cultural shock, the first thing I’ve learned when I came here to Japan is that those rules DO NOT apply. A client is always honored and whatever he does he should be always thanked and appreciated.

199 yen really mean 199 not 200 yen. So you should always wait for the employee to give you back your ONE and only YEN without forgetting the wide smile and the many thanks you will receive from him/her! I remember that my husband laughed out loud when I told him I want to leave the 10-yen change, it doesn’t really count as we always say for the employee it’s for you!! I discovered that if you did, the employee wouldn’t really understand what you mean!! It’s your right and you should take it.

You don’t have to be worried if you entered a taxi cab or a market for having a 10000 yen paper (almost 100$) and paying only 800 yen or even 110 yen (around 1$), on the contrary, the employee will apologize for making you wait to give you back the change!

Also, tips in Japan never exist, you only pay for what you eat and staff is meant to serve you respectfully in order to make you satisfied!!

Well, it is a cultural shock but the basic rule says 1+1=2, so in Japan it is never considered rude to say it is TWO.. (^_^*)

Sindbad, the ARABIAN"?" sailor...

2008-10-05T01:24:00.000-07:00

اتا سندباد المغترب.. ابعد ابعد اقترب..

لا اهاب الموج ابدا حين يعلو و يضطرب..

Sindbad, the very VERY famous cartoon in the arabic world, talks about the story of an Iraqi kid who sails around the world.

If you were born in the 80s, then you probably grew up watching this cartoon.

To my surprise, this cartoon is actually Japanese. Yup. Its actually Japanese dubbed in Arabic.

Nowadays when I have time, I watch the Japanese version to enjoy my childhood memories and practice my Japanese.

Check the video below..

Watching this video as a grown up, I could see the big mistakes regarding the arabic or the islamic culture.

For example, on the first episode, people are shown praying and bending over on their knees for the king. This is neither an islamic nor an arabic behaviour because bending over is only for god.

The director of this cartoon made some effort in reading and reflecting the arabic environment, but it was not the best he could do since he could simply just avoid such simple mistakes.

Anyhow, sindbad is my favourite cartoon. Its best of the best and if you watch it you will be amazed how the story builds up.

The WAR between Jordan and Japan..

2008-09-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

If you think Jordan and Japan have never clashed together in a war, then you are mistaken.

Yup, I am talking about the famous war, which had Jordan fighting against Japan. The very famous one. If this is the first time you hear about it, then you have to continue reading this post.

The war was so big, that some people I know could not sleep for days after it. Other people I know, hated Japan forever (not me ofcourse!!) (^_^). Some other Jordanians decided to boycott anything Japanese! Well, it was a very sensitive, important, historical war between the two countries..

Even me, the Japan fan, feel stressed and sad whenever I remember the war..

Maybe this youtube video would express better than anything I would write..

2004, the Asian cup. The second round of the tournoment. It was the first time in history Jordan would acheive such a place in football. At around 1pm Amman time, one might think no one is living in Amman. Everyone is watching the TV. Everyone is hoping, praying, and cheering. The score ended in 1-1, full time. Its penalties turn.

As shown in the video above, the refree strangely switched the goals. This made Jordanians feel it was some kind of a trick to help them lose. After the match, Jordanians cried, yelled, even some went down the ground. I was speechless, I even had some tears in my eyes.

The next morning, Emad Hajjaj, the famous cartoonist, draw this cartoon to express how Jordanians felt about the match:

For those who dont read arabic, I will explain. The person in the middle represents all Jordanians. They want to commit suicide using the Japanese Samurai sword. Am angry business man in the back is calling Japan and yelling. On the left a guy telling his friend that Chinese products are even better than Japanese!

For Jordanians, it was a war. A war of football game. Jordanians are peaceful people, u know? Their heaviest war is a football match, against our friends the Japanese.

This was an unforgotable match. Even my Japanese friends still remind me with it saying "Oh, so you are from the country who couldnt score one penalty out of four?!!!!"

When they say that, I cry (T_T) .......

They are all identical!!!

2008-08-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

How can 127 million people be so identical??? Wherever you turn your face in Japan, you see the same exact identical behavior acted by the Japanese people!

1. When they use automatic stairs, everybody stands in one line one by one on the left side so that if someone comes in a hurry he takes the right side and keeps walking!! I have never seen two people standing beside each other on the stairs or standing on the right (wrong!) side!!

2. When you just pass by ANY employee in ANY mall (even if this employee was really busy holding so many stuff), they tell u IRASHAIMASE~ which is a way to show respect and say you are welcome!

3. They enter the train in a very organized queue with no messy crowds, speaking quietly, if any, and putting their mobiles on silent mode. I just can’t imagine this happening in Jordan!! Can you imagine how quiet the trains are? If not, check the following video..

4. They all sleep in the train in the same way, closing their eyes and sleeping peacefully without a move. When the train arrives to their station they simply wake up and leave. They never miss the station!! I really tried to do like them, I could not. Either I keep moving my head or I keep opening my eyes to see if I arrived to the desired station and I think if I slept deeply like them I would definitely miss my station! The following video shows two sleeping Japanese in the train. Not DEAD! Only sleeping..!!!

5. Same facial expressions especially when they are shocked or when they forget something.

6. On sunny days, all futons are put out in order to be aired and u can hear all the neighbors beating them with something like a stick.

7. No one crosses the street on a red sign even if the street was only 2 meters wide and there were no cars at all!

There are many examples but those all what I remember at the moment..
Very identical! Sometimes I even wonder if they are taught all this in schools..!

Failed in Monbukagakusho Selection.. Whats next?

2008-08-14T01:02:00.000-07:00

In the previous two months I have received several emails from students applying for the Monbukagakusho scholarship in Jordan. Monbukagakusho is the scholarship gifted by the Japanese government to four or five Jordanian students every year to pursue their studies in Japan. Its the same scholarship that gave me a once in a life time chance of studying in Japan..

Given that being selected is hard due to the large number of application, students were asking for help and guidance about filling their application. I tried to help as much as I could wishing them all the best..

Unfortunately a while later I have received emails from the same students saying they were not selected. Some were mad, some were sad, some felt they were unlucky. Some were asking me if the selection is fair, or if there are other external factors affect the selection..

I couldnt answer by email due to lack of time, so I will answer all of them here.

I would definitely say yes, the selection is fair. There are certain criteria that they look for in your application or during the interview. They first scan your appliction and add the points you deserve on what you have written there, then you do an exam (or two, depends on the regulation that year), then an interview. On my year from 100s of students only 4 were selected and travelled together to Japan.

In your application the advice I can say is be as honest as possible. Do not exaggerate in your feelings toward your major nor toward Japan. Do not write poems, just write whats inside your head. Be direct, say I want the scholarship so I can do 1 2 3 in Japan or after the graduation. Be honest, ofcourse. If you have never learnt Japanese, say so. Describe the main idea of your field and show why its important to continue researching in such an area. One important advice is, stick to the rules and guidelines of the scholarship. Read them once, twice, ten times, until you memorize them and understand them all. Its essential that you submit an application restricted to the guidelines of the embassy.

Whats not to do?
Do not give your application to someone else to write it for you.
Do not exaggerate or lie to show yourself better than your real self.
Do not copy previous applications from people who already got the scholarship.
Do not ask people you know in important positions to help you win the scholarship (wasta!).

So whats next?

I can tell you that if you deserve the scholarship you will get it, at least eventually. Yes, if you fail you can apply again. Do not lose hope. Check your application and choose what you think is your weakest point, and work on improving yourself there. You still have a year to apply again so plenty of time to submit a better application.

Aaargh!!! a very noisy summer!!!

2008-08-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

I just cant take it! 24h noise all around you where ever you go will definitely drive you crazy. So noisy, so annoying you can not even sleep at night.

This is how it goes in Japan. This insect, named "Cicadas" or "Semi" exists every where. This insect has a very loud non-stop noise, all day, all night long.

Insects in Japan get very lively during the summer. Many kind of them. They can be found on the streets, between the trees or even inside the houses. Thats why usually shops start selling anti-insects products before Summer, so people can be prepared to face the armies of insects either inside or outside the house.

But this specific insect I am talking about, the Semi, has no solution. They travel in large numbers, they live on the streets and they produce a very annoying noise. They sometimes even come knocking your door! Yup! Because they cannot see, they might hit your door while flying here and there. And the sound is not low, because they have a big size compared to other insects.

I am blogging now out of anger, I have not had quite sleep since days because of this noisy bug! Check the youtube video below to have an idea what I am talking about..

Trash separation and Disposal in Japan..

2008-08-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

One of the things that amazed me here in Japan is how the people are dedicated to follow the rules, and how the government is also dedicated to make following the rules easy despite how strict the rules are.

From my perspective as an Environmental Engineer, I can notice a clear example for what I’ve stated above which is Trash separation and Disposal.
Once you rent an apartment, you receive a list of rules concerning trash disposal in the area, where you should throw your trash NEATLY categorized according to the rules. So you have many categories: combustible (burnable) trash such as kitchen trash, incombustible such as glass trash and recyclable trash such as bottles and cans, beside magazines and newspapers which are a separate category. Once you follow these categories and try them several times you will get used to them, and you only accept nothing but applying them.

What makes doing this great is the fact that you have the facilities to do it right. For example, the trash disposal area is also categorized, so all u have to do is to place every trash bag in the right place, also you can use trash cans inside your own house that are separated. Even on the streets you also have categorized trash cans.

Another interesting point to know is collecting the trash after you dispose it also follows specific schedule, so each type of trash is collected on a specific day knowing that the maximum frequent collection for one category is twice a week!!!

People here follow these rules willingly and in my opinion the environmental awareness among the society members towards environmental issues plays an essential role in making them follow these rules.

For me I am really glad to be part of this process and I don’t find it hard to follow such rules because I deeply believe that stepping towards a greener world needs an environmental-friendly lifestyle that is followed willingly by every individual in the community.

Yokohama, 150m above the ground..

2008-07-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is how I have seen Yokohama the other day. Sitting on a chair, just a chair with a belt, and as high as 150 meters I was looking down to see the city of Yokohama and its surrounding area. It was sooo scary!

The above happened as a part from our trip to "Yokohama Sea Paradise". It was an amazing day full of activities. Yokohama sea paradise is a park built on an island. It is full of attractions and sea museums, which means its a perfect place for families to enjoy their time.

It was a very stressful time for me, the past month. Huge amount of work and deadlines, with many achievements. So we decided to do such a trip. Since our trip was in the middle of the week, the park was amazingly empty. We, me and my wife, did not have to wait in line for hours like what happened in Disney Land. Actually, we did not even have to wait minutes in line! We used to finish the game, and directly start another round because actually nobody else was there.

To arrive the park at around 10am, we had to actually leave the house at 7! Once we arrived I bought 2 unlimited pass tickets, which allow us to play as many as we want and enter all the museums of the park. And then, we directly headed to face the danger: The Surf Coaster..

Ofcourse, after the ride we had no energy left to say a word! I had a feeling our families in Amman heard our yelling while we were on top! We decided to ride the viking ship which was comparably sweeter and less dangerous.

Now is the time for the big challenge, the Blue Fall. The blue fall game is one high tower, 150m high, that you can climb up to the summit by sitting on only a chair! once you are that high, the chair goes as fast as it can. The rise takes around 30 seconds, while going down needs around 6 seconds! To be honest, I hesitated, not once, not twice, maybe ten times before I take the decision of riding the danger, and... I did it..

The view from above was AMAZING. Ofcourse, I am talking about the one and only second I was able to keep my eyes open! Going down that fast was a unique experience. It was just amazing!

We had to release our stress from all the challenge and danger we face, so we headed into the Aqua Museum, where thousands of fish can be watched. The aqua museum actually takes you under water and lets you watch sea animals from above. The blue color, my favorite, was just perfect.

We ended our tour in the museum with the Dolphin show. Very fun and exciting. We were amazing how they could teach sea animals to do such moves. Really it was some unforgettable moments.

We spent the rest of our time moving between attractions one after another. We rode a boat in the sea and went around the whole island, we visited the dolphin museum and we spent time walking on the beach and looking at the sea.

At the end of the day, we were unable to even walk. It was one of the best days of my life. Thats the least I can say about it.

Living Research Environment..

2008-06-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Its been around 15 months since I came to Japan. During this time I have faced different challenges. First, to adjust myself to the new environment. Second, to pass the entrance exam of the University of Tokyo (which makes my heart beat just remembering that!! phew!). Third, to start and proceed with my research. The first two points are accomplished, now its time for the third.

I was stunned by the research environment the first moment I started my Masters. Actually how things run at the university is quite amazing. For Master students, at least in the Engineering faculty, taking courses is not that important. Yes, we must pass 8 subjects to graduate, but I can choose ANY 8 subjects. For example, I can take English courses, Maths, or Java. None of those are related to my Electronics Engineering field. At first, I thought this might be a mistake, since a student should take strong courses to aid his journey in research. But oh Toudai has proven me to be very wrong!

Graduate studies in the University of Tokyo focus on practical research more than on the theoretical one. Take any courses you want, but focus at your work at the laboratory. Each faculty has several laboratories to run their research. Any student at the Engineering faculty has to be a part of a certain laboratory. A laboratory is specialized in researching a certain topic that is a branch of the main subject. For example in Electronics Engineering, there are labs who work with CMOS, others with CAD, or even Communication. Now inside each laboratory there are groups. Each group is usually assigned a different task unrelated to the other groups so that the lab can produce different results simultaneously. To my surprise, inside a one group, each student is assigned a different task that is, ofcourse, related to the work of the rest of the group. This way, if a group needed an advice for the work of another group, since they all work under the same main subject, experienced help and support can be found.

Every week, all laboratories meet to present their current status and work, in whats called the weekly Electronics Engineering Presentation. All students of the Electronics Engineering gather and three students from three different labs present their current research and work. In doing this, every lab knows the status of other labs such that in case their research is needed to progress of any lab, the professor in charge is contacted. In addition to the fact that students learn alot whenever hearing other new researches. I, as a student, have to present once a year. I already presented two weeks ago and I received and Excellent feed back from the professors attended. Wohoooo!! (^_^)v

Now, all what I said above is nothing compared to what I am going to say next...

Whenever I sit with my professor, who is really really smart, he assures me that if I need any book, any component, anything I need to help me researching, I shouldnt hesitate to ask! Its really amazing! They are even ready to pay THOUSANDS of dollars to manufacture a chip that I designed just to test and proceed with the research. Ofcourse, this only occurs after many sleepless night of testing in simulation before the costy manufacturing can take place.

Now, the ultimate dream for any student in my position is to be selected to present in an international conference. This can only be achieved if the student had an original idea and succeeded in transforming it to a real design. I hope I can make it. My professor always goes around the world presenting in conferences with students, which can be a hint how strong the lab is working. Papers and publications from 2007 or 2008 is considered, you can not use old research and you should make sure you build something new, or resume old researches with new ideas, even as a Masters student!

Are you still wondering why University of Tokyo is a top-ten-over-the-world University?

I am not.

Japan: A welcoming Arrival..

2008-06-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

I had a very long trip coming to Japan three months ago, with my husband. From Amman we had to transit at Istanbul. The security officer was saying:"Jacket, Jacket" while making gestures to me in order to take off what she thought was a long Jacket, which is actually my Jilbab. This happened at the checkpoint of the Turkish Airport. When I told her I can't take it off, she gazed at me strongly and took me aside to check me alone. A very embarrassing situation for a Muslim girl infront of strangers! Especially the way she treated me before, while and after the checking.

I tried to ease it up. I started telling myself: "Calm down calm down, don't be upset it's ok.. She is an employee, she has to do that for safety reasons.. BUT.. Can't she act more gently? Especially that Turkey is a MUSLIM country and they are used to see Muslim women!"

Hours passed before we arrive to the Airport of Japan (Narita). My husband assured me that I will receive a better treatment there. He even stressed the fact that I will be amazed from how organized and gentle procedures go in Japan. Here we are at Narita. Few minutes and it's my turn to be checked AGAIN! The previous experience of checking made me kind of stressed this time and that bothering feeling came up to me again. Are they going to do the same thing! Please God help me.

Here we are, my turn. I stepped into the checking point and kept walking........ HUH??!! Huh?!!!! We're finished?? I looked at the employee to make sure if it is ok for me to keep walking, she looked at me and gave me a WIDE smile followed by a "DOUZO"!!!

What a relief!!!!!!
Great Treatment! My husband was right!

Japan, thank you for respecting me the way I am.
This gave me an optimistic impression on living in Japan as a Muslim female.

Now my new life has started.. "BISMELLAH"....

Welcome Blue Rose..

2008-06-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

"What? Information about Japan as a society, a life and a whole another culture. Why? To help those who are interested in getting as much information about Japan as I can provide. How? Directly from inside the heart of Japan, Tokyo."

That is the goal of this blog.

Japan as a society, from a new perspective, is the new addition to this blog. Japan, from the feminine perspective, is the upgrade to my page.

Blue Rose will be writing here and helping me blogging about Japan. She looks at Japan from the perspective of a female, a new comer, a Civil Engineer, a resident and a housewife. That is why I am convinced she will enrich this blog with her useful and important posts to help in achieving the goal stated above.

Welcome Blue Rose, welcome my wife.

Do I HAVE to learn Japanese while I am living in Japan?

2008-06-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

This is a question that is frequently asked. Before or while being in Japan, we ask ourselves this question.

Before I go into what I think is the answer, let me explain the situation here. Japanese people do not depend much on English. They use their own language in everything, starting from conversations up to the Engineering courses they teach in universities. So, it is hard to find Japanese people who fluently speak English.

Does that mean I have to learn Japanese before I can enjoy living in Japan?

Notice the stress on the word have. Because this way, the answer to the question is NO. You dont have to learn Japanese so you can enjoy your time, but you better.

Why?
For me, I spend most of my time in my lab at the University of Tokyo. And eventhough this university is considered the legendary ultimate university in Japan, and Asia, only very few students can make conversations in English, surprisingly. So I am forced to speak Japanese. Yet, I do not have much time to spend learning Japanese and taking courses. So, with my intermediate Japanese skills, and their intermediate English skills, a conversation can be made.

Generally, I know cases of people who lived in Japan for over 5 years and still cannot read the hiragana. Also, people who lived for more than 7 years and still cannot speak a complete sentence. And I know people who lived and studies in Japan for years and are only able of introducing themselves.

That means, we dont have to learn Japanese to survive. But I say you wont be able to enjoy then. I like the language so much and I totally wish I had more time to study Japanese and specifically study more Kanji so I would be able to read. I cant though, while in the middle of the research.

As a summary, Japanese is not essential to live in Japan, while its still important and better to have.

6.7 Earthquake...

2008-05-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Suddenly and in the middle of the night I woke up. Through my sleepy eyes I was sure the walls were shaking. Not shaking like someone is hitting them, but shaking like someone is moving them from a place to another. Well, I thought this is one hell of a dream..

Until my wife woke up also calling my name and saying EARTHQUAKE!! That is when I realized its a fact. Its an earthquake.

I dont know why at that moment I felt this is my end. I even told my wife to say al-shahadeh and just sleep!!! I did the same. But, what do you know, here I am alive and writing about the topic. Next morning we discovered it was a 6.7 earthquake. WOW!

The scary point is that a couple of days later, a deadly earthquake hits China. around 3000 people died. It could have been deadly in Japan as well!

Anyway, in Islam, Muslims who die in earthquakes are considered Shuhada; they go directly to heaven. So maybe thats why I slept peacefully that night.

Golden week: Zoooooooooo!

2008-05-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

And its the golden week! The golden week is a long vacation in Japan which people use to have fun and spend their time here and there. Greenery Day, Children's Day and Emperor's Birthday are some of the reasons why such vacation exists in Japan.

As for me, I made use of that vacation to design a QPSK modulator using VerilogHDL...

Oh ops! Thats the part where I was day dreaming of the golden week! When I finished that work I went with my wife for a full day of fun. First, we met with the arabic neighbors in Ueno park, and had fun there. After that we went Ueno Zoo! I was so surprised to see it inside the park, did not expect it to be there.

In the zoo we spent an amazing time. Watching the Gorillas, Lions, Bears and Foxes was amazing. It was my first time seeing a Bat for real. And because my wife never saw those animals in her own eyes, it was an amazing experience for her as well.

After the zoo, we went to the usual place. What usual place? A K I H A B A R A! Its time for my periodic visit, to check things out and buy some more wires. Some people started to call me the wire man because they say I have lots of wires in the house. I dont believe I have much anyway!

I will leave you with some photos from the Zoo...

Japan.. In a new perspective..

2008-04-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

I used to be alone in Japan. Being lonely is something you have to accept when you study abroad, in any country not only Japan. Since you are a student you will have to spend a huge time behind books reading and studying. And even if you have fun with friends, you will end up alone with your books again.

Well, not anymore!

I can now state the fact that I got married. Yup! I did the big thing and now my wife is living with me in Japan. That has totally changed my life. Goodbye for loneliness, Hello company!

Getting married was a decision made after lots of thinking and equation solving! It is not a matter of a fast desire or a quick decision. I needed that for many many reasons. First, living alone as I stated above can be devastating. Second, the huge need to focus on my studies leaves me tired as hell at the end of the day. I needed someone to be there for me. Third, I am 23 and in my thoughts this is the best time and age to get married, for anyone. Fourth, I totally could not tolerate cleaning and arranging the house after a long tiring day in the lab.

So here it is. Japan from the perspective of a couple instead of a single. Japan, as seen from the feminine point of view.

Its been almost 2 months since I got married, and I can for sure say it was the right decision to make in the right time. Thank god.

More details and news to follow.

Back, after a LONG vacation...

2008-04-16T05:08:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry for not writing since a long time. I have been in a very long vacation. Alot has happened since then. I will update you with the news very very soon. I promise you I will write at least a post once a week from this moment on.

G O M E N N A S A I~~~!! (^_^;)

Amman and Tokyo are Synchronized!

2008-01-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

Well, at least SNOW wise!

The view is all white from the balcony of my new house. Its amazing..
Now I am feeling what people in Amman are feeling. Sweet.

Forget the Toilets, its SHOWER time!!!

2008-01-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

Do you remember my post regarding Toilets? I was really amazed back then from what I saw. Well not anymore!!!

As I mentioned earlier, I am moving to a new house in Misato. A very traditional Japanese house on a 4th floor, giving me a very beautiful view of the scene around. When I checked the bathroom, before renting the house, I was sad I could not find the amazing famous Toilets! But since the location, space, neighborhood are all great, I decided to rent.

Yesterday I spent my first night there. No internet connectivity, nothing to do. Well, lets take a shower, I thought. And that was the beginning of the adventure!

Stepping inside the bathroom I noticed the bath tub is kind of deep and has an electrical device INSIDE (down there where dirty water is supposed to exit)! On the side I noticed a control panel similar -but bigger- to the one of the amazing toilets. I also noticed electrical wires going inside and outside the shower ending in an electrical plug. There are also the gas pipes in a corner.

I plugged in the wire to hear a soft noise from the shower. The control panel went ON. After playing with it for 10min, I discovered the big secret of the amazing shower....

1. There is a button to automatically fill in the tub. Whenever I press that, water starts automatically to a height that I previously adjust. Once the specific height is reached, the water stops.

2. Ofcourse I can control the temperature of water using the same control panel. Deadly hot to freezing cold.

That was amazing. I filled in the tub 75% and dived in. It was a real sauna that I enjoyed so much. Or maybe it was a Japanese Onsen!

The problem was, after spending 1 hour there, water started to get colder. It took me so much time filling in the space and that was dissapointing!!! Well, at least until I found out what that button does! With one press on the panel, the bath tub itself starts to get hotter and hotter. While the electrical device on the button starts to shoot very hot water to adjust the temperature. 3 minutes later, the water is as hot as before, so is the bath tub!

No I was not alone. I had a man's best friend with me in there: Nintedo DS Lite. Spending 3 hours playing the Legend of Zelda, Advanced wars and Winning Eleven.

I for sure know that this is a standard for Jakuzis, maybe nothing even compared to that. But to know that this kind of a bath tub is available in a normal Japanese house, all my friends in the area have the same tub built-in in the house, and for this to be the standard showering corner for Japanese houses, now thats amazing!

Still, the panel had more buttons. Maybe I will discover them next time! :p

Cars are so over-rated..

2008-01-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

I have always thought cars as over rated machines. Why wouldnt I when I see the younger generation dreaming about owning a car. The problem is that this dream is usually the only ultimate dream they have in their minds, if achieved then its like they owned the world.

To think of it, let us make a comparison between cars and computers. Cars only main function is to move you and your things from place A to place B, plus it has several other mini-functions. Computers, on another hand, have much more main functions. Eventhough those main functions differ from user to another, but on a worst case scenario it has multiple main ones.

And yet, still having the car has the top priority. I have always thought of that as an obstacle in the way of evolution. I am sure if those gave 50% of their interest in cars to computers, we would have created our own processors long time ago. Or at least our own operating system.

"Ok. So? what does that have anything to do with Japan and living in Tokyo?!"
No. I did not fly away from the theme of my blog. This post also talks about life in Tokyo. How?

Owning a car here is not an ultimate dream. Actually many people here dream of selling their cars and getting rid of them. The public transportation in Tokyo is more than enough to get you around especially if you live near the station. And in the heart of Tokyo, everywhere is near the station! When I go out with my lab here or there, and the professor joins us, he rides the train with us. Can you imagine your professor riding the bus in Amman with you? Hell no. That actually made me look at the professor with respect and appreciation.

I know, I know. How dare I compare between the public transportation between Amman and Tokyo. My point is, eventhough oil is getting more expensive every year, and eventhough complaints about traffic jam is increasing day by day, yet people still dream of owning a car. No, they ONLY dream of owning a car.

As I said above, cars -in my opinion- are so over-rated. They only take you from place A to place B and thats their only main function. I wonder when we - the arabic world - would realize this fact.

The world as a Local Area Network..

2007-12-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

I usually prefer quality of quantity, so I dont post except useful information about Japan in my blog. Since I posted yesterday, I never thought I would be posting today. But they forced me. They forced me very much....

Who?

The Internet Service Provider in Japan (ISP). Today I went to register with an ISP to have internet in my new house, which I still did not move into. Since I now have a 42Mbps internet line, I thought 24Mbps would be more than enough. No, 12Mbps would be great even. After several thoughts, I decided that if I got the 8Mbps for a good deal, I will go for it. After all, 8Mbps is still not offered in Jordan and I will be waaay ahead of my friends! (YATTTAAA!!!!) :p

Ohh those bad ISPs in Japan. Very bad ISPs.. They only had one offer. Imagine? ISP with one offer. 1 0 0 Mbps. ONE HUNDRED MEGA BITS PER SECOND. I needed 3 minutes for recovery after hearing the news. 100Mbps for almost 15JDs per month. no, around 18JDs to be honest!!! I had to check again. Did they mean 100Kbps??? No no. Its 100MEGAbps...!!!!!! 18JDs??? OH MY GOD!!!!

Now is a good time to start negotiating the download limit. Since I download alot to my hard-disk, I had to know how much I am allowed to download per month before they cap my bandwidth. In Jordan you are -as a best case scenario- allowed to download 12GB before they cap your bandwidth. I though 100GB would me more than enough in my case. Talking in Japanese, I started the following conversation:
- Execuse me, May I ask about the download limit?
- what?
- the download, how much I can download per month.
- oh oh 100, 100 Mbps.
- no no, how much I am allowed to save on my hard-disk??
- oh, it depends on your hard-disk space!!!
- no, sir. How much bandwidth I am allowed to use for downloading, movies, songs, whatever..
- ????
- download? limit? hello?
- !!!!!

!!!! They dont know whats a download limit!!!! 100Mbps without a download limit!!!!

100Mbps is like connecting to another computer in your house. 100Mbps is whats called a Local Area Network (LAN). But in my case, thats the internet! the world for me is a LAN. I connect to a computer in USA as fast as I connect to my laptop at home! I connect to Jordan, as fast as I connect to Africa!!

With a 42Mbps I used to stream everything I watch. No more hard-disk space usage. What can I do with a 100Mbps??? Stream 720p high-def movies? maybe 1080p?

The joke is becoming for real!! Once I told my boss that when we have 100Mbps connection, it could be easier to access the hard-disk via the local host! the request goes throught the internet and then comes back to access your hard-disk as a remote computer!!! :p

They helped me alot. In writing the contract, in choosing my ISP, and in everything. They were smiling thanking me all the time. VERY polite. At the end, I paid nothing. Nothing at all. I only have to pay the monthly fee, the 18JDs. Oh btw, they gave me a new land line as a gift!!! and I will pay 5JDs per month for that!

Still, dear blog readers, having a faster internet does not mean I will be posting here faster. Remember, quality over quantity ;)

Bye Bye Komaba, Hello Misato!

2007-12-21T00:19:00.000-08:00

Amman, the city of seven mountains, does not have rivers -ofcourse except those which are made artificially by the rain in Winter-. Natural water scenes in Amman do not exist.

This introduction can help understanding how I am feeling right now. I am moving out of Komaba, to a place where I will see 2 rivers everyday while sitting in the train. TWO RIVERS! not one, two! not a lake, but a RIVER! This scene is very very beautiful. In the train I jump from window to another just to make sure I do not miss an angle of the scene, up until the train goes underground.

Its almost nine months now. Do you know what nine months mean? It means I am officially not allowed to participate in the Japanese speech contest organized by the Japanese Embassy in Amman. I lost my chances in taking over the world, as the emperor from outer space! =(

Since laws and regulations force me to move out of Komaba International Lodge that belongs to the University of Tokyo, I will need to find a new house. Finding houses in Tokyo is as easy as double clicking your mouse. The problem is to find a house that suits your daily life. Your budget, your university, and where your friends live.

Misato, the area where the Muslim community lives.

I will be living in Shin-Misato (the new misato). Muslims, many of them, live there. When I entered the place I practically felt I am living in an Arabic Muslim country that has all the technological advancements of Japan. I chose Misato because it is a nice neighborhood, on the other side of Tokyo. And eventhough it is practically considered in Saitama, it is still very close to Tokyo in general and the University of Tokyo in specific.

What I like about living in Misato that the trip from and to the laboratory needs to ride a JR train. Thats a train ABOVE the ground. Finally I will be able to see the beautiful scenes of Japan everyday, and by that I mean the two rivers, which are not a usual sight for Jordanian people.

I will be posting more details very soon. Details about my new house, the scenes, Misato, and general news. Keep following the blog and Japan lovers will have some Candy! v(^_^)v

Yellow Dreamy Autumn..

2007-12-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

Amazing Autumn..
Amazing..

Its the first time in my life to witness such a beautiful scene.
B E A U T I F U L..

I will leave the pictures, and the video to speak for themselves.

By the way, all those pictures are taking from the heart of the University of Tokyo.

Its shinjuku..

2007-11-10T04:47:00.000-08:00

Dont make the mistake I made, and think to walk from side to another in Shinjuku. It took us 30min to walk through the station only. A station that needs 30min of walking? hmm, lets see:
- Hussein to Shmesani takes 20min walking.
- Side to Side in the Jordan University takes 10min.

Can you imagine it now? Imagine Alhussein + Shmesani and Al-Abdali to be just a STATION! train station!! thats shinjuku station. According to wikipedia, its the second largest station in the world. 3.3 million people use that station every day!! WOW!!!

I was not really amazed when I first saw shinjuku, the city. I thought shibuya was bigger and more beautiful. Not until I saw the southern exit of the station, where it leads to one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. HUGE buildings, WIDE streets, and LOTS of people.

In shinjuku, which means "the new ward", you can find malls, department stores, restaurants, stores and shops. Actually you can find more than one branch of the same shop in shinjuku! Once I planned to meet friends of mine infront of Sakura-ya, the electric shop. After 1 hour of waiting, I discovered they were waiting infront of another Sakura-ya place, that has at least 5 or 6 branches just in Shinjuku.

I wish I can live near that place. But, its too expensive even to dream about it.. :(

a Lecture about Lectures!

2007-10-20T00:55:00.000-07:00

".. so, as you can see scientists are having problems in this side of the equation. If you want you can make this your master thesis and do your research about it. This will help this field alot because we need someone to solve this problem.. "

You can hear the above quote many times in one lecture in Tokyo University. The lecture is actually research oriented. The lecture is there to help you do your research, not to give information. They know information can be known and read from books. So the professor is there to guide you in your research and help you create something new and mark your name in the work. Its amazing how they make use of every minute in the lecture. A flood of new information every lecture are delivered in a way that is very organized and helpful. Great!

Also as a Master student you will have to read lots of papers and official publications and discuss them. That will totally strengthen your knowledge in your field.

They also start from the upfront. They started to talk about 1TB hard-disks to explain about some kind of electronics. Its really fun to connect the lecture to the up-to-date technology so the student can have ideas how to point his research to upgrade the recent technology. I also attended a presentation that talked about processors being developed and will be released in 2011 at least. FANTASTIC!!

Living the future: The class room..

2007-10-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

Since I have started my masters, I have been going to my classes regularly. Once I entered the class room, I was amazed. Every class room is equipped with internet. Every student can use internet while listening to the lecture. You can browse, chat, download the slides or do anything you want. Every class room has at least 2 42'' SONY LCD TVs and 2 SONY projectors.

Is that all?
no.

Once the lecture started the 2 TVs turned ON and showed another class room full of students. I noticed there are cameras on the ceiling so I thought ah this is showing the class room on the TV, why?! I was wrong.

That was a class room from another university, in another city! Those students were attending the same lecture I was attending, directly LIVE from another city (Kyoto). The room they were in had 2 huge TVs that showed my room. It also had microphones and speakers to carry voice and sounds bidirectional. The professor asked the students on TV if they can hear him, they all waved their hands confirming a YES.

The lecture started with us, and students on the TV listening carefully. Once the professor started writing on the board, on the TV I saw a student carrying a remote control and start to play with it. Suddenly I felt the camera above my head moves, and focuses on the board! On the TV I saw that now the camera shows to the students a focused image of the board!!! OMG!!

Suddenly, one of the students - on the TV - raised his hand. The professor stopped talking, and the student started to ask questions. We all heard his questions through the speakers, and the professor answered him directly! amazing!

Long story short, they were living the same exact experience we were living, except they were in another city!!

I have heard alot about stories of connecting universities together on a network, but never knew this was already applied in Japan. I once attended a 3 days meeting called ICT in Jordan, that discussed this matter with the head of universities in Jordan, but from what they were talking, it felt like a dream! Coz they kept saying its hard and impossible!

My next lecture after this one has started. And guess what?
Vise Versa!!!!! We were to attend it through TVs and cameras, because the professor giving it was in a whole different campus! OMG!!

Amazing! Incredible!! Really really genius!!!

I was living the future, in a small class room!!! WOW!!

180 Days: Water, Water please!

2007-10-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

Time: 2:00am. Place: My small room inside Tokyo.

The left overs from a very hot oily meal are still in the plate. I look around, searching for a glass of water. I am thirsty, very thirsty. No water in the fridge. In two hours, I will start an new fasting day of Ramadan and I desperately need water. How can I drink water in such a place, such a time?

Living inside the dorm of the Univerisyt of Tokyo has given me no choices. My friends in the dorm are asleep, so I have to depend on myself. Convenient stores? Oh I dont think they are THAT convenient! I have to think of something else. Another solution for my dilemma. I looked around my room, under the pile of cards on the bed I grabbed some change. Maybe I would find a store open in this hour. I took my mobile, and went outside my room, challenging the quite atmosphere surrounding the dorm.

I thought of even riding the Metreo to go to Shibuya, but its too late and no Metreo is available at this hour. Shall I ride a Taxi? It would be crazy to pay 10JDs to drink a glass of water! Maybe I should ask any Japanese person I find in the street. I started to gather all my Japanese knowledge I learned so far to build a sentence and find my way through the conversation. But it was very late and no people in the street. Ofcourse! If they are busy all day long, they probably sleep all night long!

Water right now has become one of my dreams in Japan! What should I do?

And there it was. Standing with its best glory. Shining like a piece of gold. Calling my name, come, come. I ran. I was afraid it would disappear. Please, I need you. Light my path to reach you. Light my way. I needed two seconds to take my breathe, before putting my hand in my pocket, and inserting my coins in the vending machine. The sound of the water bottle was like music to my ears. There it was, cold, full, white, shiny and beaufitul in my hand....

Its been 180 days in Tokyo. 6 Months. Half a year. Alot of memories, and yet, more still to come...

Thank you, my Hiroo...

2007-09-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

Hiroo. Hiroo. Whenever that name is announced in the train, I feel safe. That means only one thing: Delicious food, fun with friends, and a perfect night praying for god.

In Hiroo, there is an Iranian restaurant that provides free food for Muslims. The chefs in the restaurant are actually Syrians and Lebanese, so basically the food is Arabic. Very delicious food actually and reminds me with food in Jordan. We eat an open buffet, soup, rice, chicken, meat, salads, sweats and other stuff. Its a perfect meal, especially for the Halal food crisis we used to face in Japan. The restaurant in Iftar time is full of arabs. Arabs everywhere from everywhere.

But wait! Before that, we pray in Hiroo mosque. A Saudian mosque actually. So we go there, eat dates and drink water, then pray Maghrib. The mosque is actually in the middle between the station and the restaurant, so its perfect.

After eating, enjoying the food, and enjoying the fact that we enjoyed the food, we head back to the mosque in Hiroo again. Now there, our night starts. A perfect prayer with the perfect Emam sent to Japan by the Saudi government. He has the best reading that I ever heard - live - and that makes the night soooo perfect really. He takes his time in the prayer but you never feel how long it takes. Sometimes I just wish he keeps on and on all night. It takes us about 1.5 hours to pray Esha and Taraweeh.

Today, I enjoyed the view of the Japanese style Hiroo park. Its marvelous! Ill let you enjoy it with the accompanied pictures.

Really, Hiroo, Ramadan with you is RAMADAN. Hiro, "Ramadan ma3na a7la". Thank you, my Hiroo..

Its TOKYO.. Its the GAME.. Its the SHOW!!

2007-09-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

TOKYO GAME SHOW! A dream that has been haunting me since years. TGS, the famous video gaming show, that has most video gaming companies over the world gather to show its latest products and games to the public.

The show was in Makuhari Messe, around 1:30 hours outside Tokyo. Eventhough I have been there since almost 10am, the queue line was huge. I estimate the number of 40,000 audience at least. Going in, it was an amazing atmosphere. Gaming companies spread here and there, everywhere, to advertise their latest technologies.

I had so much fun. Playing demos of games are yet to be released, watching trailers for games and enjoying Japanese role playing shows. There were many gaming characters going around the exhibition to attract audience. People were taking photos everywhere. It took me around 2 hours to go through the exhibition, before I discover that this is only hall #1, there is another BIGGER hall just across the street! Another three hours were needed to go around the whole exciting show.

Two things I did not like in this show. One, It wont be a mistake calling this show a Tokyo Girl Show. There were more girls than games actually! There were many games, so you can guess the number of girls yourselves! Every company had a number of girls to stand infront of its booth to advertise for the company. And people gathered around those girls to take photos. There was a queue on taking photos of the girls! I totally wished if there was some gaming machines instead of these girls.

Second, no photos were allowed! Yes, as you have seen above, I took many photos. But not for the games themselves. You are allowed to take photos of the exhibition, the people, the booths, but not the games which is very important. I really felt disappointed.

Overall, this was a very nice and needed trip. I liked it very much. Again, Japan proves to be the dream land, where all my dreams are becoming true. Suddenly I am out of dreams! I already visited TGS, I already saw a soccer match for a famous European team, and I already visited Akihabara! What shall I dream next?! :)

Celebrations in Shibuya..

2007-09-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

I was walking around shibuya to discover this festival by chance. It was really nice and I enjoyed it very much. This is a traditional Japanese festival. I would really appreciate more information about it from all Japan lovers out there.

They were dancing, shouting, laughing and running all over shibuya. I have never seen shibuya this crowded, eventhough usually you cannot find a place for you to stand in.

Tokyo is crowded. How crowded?

2007-09-09T03:17:00.000-07:00

Amman crowded? Amman in the summer crowded? or Raghdan crowded?

The pics might give you some answers:

So its Iam-lucky-to-have-a-space-to-stand-in crowded!!

YATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

2007-09-08T02:03:00.000-07:00

Yatta!!!! I made it, I did it, I PASSED THE ENTRANCE EXAM FOR UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO!!

Now I will be back to blogging again. Thanx for your patience everybody :)

More to come.. after the critical period..

2007-08-16T03:08:00.001-07:00

Im sorry for not posting often. I am living a very critical period study wise and a HUGE challenge is up ahead of me so soon.

Enshallah after I finish it -successfully enshallah- Ill be back into posting.

Thank you all.

Phase 1: Mission Accomplished.

2007-07-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Thank god ofcourse. Mission accomplished. I have finished the first Japanese course, which lasted for about 3 months.

Results: Japanese language improved. Listening ability is getting better, understanding is more accurate and long complex sentences are said from time to time. I have finished the course by writing an article about Jordan. Almost an A4 sized article, all in Japanese. I really felt like achieving something.

The course I took was really well planned. They focused on every aspect of the language. Grammar, listening, reading, vocabs and conversation. It was very useful and very enjoyable.

I will join another course after the summer break. Well, what is supposed to be a summer break. You know I have to study very much at this time :)

3 basic rules while living in Japan..

2007-07-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Its very simple. 3 rules should be applied while living in Japan, and you will be amazed by such rules.

First: Keep your mobile on silent mode and use headsets
I can say that I rarely hear a mobile phone rings. Either to inform a phone call, or an sms. Japanese people are very -very- concerned about having quite atmospheres, so their mobiles are always on silent mode. If the phone vibrates, they go outside the room to take the call. If they were in the streets, they take a corner to finish the call. If they had to walk while talking, they talk in a very -very- low voice that you would never hear. This way, they guarantee their privacy and their peace, since everybody is doing the same.

Same story with the headsets. If you are playing a portable game (mobile, DS, PSP.. etc) then you have to use a headset. I never saw a Japanese playing a game with a loud sound. That would be very annoying, especially in closed spaces. Its a very smart idea. This way, everybody is happy. Same case for ipods, mp3 players and music devices.

Second: Take your shoes off
You have to be ready for this. Whenever you enter a room, especially in a private place, you have to take your shoes off. I take my shoes off when I enter my lab. This way the lab is always perfectly clean. When we spent a night in a hotel in hakoneh, we took our shoes off before we entered the hotel. When I enter my own room, I have to take my shoes off, eventhough I have no carpet. But this is the Japanese style and way of living. Its a clever idea to keep the room clean.

Third: Be busy, all the time
You can just be doing nothing. You have to do something all the time. Its weird to sit in the train and just look at people around you. When I used to do that, I used to see people reading books, playing videogames, listening to music (with headsets ^-^ ) putting make up (yup, inside the train girls spend time putting make up), or asleep. But you cant just sit there doing nothing, staring out of the window or looking at other people. The train is only one example of many others, everywhere. When I learned that, I installed many games on my mobile to play while on the train.

AAAAArrrrgggh!!! Its an EARTHQUAKE!!!

2007-07-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Suddenly, I opened my eyes.....

Oh yes, I am not dreaming! The room REALLY is shaking!
And no, this is not something like the little small shakes I have experienced before. This is something new. Something powerful. Something that is making the whole bed shakes, the room shakes and ... AAAAAAAAAA im falling out of my bed!!!!

Ah oh! This is pretty serious! Didnt know what to do, didnt know where to go, didnt know how to act. Drink milk? no thats when im poisoned, not facing an earthquake! Close the windows? No thats the Tayphoon solution! What is the solution for the earthquakes!!!!!!

Before I could answer that, the room became stable again. Oh, thank god. Yes I remember now, in earthquakes, you cut the electricity, open the doors, and sit under a table or something. eh! Too late!

I took a deep breathe..
and....

and nothing! I went back to sleep! Its my vacation after all!!!!! :p

Walking on two wheels..

2007-07-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

Its very common here in Tokyo to use bicycles. Everybody are using them, kids, men, women and to my surprise, old people.

Using bicycles comes from the fact that it is very convenient in Japan. Since trains are the most common transportation in Tokyo, people need to reach the station as fast as possible. So they use the bicycles to from to and from the station. This way, if somebody lives 10min away from the station, it can be reached within 2 minutes.

People who ride bicycles here are from every type. School kids, college students, girls, foreigns, business men while wearing a tuxedo, housewives -having their babies in a basket- and old people. the other day, I saw a very old man riding the bicycle and he seemed to be very healthy. I was so surprised.

The other day I used my friend's bicycle to go do some shopping. I did really regret it since it was my first kind of physical sport since almost a year!! But I enjoyed the ride because of the flat roads and the nice weather.

I wish we get over "the look and feel" perspective in Jordan and the arabic world. Bicycles are not only for kids, they can be very convenient at some time. We should even stop looking at what others are doing or wearing. I think we have much more important stuff to do.

Dreams becoming true in Japan.. FC Barcelona..

2007-07-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

I could have never imagine this dream would really become true. Watching MESSI, RONY, HENRY, and PYOUL all together face to face. Japan is truely the dream land, that is making my dreams become true one after another.

FC Barcelona is coming to play in Tokyo against Yokohama-Morinos on 7th of August. This means a one in a life time chance to watch barcelona playing live. For a soccer fan -a huge one- like myself, This is a dream becoming true. I had 0% chance of this happening to me in Jordan, and I couldnt afford the tickets to visit spain and watch such a match.

FC Barcelona, live, next month. I am so happy. I used to tell my friends I am sad because I dont have a summer vacation, and I have to study all the time. But now, I consider this one day trip to Yokohama a whole summer vacation for me... :)

Disclaimer:
I am NOT a barcelona fan. I am a chelsea FC fan. But Barcelona is worth watching anyway, dont u think? :)

Convenient Store.. How Convenient..

2007-07-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

Convenient stores in Japan are very convenient. I really like the idea of such stores and the services they provide.

In convenient stores, beside the fact that you can buy groceries and items, you can also pay your bills, mobile for example. You can also buy telephone cards, magazines, and lots of convenient items.

Plus, you can find them in every area in Japan. There is a branch where ever you go. In my university campus itself there are two.

Very convenient!!

One peach for 2JDs..

2007-06-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Usually, during this time of the year, I would be sitting behind my desk with a plate full of peaches in my hand..

This year, a small change happened. I am setting behind my desk, with a plate that has only one peach. I cut it with the knife into small pieces, so I can enjoy it as much as it lasts..

I know it will be a long time before eating another piece..
2JDs per peace..

How to be fluent in Japanese in 30minutes..

2007-06-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a very powerful method to make you fluent in Japanese in only 30minutes. I tried it yesterday and it worked, powerfully!

Simply, just enter a shop that has salesmen who only speak Japanese, and ask them about what you need. Yup, as simple as it sounds, this is a really powerful method to make you -make you, despite your own will- speak Japanese.

Yesterday I went to the post office to make a credit card. After being 10min inside, I found myself surrounded by 2 saleswomen and 5 customers, all looking at me with a weird look, one of them had a smile on her face. I tried to explain to them what I want, Japanese, English, Arabic, Hindi, everything. Nope, Couldnt do it. Saying "credit card" or "Kuredetto Caado" many times will NOT do the job, in opposite to what I have expected.

I entered the post office in a hope of getting a credit card. Since I have a post office account already, I thought this would be easy. I entered and took a number. When my turn came, I headed to the counter and said I wanted a credit card, in Japanese. The employee girl offered me 5 choices, so I asked for the one that can help me buy online. Here, she started saying long sentences in Japanese. No problem so far.

She handed me the application form, and here the problem started. Since I am still a beginner in Kanji reading (the complex Japanese characters) I didnt know what to write. I told her that, so she offered to help me by saying the fields in Japanese. We reached a field, where I had to write something I did not know what it is. Not my name, not my address, not my data. She tried to explain, I couldnt understand. She tried again, I couldnt. Then, she called her employee friend, who tried to explain it again to me. Yet, negative. There was 1min of silence in the post office, the employees dont know what to say, Me, doesnt understand, and the customers are watching.

Here, I really felt embarrassed, I felt light headed and regretted even entering this place. I regretted even my desire of having a credit card!! Believe me people, it is really embarrassing and uncomfortable situation. I thank god I didnt have a samurai sword at that moment, or else I would have killed myself the traditional samurai way!

At that moment, I collected all my powers. I felt like all the Japanese lessons I learned for the past two years went through my head in a second. I asked her to repeat her sentence more slowly, - motto yokkori itte, onegaishimasu -. She repeated her words slowly. AAAH!! now it clicked. I swear I felt I understood everything she said. I smiled, and replied back. Then we continued throughout all the application, smoothly, with no problems.

Really, I felt like a life or death situation. But honestly, I did learn alot from this experience.

Am I willing to repeat that again? well, definitely, but not in the near future!! :)

A reminder..

2007-06-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is just a reminder, from me to myself.

You are here in Japan to study, not to have fun all the time.
You are here to get a masters degree, not to visit akiba everyday.
Your goal is to graduate from Tokyo University, not tour all Tokyo within 3 months.

aah, I just needed to remind myself with that. Sometimes I feel I am here on a vacation. But, when I remember the huge load of studied I have to do, I get depressed. So, I need to remind myself that my 1st goal here is to study, THEN tour Japan and have fun.

OK? study, study, then study. After that, you can tour as much as you want.

Anyway, having a little fun while studying wont do any harm, will it?! :)

You pay me ----> I respect u..

2007-06-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Oh guess what? It seems that when you pay someone money, he has got to respect you. While living 23 years in Jordan, I always thought its the total opposite.

By entering a restaurant in Tokyo, I feel like a king entering my kingdom because of all the respect I get. The waiters never stop saying thank you, thank you very much all the time. After eating dinner at a restaurant, finishing at about 12:00am, I couldnt believe how much respect we had from the waiter. I would totally accept to have the worst food quality in a change for such respect, but guess what? the food was extremely perfect! I may have been shot with a shotgun if I entered a restaurant after 11pm in Amman and I complained about the low quality of food.

One time, I asked the Egyption worker to change the falafel for a hotter one. I believe his reaction would have been more respectful if I told him that I killed his father. And that all happened while the owner of the restaurant was looking at us. For seconds, I thought its me who doesnt deserve respect. But after seeing the same reaction from him to another 3 or 4 customers, I figured the policy in such resturants.

In 23 years, I thought when you pay someone, that means you need them. So that gives them the right to be rude, disrespectful and take advantage of you. Just like when taxi drivers dont accept to take you where you want. You pay them, so you have to respect them. Just like when you ask the bus control for the change. You pay him, you HAVE to respect him. The same goes shawerma workers, you pay them, so dont you dare to ask for more pickles in your sandwitch. Well ofcourse, you have to thank them because they are letting you pay them :)

Oh.. It turned out I was wrong. The truth is, when you pay someone, he HAS to respect you, because you are the source of his income. You are the reason why he lives and your are his way to provide for his kids and family. In Tokyo, you get respect in resturants, streets, trains, university, shops, and everywhere you interact with another human being.

So, attention Jordanians, its You pay me ---> I respect you. Not the other way around :)

NTT? Can you help me learn Japanese?

2007-06-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

For a start, NTT is not a japanese language school, its a big telephone company in Japan!

Last week we had the most interesting conversation challenge in my japanese language class. After learning a new set of grammar, we were asked to perform this conversation challenge to make sure we understood the idea very well.

The challenge was calling NTT the telephone company, and ask the operator to provide me with a telephone number of a company or a convenient store in Tokyo. When I get the number, I will have to call that store and ask it about its working hours, holidays in general and holidays next month.

It was sooo funny!!! Because talking to someone who doesnt know that you are learning Japanese is something really stressful and not easy. Some of my friends hung up on the operator because they didnt know what to say, and others stayed silent for soo long that the operator did hang up in their faces!!!

Since the teacher was recording all our phone calls so we can listen to it and correct our mistakes, when we heard the tape we laughed like crazy. It was really educational and interesting. We also felt bad because we were using NTT to learn Japanese!

When my turn came up I did pretty good. I only couldnt hear one digit from the number so I had to call the operator twice.

I am totally amazed by the way we are taught Japanese. Its really good.. :)

Garbage, the Japanese way!!

2007-06-05T01:13:00.000-07:00

In Jordan we categorize items into either garbage, or eatable! Here in Japan garbage is categorized to at least five groups. In my Japanese language school we have 5 groups for the garbage, which me up until now couldnt figure what all those for!

I know there is the plastic garbage, metalic, paper, and the "normal" garbage. What else? Anybody can help me with this?!

Eventhough its time consuming to seperate garbage every time, but I think its worth it.

Its a new era: 60 days.

2007-06-02T05:41:00.001-07:00

60 days have passed since the dream has started: Living in Tokyo.

What I miss in Amman:
- Family
- Friends
- FOOD

What I dont miss in Amman:
- Transportation system
- The 2Mbps max ADSL speed.
- Computer Prices.
- Lack of options regarding where to go or what to buy.

60 days have passed. Thank you everybody for those who supported me in this blog. And thank you for those who encouraged me to continue blogging about Japan... :)

My name is Akiba... Yodobashi Akiba...

2007-05-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Spending 40minutes in trains to reach Akihabara is NEVER a waste. I always think of that while walking in the streets of Akiba, the technology capital of the whole world.

As always, on sundays no cars are allowed. People were walking in the middle of the streets visting shops here and there. You can imagine how big Akiba is when you look at the two pictures down. The buildings on each side of this wide street are ALL technology related and all to show and sell technology products.

Yet, this street only a part of Akihabara. If you go left or right from that street you will start to find shops all around you and they become more as you go deeper. Still, all that I mentioned is only a PART of Akihabara.

The other part is known for Yodobashi-Akiba. Now thats another tale by itself. It is a mall that shows ONLY technology related products. The mall is 8 floors, each floor is as wide as carefour's floors of Amman. But dont forget, ONLY technology prodcuts. No food and no clothes :)

Yodobashi-Akiba is arranged such that technology is separated by floors. Mobiles, laptops, computers, ipods, music and subwoofers, cameras, printers, games, home electronics. This is ofcourse all I can remember now. Ofcourse I wont forget the 103'' screen that I saw. Perfect screen is the only word to describe, picture below.

Yesterday, I spent from 3pm to 7pm just to check the first three floors. I went back only because I got very hungry and tired from walking and jumping from a corner to a corner...

Its totally the dream place for technology lover. You should probably "pay" a visit ;)

How am I studying Japanese in Tokyo?

2007-05-25T03:41:00.000-07:00

I am totally amazed by how I am taught Japanese here. Teachers are really very good and know what to do due to a prior plan.

About 10 teachers teach me Japanese in my intensive course. Each day is about 3 to 5 hours of Japanese grammar, conversation and exercises. Each teacher has an hour and a half of class everyday, then teachers change to complete what has been done.

I study Structure, the Japanese grammar. This is the main focus in my course and they are totally doing it in a correct way. Because everyday we are learning 2 or 3 sets of grammar and new sentences that each open a whole new door of conversations for us.

In conversation classes, which we take almost everyday, is the most interesting part. We apply what we did learn in the grammar through out conversations, and ofcourse imagining a situation where we need to talk with Japanese only people. Conversation lessons are on three levels:
1. The students talk in pairs which each other to practice the pronunciation.
2. Then each student performs the required conversation with the teacher. By this all students watch and learn from other's mistakes.
3. Conversation Challenge: on which we have to go to the teachers room down the hall and apply the conversation with a random teacher from there.

The third part, the challenge, is the most interesting part. Because at the teachers room there is a video camera ready and they record all conversation. After we finish and return to class the teacher runs the video and starts saying notes on each of us. The notes include everything: grammar, pronunciation, reactions, how to start, how to end, body movements and even where to look while talking. This is totally helpful and makes us learn pretty fast.

Ofcourse, dont forget the laughing part!!! when we watch the video we laugh like crazy on our mistakes and pronunciations!!! it is very very funny and enjoyable which also makes Japanese language more fun.

We also have vocab lessons, Kanji, reading and further practices on grammar. With a test every week to sum everything we took.

I really like it and I am learning very fast. Japanese language is totally fun and I find it pretty easy..

SONY cannot be any more BLUE...

2007-05-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

This picture is taken from Sakuraya in Shibuya. It is my first time to see a BlueRay player, and to be honest, they should give it much more credit. I have never seen a more clear picture on a TV in my life.

The BlueRay is priced for 278,000 yen if you want the 500GB player. This is around 1635JDs.

I think i am going to visit Akihabara this weekend to check the stuff again.

WARNING: Dont mix linear algebra with Tokyo Metro!!

2007-05-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Ah yeah. Be careful...

It appeared to me that studying linear algebra to a very late hour will only result in you sleeping in the train of Tokyo Metro on your way back home next day...

I always see Japanese people sleeping in the trains, but this was the first time for me to actually sleep in there! I totally slept and missed my station, only to wake up at the end of my line. I took the train on the other side to go back.

Actually, it was a nice nap!!!

Oh, Taxi, Taxi...

2007-05-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

I rode a taxi in Japan only once, when I first arrived. From Haneda airport to Komaba. But this only once experience is something ill never forget!!!

I was surprised first to discover that the door opens automatically when the driver pushes a button, and closes automatically too. Inside, I thought that I am in a nuclear lab!!!! The taxi has more than 3 LCD screens!! Once I rode the driver entered the address I am intending to go using a keyboard. He only entered the zip code number, and to my surprise one of the screens showed Tokyo map, from above, with a green line that shows the path the driver should go through!!!! Thats probably using the Wi-Max technology - which we will see in Amman in 5 years-.

The map showed our current position, our destination and the path we should take, which is the shortest path ofcourse. While driving, the green line gets shorter the closer we get to the destination. It also dynamically changes if you take another route than the designated on, to show you the shortest path again after the route you took.

We passed through something like a toll. Will the taxi stop, I thought? No it didnt. It just passed through the tall and something like a bill came out from a device inside the taxi. I concluded that it probably connected with it and that was the bill to pay, without even stopping.

The driver doesnt talk with the passenger. He doesnt need to. All what he has to do is to drive, while wearing the clean uniform. Also, smoking is not allowed!

Taxis are pretty expensive in here, I think you can all now understand why :)

FINAL-ly, its my FANTASY...

2007-05-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

I couldnt believe my eyes when I was right in the middle of Makuhari Messe, where SquareEnix, the very popular Japanese video gaming compay, held its exhibition, showing Final Fantasy and many more other video games...

I couldnt believe that last year I was reading about gaming exhibitions and now I am watching with my own eyes...

I couldnt believe that last year when I was playing Final Fantasy, it was already written in fate that ill be LIVING my fantasy...

2 hours trip by train was the beginning of my journey, until I reached my destination. In my way I saw Disney Land and Careffour Tokyo. When I went inside I was surprised of the huge crowed all anxiously going around the exhibition. To my surprise, all of them were adults! I was probably the youngest among them!!! If such an exhibition was held in Jordan, probably only kids will show up, since most adults consider this "childish"!!!

Ill leave you with the pictures...

Hakone: Electronics between the mountains.

2007-05-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

And people wonder why Japanese achieve alot!

Since it is the start of the year in Japan, the professors, my lab mates & I went on a field trip to Hakone, a place 2 hours by bus outside Tokyo. The reason behind this trip was to do some relaxation accompanied with electronics discussions about the plan for next year's work.

I never saw a more beautiful place (seems ill be saying that sentence alot in Japan!). Huge mountains all covered with forests. The trees were so tall that I couldnt even see where they end. The green color ruled the scene and it was very relaxing.

Yet, I thought this is gonna be my only surprise. I found that we will be staying in a Japanese style hotel. Japanese from A to Z. Once I entered I had to take off my shoes, ofcourse. It was very neat & clean yet very simple. By entering my room I was amazed, this is the first time for me to be in a real Japanese bedroom. I looked through the window and god what a scene that was.

After we settled down, we went into the meeting room which looks like a class room. We started our meeting and we spent time talking about electronics. Using my Japanese language to the limits I could catch what they were talking about, yet I missed alot. There, looking around, I couldnt believe that this is actually happening. Talking about electronics in the most beautiful spot on earth..

After the meeting we had the Japanese dinner. Actually the crab in the middle was very delicious I liked it especially combined with some rice.

After dinner my lab mates went inside the Onsen, which is the japanese style bathroom. Well, I didnt go with them because out there you have to take all your clothes off while enjoying the hot water. (Why? I dont know. Why I didnt go? Its Haram).

Then we resumed our electronics discussion, each member talking about his plans for the following year of research. We stayed awake until late at night eating snacks and drinking. I appreciate that my professor and the rest accept that it is haram for me to drink alcohol, so I kept on drinking Pepsi, along with another muslim friend with us.

Next morning, It was my turn to talk. I talked for about 3 minutes in Japanese, then after they started asking me questions I switched back to english. It was a very nice experience.

My professors are very very nice, and also have strong knowledge in their fields. My lab mates are very nice and funny also.

I enjoyed my trip to Hakone, where science and nature were combined to produce two of the most beautiful days of my life..

Fuji-san, Hajimemashite..

2007-05-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

Fuji-san, hajimemashite. I have read about you alot in Jordan, and I saw many pictures of you. and now, here I am, infront of you. Fuji-san, watching you this close means I can scratch another dream off my list. Yorushiku onegaishimasu.

Hibiya..

2007-05-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hibiya is in the middle of Tokyo. The pictures will talk for themselves. I can only think one sentence: Its the perfect place for relaxation.

Tokyo Metro.. Flying underground...

2007-05-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

To be honest, talking about Tokyo metro needs a separate blog spot, not a single blog post. Tokyo Metro is the main transportation method used in Tokyo. As you can see in the map below (which is actually a portion of the original map of the Metro), it is spread all over the city with some very complex lines to cover most of the areas.

I live within the area on the left, marked with the dark blue circle. My lab is in Nezu, marked with a red circle while my Japanese language class is in Yushima that has a light blue circle, one station before Nezu.

The trains
The trains move in a very organized way all over Tokyo. It has a precise timing and it never misses except in some very rare cases. As a result, you can check on this website, the time you need from a station to another & the ticket price. This incredible feature of calculating the shortest distance has made things easier on me! eh! and people ask me how I adapted so fast on life in Tokyo! They are so organized that it makes the transition from anywhere in the world to here much easier.

From Komaba-todaimae station, marked with the dark blue circle, I need about 23 minutes to arrive to my lab, in Nezu. As an experiment, I calculated my timings using my mobile's stop watch in this trip over one week (5 days). The results were (in minutes): 22 23 22 22 24!!!!! Ofcourse this is considering only the time travel for the train and waiting is not included.

Waiting?! They should remove this word from the metro's dictionary! Sometimes I wished I had to wait for the train. Everything goes so fast. The time between one train and another is about 1 minute in the morning and about 3 minutes afternoon. 3 minutes max people!!!! Sometimes I need to feel the "joy" of waiting for the train, but i just cant!

Getting in
Before getting into the train, you have to stand in a line. Oh what a line that is: It is so neat and organized. Each line is usually divided into two lines, just like how we used to stand in the elementary school before we go in to class. When the train arrives, the two lines standing infront of a train door are divided such that one line takes the right side of the door, and another takes the left side. Why? to give a chance for those who want to exit the train. After making sure nobody else is going out, people start going in quietly and in an organized fashion.

Inside the train
Once inside, if you find a seat, ull sit. Else, you can stand up which not very annoying. The train has air conditioning and actually standing up makes the trip more enjoyable. Each time I am inside the train I actually find it getting cleaner & being even newer! I cannot believe how they take care of such a public thing this clean! Before reaching each station, the train alerts you that you are about to arrive 2 minutes before. It calls the name of the station twice and thanks you for using Tokyo Metro. Each time I hear that I wish for ME to thank them even if for once and only once.

Getting out
Getting out is as organized as getting in. You have to prepare your magnetic card so that the reader reads it and charges you for the trip. Which is shown in the picture.

Each day the same story, each day the same road. But I never get bored of watching people in the train. Some are sleeping, some are reading, some are looking at me and some are looking at their feet!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...

Tokyo Metro is a story by itself, Ill keep posting about it from time to time :)

Kobayashi sensei, thank you so much...

2007-05-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

Kobayashi sensei is my Japanese teacher who taught me Japanese language in Amman. Beside being a great teacher who knows how to deliver an info, she is very kind. In the picture, Kobayashi sensei is the one who is wearing the arabic woman's uniform.

The sensei has invited us to her house in Yokohama, 40minutes by train outside Tokyo. While we enjoyed the view during our train ride, we enjoyed Yokohama even more. Once we arrived she welcomed us wearing the traditional Jordanian dress with a big smile on her face. It was my first time entering a traditional Japanese house so I was looking everywhere around me to find that the house is very very neat & organized. Ofcourse, you have to take off your shoes before you enter, as this is the Japanese tradition.

We were shown a very warm welcome. There were the sensei, her mother & father, and some of her friends. She also has prepared LOTS of food we enjoyed. In the picture you can see what kind of food we ate.

The most incredible idea we faced, was that she prepared an icecream on za3tar flavor! yes guys, vanilla icecream with lots of za3tar on top. It was REALLY delicious!!!!

We had so much fun. I would remember this day for ever. Japanese people are so nice and welcoming.

We were 4 people from Jordan. Me, Ahmad-san, Taymoor-sensei & Othman-san.

Kobayashi sensei, thank you very much for one of the greatest days in my life.
- and thank you for allowing me to post the pictures in the blog - .

Can you guess where am I in the pic?!

a MOBILE, is a LIFE...

2007-04-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

You can never imagine how cheap mobile phones in Japan are.

I had this decision to cut the cost on myself by not getting a mobile phone. But after having dinner with a friend for 2000yen (12JDs) I thought having a mobile phone and paying 15JDs a month isnt that much.

I now have this mobile phone
that costs 800$ in the US, 800JDs in Jordan. I bought it for 100JDs in Japan :), and yet better, ill pay it on 12 months, for about 8JDs a month!!!!!!

When I went inside the shop to buy the mobile phone, I got that mobile, a sim card, & signed the contract. I paid NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Ill get a monthly bill for 15JDs a month. 5Jds a basic charge, 8JDs for the mobile phone, and another 2JDs already paid phone calls.

You know whats the best part in all of this? People inside the same network can call each other for FREE from 1am to 9pm each day. yup, 20 hours of free calling. Imagine u can call from fastlink to fastlink free all day? this is how it works in Japan!!!!!

Dont get me started on other services you get with the mobile phone:

1. You have a special email, such that if your friend is online and sent an email to that address, you will receive the email on your mobile. You can reply too.

2. You can connect to the internet anywhere inside Japan. And for 50JDs a month, you can have unlimited internet on your mobile!!! a bit expensive so I didnt subscribe in this one.

3. You mobile phone has a warranty for a year, if it is broken it is immediately exchanged with a new one.

Magnificent service, really!!

Some pictures..

2007-04-25T04:54:00.000-07:00

As promised I promised before, I present you the following pictures:

Japanese people love tea very much. (Arabs love it too, right?) But they love it in any form: cold, hot, or mixed with anything. You can see in the pic how many types of tea they have. Everything in the bridge next to the water bottles is nothing but tea.

Good Morning Tokyo! In tokyo, 15million population. Another 15million arrive by trains every morning. So never expect to have an empty seat in the train between 7am & 9am. Look at the picture. This is considered an empty train btw, because you still have some space. Really!!!

Tenya! Tenya is a popular resturant in Japan that sells Japanese food. Fish & rice. I tried it once its very good. But people told me it would be much more delicious if I try the special dressing with the rice. I didnt try it because it contains alcohol. Well, I am satisfied with the taste as it is. :)

Thanx Ahmad for the professional pics, again.

Jordan's Akihabra: AlGardenz street!

2007-04-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

In Japan if you wanna buy anything electrical or computer related, they tell you: go to Akihabara, you will definitely find your item there.

Same in Jordan. If you wanna buy something electrical or computer related, they will tell you: go to AlGradenz street. You will find your item there.

Whats the difference then?

Akihabara: 100s of Computer stores. Thats only when I stopped counting.
AlGardenz: 3 major computer stores & another 10 minors.

Akihabara: Each 3 or 4 months a huge discount hits the market.
AlGardenz: Each 3 or 4 months a huge raise in prices hits the market.

Akihabara: If meet someone while walking there, there is a 99% chance you wont meet him again. Thousands of buyers exist at the same time in Akihabara.
AlGardenz: If you meet someone while walking there, there is a 99% chance you WILL meet him again. Those who are interested in computer stuff there are a few, very popular, & probably know each other.

Akihabara: When you buy something, the owner of the store thanks you 100 times.
AlGardenz: When you buy something, you have to thank the owner of the store 100 times.

Akihabra: The best place to find video games & consoles.
AlGardenz: The ONLY place to find video games & consoles.

Akihabara: You watch Anime? This is your heaven.
AlGardenz: You watch Anime? What are you? 8?!

So if you here about Akihabara, you are not missing anything. Just take a taxi to AlGradenz :)

While being alone in my small room....

2007-04-23T03:53:00.000-07:00

فجأة .. وجدت نفسي في بلد لا يفقه شيئا في اللغة العربية.. فجأة .. و جدت نفسي احمل على كاهلي أكبر قدر من المسؤولية.. في أقصى شرق القارة الآسيوية .. في بلد التقدم العلمي و المعدات التكنولوجية .. ما كان بالامس حلم من أحلامي الوردية .. يتحول اليوم الى حقيقة واقعية .. أتحدث اليكم اليوم ، من مدينة طوكيو اليابانية ..

ااااه .. و ااااه .. ااااه على بلد لا ينفع فيها اسم ولا جاه ، في جزيرة محاطة بأكملها بالمياه. اه على اناس لا يشبهوننا لا بالعين و لا الأنف و لا الفاه ، و لن استغرب ، فهذه بلد التنانين و الزمامير و الطبول ، ساكنها بالوقت دقيق و دائما عجول ، لا يعرف معنى الخمول ، كونه لا يأكل الحمص أو الفول ، بل يذبح و يأكل الخيول. الشعب الياباني ، عن التعريف غني ، لا شيعي و لا سني ، بل راهب أو بوذي ، شعب قوي ، بالعمر فتي ، و بالعمل جدي.

طوكيو اليابان ، هي حلم كل انسان ، التكنولوجيا عنده ادمان. طوكيو المدينة ، التي نهضت بعد ان كانت دفينة ، بعد أن كانت حزينة ، و بيد الامريكان عجينة. نهضت اعلى النهضات ، قفزت اعلى القفزات ، تفوقت على الدول الكبريات ، لا بصناعة بل بصناعات. و بشعبها ذو الطموحات ، انشأت أرقى إعمار و بنايات ، من اسفلها تجري القطارات ، بنظام صارم ، بتوقيت حازم ، بسير جازم ، بسرعته للضوء ملازم. و بثغر طوكيو الباسم ، المنزوي و للعالم مسالم ، توجد كبرى المصانع ، المصدرة لأحدث البضائع ، و اجودها بلا منازع. بطوكيو ، ليس غريبا ان تصبح أو تمسي جائع. فالغلاء شديد ، الازدحام عديد ، الطعام نيء بليد ، و الطقس جليد. لكن ، و بشكل فريد ، طوكيو هي عاصمة التكنولوجيا في العالم أجمع. و من يرى ليس كمن يسمع. ففعلا ، الشعب الياباني أبدع. و في البحث العلمي هو الأسرع. فوصل اكتشافات هي الأروع.

حتما ، سأرتاح في هذا المكان. فهنا "لا للعنصرية" هو العنوان. لو ذهبت الى امريكا ملكة هذا الزمان ، لذقت من انواع التعصب ألوان. لو بقيت عند حبيبة قلبي عمان ، لانتهى بي المطاف أنام عطشا أو جوعان. فشهادتي بعظمتها لن توفر لي السولار و سأبقى بردان. ماذا سأفعل في عمان؟ لو ذهبت لقضاء الوقت على جسر عبدون ، لقالوا عني هذا ليس بمهندس بل مجنون. أو لربما تفكرت بالحياة و صعوبتها و تملكتني الشجون ، فقفزت من اعلاك الى أسفلك يا عبدون. ففي النهاية ، الجسر ما بني الا لجذب العيون! فالانتحار بالاصل هو نوع من الفنون ، سيجذب السياح اسرع من اي جسر تبنون.

انهيت ثانويتي من عمان الحب. و حصلت على معدل كاف لدخول الهندسة أو الطب ، لأتفاجأ بسهم أصاب القلب. علي أن أدفع للجامعة الاردنية رسوم ، على الرغم من تفوقي المعلوم. و بعد ان كنت فائزا أصبحت كالمهزوم. و حلمي بدخول الجامعة أضاف على عائلتي الهموم. اخترت الهندسة و بتفوق حصلت على الشهادة. فحق لي الحصول على منحة من الجامعة كالعادة، الا أنهم طلبوا مني مئات آلاف الدنانير بلا نقصان أو زيادة. و الا فاقرأ على دراساتي العليا السلام ، و فلتبقى دوما في خانة الأحلام ، فانا لن اقدر على مصاريفها مهما مرت الأيام ، حتى لو عملت بلا كلل دون أن انام. و بدون أدنى تردد ، ازالوا اسمي من القائمة ، بابتسامات على وجوههم جاثمة. لأني لا أملك الألوف و جيبي عن الأموال صائمة.

أدركت ان هذا ليس الا ابتلاء ، فرفعت يدي الى السماء ، و دعوت الهي رب الأرض و الفضاء: يا رب ، اغثني و لا تضع لي تعبا أو عمل. و رددت هذا دون كلل أو ملل. حتى اتتني المكالمة المنشودة ، من اليابانيين بدقتهم المعهودة. و بكل ادب كان الحديث بيننا ، عما عندهم و عن ما عندنا: نتعجب حقا كيف يتركون امثالك ! كيف لا يستغلون ما عندك بل يتركوك بحالك!! تعال انت عندنا آت. تعال و رب السماوات ، لن نضيع فرصة كهذه مع أصحاب القدرات. سمي مطالبك سمي امنياتك و ما عندك من حاجات ، اطلب و تمنى ذهبا أو ليرات. نحن نتبناك ، نحن نزيل من طريقك الأشواك. فقط كن عندنا كن منا يا ملاك. انت عندنا ترفع رأس اليابان ، اختراعاتك باسم اليابان ، قدراتك صقلتها اليابان. و بالفعل ، حتى انني لم اطلب اي من الأمور. قاموا بتجهيزي ابتداءا من التذاكر انتهاءا بالمنزل و الراتب و العطور. احسست بان جرحي يزول و سأرجع كالعصفور. أحسست بانني مرغوب بعد ان عوملت كالمهجور. وزنوني بالعقل و ليس بالدراهم و الأموال. تغيرت حياتي من حال الى حال. أخيرا......

أنا بين أناس يقدرون العقل لا المال........

Get ready to sit on the Toilet!!!!

2007-04-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

I couldnt find a more suitable title!!!

You really need to be ready so you can sit on the toilet. The toilets in Japan have a control panel to provide the maximum comfort for you. It can be used any way you like or desire, its job is to make you happy!!!

As the picture shows, there are two devices. One on the right, used to put some alcoholic material on the toilet paper to clean the toilet seat before usage. You have to press the push button to do that, while in other bathrooms it is infrared.
On the left side, there is the control panel for ur toilet seat. Ill leave what it does to ur imagination, cause its probably out of the line to talk about it in public, but lets say that it helps you relax while you are in there :)

OK, before you sit, you have to read the "User Manual" that is also shown in the pic. Make sure you follow the steps one by one or it may lead to some disastrous reactions ;)

The University of Tokyo

2007-04-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

This is my University, The University of Tokyo. What you see in the picture is the main building in it & called Yasuda Auditorium. This is the main campus of the university (Hongo Campus) out of five campuses, & its twice as big as the University of Jordan in size.

According to wikipedia, the University of Tokyo was established in 1877. It teaches every academic subjects available. Some of my friends are studying Masters degree in "Fish"eries. wow! The university is ranked among the top 20 universities over the world in general & is the 2nd best in Science & Engineering, according to the official university ranking website, here.

This university is the absolute best in Japan. It is well known for its huge red gate, that you can see in the pictures. When I first went to the university, I used help to get there, asking about the akamon, or the red gate. Everybody knew it & they were even surprised that I dont know it. When I got there I found that Japanese people themselves take photos infront of that gate. They are very proud to be students of the akamon, as they call themselves.

Look at that picture. This lake is in the middle of the university. OH MY GOD I love it. It has the most beautiful view I have ever seen in my life. It has a new green color that I never saw before, really! Some sort of yellow green that doesnt exist at least in Jordan. Students come here to relax & enjoy their time. No wonder they become inventors at the end.

New pictures on the way..

2007-04-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

I will post new pictures of Japan in this blog soon, just wait for them..

The pictures are taken by the professional photographer my friend Ahmad. As you saw the sakura tree pictures how professionally photographed by him..

Thanx ahmad.

Just wait for the update.

Devil May Cry 4..

2007-04-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Eventhough i am so fond of SONY & their PlayStation, but I have to say the truth about this one. What I saw was below my expectations.

I played the game on a 720p TV. Dont think this is the reason for such graphics, even if they are down graded from 1080p. The game felt like a PC game with a powerful graphic card installed. I was really surprised to see such stuff from this huge title that is anxiously waited by many.

Gears of War on the 360 is waaaaaaaaay much more better than this one. Nevertheless, we can never compare a title coming almost with the system's launch, with a title that came 1 year after the system is launched.

PS3, XBOX360 and the Wii..

2007-04-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

OK, lets get into the console war!

Ofcourse I visited some games shops while shopping around shinjuku. I was able to play Devil May Cry 4. Ill say my comments on that later on.

The pics show the prices for the consoles in Japan. The 360 premium system is sold for 300$ (400$ in the US) & the PS3 60GB system is sold for 500$ (600$ in the US). The Wii is sold for about 200$. Cheap prices. I might buy a 360 when I have some time to play - probably never!!!!! :( -

Shinjuku & Al Halal shop..

2007-04-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

We went to Shinjuku to do some shopping. Shinjuku appears in the accompanied pic.

We got lost, so we asked a Japanese guy who was riding a bicycle. To our surprised he didnt just tell us where to go, but also walked with us until we reached the place!! wow how polite!!!

On another hand, we visited a Halal shop close to shinjuku, so we can buy some meat. The owner of that shop was angry such that he reminded me with Amman. He barely answered our questions & was really impolite!!

I am not sure anymore if Arabs like to act like this or it is muslims or what!!!!

Sakura.....

2007-04-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah..

The Sakura..

The most beautiful tree in the existence...

This tree is very famous in Japan & is only around in April. Look at the pics & appreciate the view...

aaah how great..

Technology in the land of technology..

2007-04-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

Technology here is freakin cheap!!

I have 24Mbps ADSL in my room (3.5MB/s dload & around 700KB/s upload), only for 20JDs a month.

XBOX360 premium system is sold for 210JDs.

Nintendo DS is for 75JDs & PSP is for around 120JDs.

aaaaaah I wanna buy everything...

I just cant :(

OK, the main goal behind this blog..

2007-04-14T03:39:00.000-07:00

I am actually against blogging, & having people publish their own private life in public.

But when I received the scholarship to Japan, I searched the net for MONTHS trying to find useful info about the life in here & I couldnt find alot.

I am doing this to help those after me find some useful info about Japan, in case anybody needs that.

:)