Help me accomplish my dream of visiting Japan

I'm a twenty-six year old guy from England with one goal in life: Get to Japan.

Since the age of fifteen I've been mesmorised by the country. I found the bizarre mix of ancient tradition and modern age technology to be facinating.

Unfortunately I have had neither the time or the money to visit during my life so far (Due to university fees and jobs getting in the way) In November 2012 I applied to the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) programme in an effort to teach English in Japan. However, due to a lack of experience and huge number of applicants, I was not successful.

But the story doesn't end there! The Japanese restaurant chain "Wagamama" launched a compeition on March 1st which asked people to upload a photo of their Wagamama meal to their gallery and the photo with the most "likes" by midnight on March 31st, would win an all expenses paid trip to Japan for a week!

I have been in first place for over two weeks, however, with just 6 days remaining, I have slipped into third place. I am currently on 1,900 likes, while first place is sitting comfortably on 2,300 likes.

I have had SO much support, but I need more. Which is why I'm asking for your help JREF.

My photo can be found here, just hit "Like": https://noodlemonth.wagamama.com/noodle/404072507535936729_17672962

My event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/
If you want to read more on my love for Japan, my blog post can be found here: Sean Bradley, why do you love Japan so much?

Arigato gozaimasu!

mmmm Asahi beer, very nice!

im sorry i cant like it as i dont have facebook, i may try later on, its pretty late here now and im off to bed in a min, anyway i hope you achieve your dream

im also interested in japan, like the mix of ancient and modern as you mention, the beauty and the like

Fair enough, one like from me, and good luck!

1 like from me and i wish you a good luck, i hope your dream come true.

Another point from me. Hope you'll make it.

Moumokunojosei, undrentide, Hezam, Thomas, Thank you all so much.

There are only a few days left of the competition, and I'm roughly 700 likes behind the person in first place.

I know it's asking a lot, but if you could share this post, or even a status asking people to like the photo, then that would be incredible.

I looked at your blog. Uh, you have said nothing about specifics related to loving Japan, except 2 things which you didn't even know were Japanese, and some vague reference to culture. Could you be a lot more specific?

It's also a little disconcerting to see you are 26 or 27 and have such a fascination for Japan to want to come, yet admit that you avoid making long-term plans.

Hi Glenski,

I was trying to keep my blog vague for my friends, and casual "skimmers"

For a few years now I've took the time to study the geography of Japan and how diverse it's regions can be. The language was the main element that intrigued me at first, discovering that some regions have their own dialect (as does England) as well as their own words which often get lost in translation, even in their native land. It was during my browsing of language and geography, that I came across the concept of Wabi-sabi.

My whole life I have experienced a lot of hard knocks, but I've always picked myself up and dusted myself off. The idea that there's no use sitting around and crying about it, because in the grand scheme of things, it just doesn't matter. Life is transient. You shouldn't worry if things are not perfect, but instead be grateful for the here and now. I looked into wabi-sabi a little more and found that even some Japanese people had a hard time translating its meaning. The best definition I found was on a Japanese forum (similar to this) which called it "The soul of Japan"

Another aspect of Japan that I love, is it's cuisine. As it's apparent, I eat at Wagamama but a friend of mine recently visited Japan and brought back a 20 minute long video of a tea ceremony. Something my culture has in common with Japan, a good ol' cup of tea :gulp:

I've just realised the time, and I have work shortly, but I would love to talk to you some more on Japanese culture!

I don't have facebook. Good luck anyways.

Moumokunojosei said:

mmmm Asahi beer, very nice!

Click to expand...

Wagamama ramen suck though.

By the way... none of the youtube videos that are in your signature work!

Japan, the UK, the US, many countries have regional dialects. I don't see why that would be particularly attractive to come to any country unless one is a linguist.

The soul of Japan. I don't think anyone could really define it, and for someone who has never even visited, I guess what I should probably do to start understanding your predisposition towards it is ask: what do you see as wabi-sabi, and why is that so inviting? How would you expect to experience it?

Cuisine. Ok, now there's a good specific item. What has been your experience in the UK with Japanese foods, and what interests you in dining here? You might be able to plan a tea ceremony somewhere (there's a tea house in the Kenroku-en garden in Kanazawa, for example), but by and large there is no formal tea ceremony in daily life. I've lived here almost 15 years and never experienced one. A good general book on Japanese food is "What's what in Japanese restaurants", and you might want to check out the various info on Welcome to Bento.com (NOT devoted solely to bentos, just so you know).

I understand how you love Japan. In order to fulfill your dream, you get 1 like from me. Meanwhile, you pic is quite good

Glenski said:

Japan, the UK, the US, many countries have regional dialects. I don't see why that would be particularly attractive to come to any country unless one is a linguist.

The soul of Japan. I don't think anyone could really define it, and for someone who has never even visited, I guess what I should probably do to start understanding your predisposition towards it is ask: what do you see as wabi-sabi, and why is that so inviting? How would you expect to experience it?

Cuisine. Ok, now there's a good specific item. What has been your experience in the UK with Japanese foods, and what interests you in dining here? You might be able to plan a tea ceremony somewhere (there's a tea house in the Kenroku-en garden in Kanazawa, for example), but by and large there is no formal tea ceremony in daily life. I've lived here almost 15 years and never experienced one. A good general book on Japanese food is "What's what in Japanese restaurants", and you might want to check out the various info on Welcome to Bento.com (NOT devoted solely to bentos, just so you know).

Click to expand...

I probably should've outlined during my ramble that I have been studying language in my free time, which is why I took such an interest in the different regions and their dialects. I'm currently learning Japanese through language software, but also through language exchange websites and chat software. I'll often find I'll learn a word, or phrase, which my Japanese friends will then explain is "too formal" or "sounds odd". I hope to spend the rest of the year learning Japanese as I'm enjoying it a lot more than French (which I did at high school)

Your comments on wabi-sabi have given me plenty to think about. How WOULD I experience it? I would like to perhaps put together a "battle plan" for when I do eventually visit Japan, with a list of things I should try to experience. Prime example, booking to see a tea ceremony as you said they aren't as common as one might hope.

In my local city, there isn't much of a choice when it comes to Japanese restaurants. There is Wagamama and Yo Sushi, but these are big franchises which don't necessarily incorporate the whole experience of Japanese cuisine. However I have traveled to other local cities and found a handful of privately owned restaurants which I've loved. A common misconception amongst my friends is that Japanese food is just fish. I've managed to rid that misconception by dragging them along to the restaurants to experience it for themselves, with surprising results. I often share the little "Japanese etiquete" knowledge I have when it comes to eating too.

One of the other major elements I love (which I forgot to mention originally) is the music. I love listening to Japanese rock music as I'm in a rock band myself, and love hearing how music can transcend language barriers on lots of levels. I enjoy comparing and contrasting the similarities in the underground music scene and the big stages (Such as Osaka Jo Hall) to their Western counterparts. One band I've took a particular shine to recently is Sugar'n'Spice, if you're into your punk rock music, I highly recommend them:

[video=youtube;M8PyfnkUWXQ]
Sorry if my reply seems a little disjointed, I'm in the middle of doing ten things at once and keep flipping back to this forum haha!

Thanks for the book suggestion too! I'll check it out next week at the library. Let me know if there's any others you think would be worth looking into

The soul of Japan. I don't think anyone could really define it, and for someone who has never even visited, I guess what I should probably do to start understanding your predisposition towards it is ask: what do you see as wabi-sabi, and why is that so inviting?

Click to expand...

You still have not answered these earlier questions of mine. Can you give it a shot? It sounds like you are just infatuated with something intangible about the country, which makes it hard to discuss.

J Pop/rock is not my style. Generation gap, too.

Your language learning experiences like hearing something is too formal or unnatural sound very typical of any learner of any language. I'm not sure you realize what a dialect is, though. Most language learning situations, especially online, try to avoid them.