Ask our reporter in Japan!

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I have a question! Sorry if it's been asked before.

In pictures and videos everywhere of Japanese streets, I see people wandering around with masks on that in the UK only dentists and surgeons wear. Why do they do this? Is it something to do with pollution?
 
Latest Trends
To be honest I'm always at work so I have no Idea :lol: What kinds of things do you want to know about?

Masks
Nothing to do with pollution. They're for people with colds/allergies.
 
Berserk

Yah! I just joined this site and this is the first thing I would like to ask. I am a huge fan of Berserk and I know that people are tired of hearing this or being asked this but is there any new information of wether or not there will be a second season to the Berserk anime.....?
 
Chris said:
Latest Trends
To be honest I'm always at work so I have no Idea :lol: What kinds of things do you want to know about?

Masks
Nothing to do with pollution. They're for people with colds/allergies.
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I wish this trend would catch on here in the UK.

Hello Chris,
I have a question regarding filler episodes in some animes. It seems to be a trend only seen in Japan that when a series catches up with the manga, instead of just ending that series on a cliffhanger, and then restart production when there is enough of the manga story written to continue, the producer will commission filler episodes that only seem to annoy any fan of say Naruto as an example. Can you ask someone at Studio Pierrot, producers of Naruto, why is it felt so necessary to do this? Is that possible?
The Producers are listed as:
Akiko Gujima
Hiroshi Hagino
Noriko Kobayashi.
Many Thanks in advance.
M-
 
I'll see what I can do, but, I doubt they'd pay much attention, it's a pretty agressive question to ask. I doubt I'd be able to get hold of the producers I'm betting I'll be BS'd off by reception. I'll give it a shot on Monday.
 
Chris said:
I'll see what I can do, but, I doubt they'd pay much attention, it's a pretty agressive question to ask. I doubt I'd be able to get hold of the producers I'm betting I'll be BS'd off by reception. I'll give it a shot on Monday.
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Be diplomatic, and say you're a reporter for an English anime news service. Play on the reason " the gaijins overseas don't understand it an need educating." You should have no problem and you won't be lying mostly. And though getting an interview with those producers would be a great achievement, just getting a statement from their PR department will do. Good luck.
 
I called them and got told that questions like that could only be answered by producers who asre VERY busy people. I gave them my contact info. Doubt I'll hear anything back though but might be lucky.
 
Chris said:
I called them and got told that questions like that could only be answered by producers who asre VERY busy people. I gave them my contact info. Doubt I'll hear anything back though but might be lucky.
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Thanks.We can only hope, but it is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. :wink: I hope it wasn't too much of an earth moving experience for you there. :wink:
 
If Chris is still about and visiting this topic, I suddenly thought of a random question which I'm sure I can live without knowing the answer to.

Are there any common surnames in Japan like in England? Example would be Smith, Jackson, Anderson etc. Thanks!
 
I've got a question for you Chris. Even though it's been asked a million times how hard/easy would it be for someone like me to get a job in Japan? I'm not talking about Teaching though, my field is Building Surveying. Are there alot of good construction companies in Japan taking on forgien workers? I love the design and architecture in Japan and would love to get my hands on some construction work there.

Also how easy did you pick up learning to read and write Japanese? I can speak some very basic things, the usual hello goodbye etc but not enough to hold a coversation. Also couldn't read a bit of Japanese literature to save my life.

I've had a good read of this thread and you seem to be enjoying your time in Japan, I'm going to be leaving the country too and Japan is on my shortlist of countries but to me this seems like the most difficult yet most interesting.

Thanks.
 
Alice said:
Are there any common surnames in Japan like in England? Example would be Smith, Jackson, Anderson etc. Thanks!
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Watanabe seems to be like the Japanese version of Smith.
 
Common surnames
The nearest one to smith would be Suzuki. It's the most common name in Japan. Sato is the 2nd.

Construction jobs
I don't really know much about that area but, I've never seen a forigner doing that kind of work. I spoke to a friend who's in that feild and he said that compaies will only recruit people who graduated from a Japanese university since building construction is a lot harder in Japan because of all the extra supports etc needed for earthquake safety.

Japanese
It looks hard at first but it's REALLY easy. I hardly had a problem after my first 10 months or so.
 
Evening Chris,

So how did you learn to read and write? Was it a case of learning it from your wife or did you teach yourself? On the job aspect i was looking more into the maintanence and upkeep of buildings as thats what i'm training to do, i figured it wouldn't be diferent from what i already know but it's the case of the language barrier that bugs me the most, it would be deeply appreciated if you could find out a bit more about that for me.

Also either next year or in 2009 I plan on taking a month or so trip to Japan for a number of reasons. I know hotels for that amount of time cost alot but i was reading on the internet that the hostels there are supposed to be really could, do you have any idea or information on them? I have a million and one questions but i don't want to be rude.

Thanks again.
 
I'm planning a trip to Japan next year. It will probably be about 4-5 days in Tokyo and a couple in Kyoto (mostly to see Himeji castle) but the train seems really expensive. Is there a cheaper way, or is Himeji overrated anyway?
 
I learnt to read any write by mailing my wife/friends and watching TV a lot. Once you get going it isn't hard.

As, for jobs, you'd have to get a qualification in what is needed ,when an earthquake hits. Without one I doubt you'd have a chance. A lot of people from the States, especially the W.coast come to Japan to study earthquake architecture and structural support.

Hotels? I work in one (there at the moment). The best I could get you would be about 150 to 200 quid per night... Hostels are cheap but they sound a bit dodgy to be honest. If you stay out side Tokyo, in Saitama or Chiba, places can be a lot cheaper.


Trains are expensive here, whenever I go to Western Japan or somewhere in the North, I always go by plane. It's cheaper.
Never been on one myself but you can also get an overnight bus from Tokyo to Kyoto or Osaka which is cheap, about Y4000-ish.
Himeji... to be honest I'm not into all the "Japan" stuff, especially traditional things. In my opinion, if you've seen one casle, you've seen them all. Same thing with temples, every single one looks almost identical. Maybe I'm just uncultured.
 
Thanks Chris. Looks like we'll give it a miss this trip and concentrate on Tokyo, there's a few decent castles that we can do as day trips from the city so we'll try them.
 
The whole, once you continuously hear a language you eventually begin to understand it. i am still confused how that works. and same with the writing side of it.

Was there any books or websites or anything at all that helped you get to grips with the language barrier.

thanks
 
jayme12345 said:
The whole, once you continuously hear a language you eventually begin to understand it. i am still confused how that works. and same with the writing side of it.

Was there any books or websites or anything at all that helped you get to grips with the language barrier.

thanks
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No, I didn't even use a computer at that time. I didn't say that I learnt by just listening, it's about talking to people. Takes a while at the start but after that it's easy. No books, no schools, no sites, which gave me a "native" accent, rather than that f***ing irritating gaijin accent.

Writing is a bit more trickier but if you use it every day then it's not hard at all.
 
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