Hello everyone!
Last month, I bought clothes on Yesstyle and I wanted to show it to all of you!
In this video, I also wanted to talk about my personal tips to shop there, but it was already way too long!
Instead, I will write about it here!
How I shop on Yesstyle
There is so many items and companies on Yesstyle that It can be overwhelming! If it's your first time, I suggest you to go to the popular section items, new arrivals, 48 hours deal and under ~ prices (It depend on the country. For Canada, it's under 20.25$). You will find company that you will like more!
I put everything I like in the basket and when I'm done, I review everything and delete some items. And then, I review it again and delete more items until I have everything I need. That's how I do it.
Tips to shop
Know your measurements and your body shape!
If you can, ask someone to help you get your measurements. And if you know your body shape, it can be really helpful to know as well. It will help you understand what will fit you well or not! You can always ask advice on the Ask Nikki blog that I personally really like to read!
Pay attention to not buy two items that look similar
When I first order on Yesstyle, I bought three pieces that were almost similar and now that I look back, I don't understand why I did that.
Ask your friends if they want something
If you don't want to buy a lot and still want the free shipping, ask to your relatives if they want something! Everyone will be happy :)
Look for the daily gift
Yesstyle now offers daily gift, so makes sure to check out what it is when you place your order! I didn't and I regret it now lol
Hi everyone!
Like I said on the video description, the video was getting really long, so I had to cut much of it! As I still wanted to share more informations with you all, I'm writing it here!
First, opening a bank account.
There's not much to say as the school help you a lot and all you have to do is to fill the papers! Which is quite a pain because they are really strict on how you have to write them. The bank Akamonkai is affiliated with is The Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi UFJ.
I didn't have any problem with it since I basically never use it. I can't tell if it's a good bank or not lol. Although, the service was really nice when I had to close my bank account. Of course, nobody was speaking English (Or they didn't feel like they had to... I don't know), but my Japanese level was enough to understand most of what was happening lol.The lady who close my account was also really sweet. She asked me question about Canada and she was overall really nice. I didn't have any problem with them. But like I said, I never used my bank account so...
In the video, I also tell you that I had to open an bank account with the Japanese post office to get my cellphone. If you want to open a bank account there, I think it's easier than with UFJ, but I think you can't do much. Like you can't transfer money from an account to another before I don't know how many months. (I think it was 1 year). So, it's a bit inconvenient because you have to put cash in it. For example, I don't think you can receive your pay (if you work) directly in there, so you have to get the money and put it yourself which can be a pain :/ Closing this account was also simple, so no problem. (But I guess my Japanese level was not so bad either so)
Getting a cellphone...
You don't know how much I regret going with AU.
Honestly, I really thought that going with the school would be the best because they would help us and everything. Like I said in the video, the person there who was supposed to speak English didn't speak one word of it. And then, again, we had to have our debit card to get our cellphone so we followed the man to the Japanese Post office nearby the school (By the way, we got lost along the way... hahaha)
We opened a bank account and then, went back to the school and then signed the paper, etc. They told us it would be ready after our afternoon class. Which I thought was already long to prepare a cellphone but since they had a lot to prepare, I thought okay.
But at that time, Morning Musume had just release a new single and they were doing a performance at Sunshine City where I wanted to go so badly. But if I wanted to make it, I had to hurry. But I thought "Hey, they were preparing cellphone for 4 hours, it won't take long."
I was so wrong.
So, there were about 30 of us and they put us in a classroom where we first wait, because nothing was ready. I think we waited for at least 20 minutes...
THey finally appeared. They were 3, so I thought okay, they are gonna call us 3 at the time. NO. They called us one at the time and it was soooo slow. I was so pissed off (as most of us were honestly). I remembered being sit on the floor (All the seats were taken) and being so angry at them lol. It honestly seems like there was one of them only doing something and the two others just thanking us.
I finally got my cellphone after an hour in total I think. Of course, I missed the event I wanted to go to...
And then, like I said in my video, I had to go every month to pay my bill even though it was supposed to take the money directly from my bank account. But explaining to them what was wrong was too complicated since my Japanese was bad at that time, it was less complicated to go this way. Byt honestly, I don't recommand AU at all. I've only heard/read bad things and I can confirm. Maybe their service in Japanese is better, but I never felt like they cared about me because I'm a foreigner. They never took the time to try to explain to me in an easier way. They didn't care if I didn't understand. (And I know they have to speak in super polite Japanese and it's not their fault for that but, it's somewhat frustrating when you can't understand.)
Same thing when I had to close my account. It was so long and frustrating. Plus, I got someone who was in training. Poor girl. She was really sweet, but I was probably the worst case for her. It was super complicated for nothing and then, I had to come back after 30 minutes because they couldn't just stop my contract like this it seems... (Just for a comparaison, I stopped my phone contract by phone before going to Japan and it was super simple lol)
So I came back after an hour, and then, wait again just to pay everything. So, I had to pay my monthly bill, the next one, plus the cancellation fees...
In the end, I payed about 30 000 yens just to cancel it... Bye bye money lol
And another thing, I can't use my cellphone in Canada. I asked them to unlock it because I wanted to use it in Canada and they simply said "We can't". Wow, thank you. There's no way to unlock it, so i had to buy another phone when I came to Canada... TT
Honestly, I DON'T recommand AU at all...
I think Softbank is a better option or just get a pocket wifi lol.
Thanks for reading! I hope this was helpful for you all!
I wanted to go a bit more into details about others aspects of my experience at Akamonkai Japanese Language School!
Nippori
I really like where the school is situated. Nippori is a quiet neighborhood that has everything you need. There's a grocery store and a post office really close to the school. Also, you can go anywhere really easily thanks to the yamanote line! It goes to all the main part of Tokyo like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Ueno. You can go to Ueno Park just by walking :) Nippori also has a nice market place called Yanaka. It's really close to the station. There's also the Yanaka cemetery which is pretty nice to visit. Nippori is also really famous for its fabric town.
Akamonkai Nippori Dormitory
The dormitory is nice, but it's not fantastic. It is really small and the thing I hate the most was that we didn't have a common room to chat with friends or just between roommates. Each room is small so it's hard to gather everyone in a room. The kitchen is okay. Nothing fantastic. We don't have a lot of space for all our kitchen stuffs so it's a bit too small. The shower and the toilet are okay. Even though you might have cold shower sometimes... lol
The main space (not the room) are cleaned by cleaning ladies that come during the morning. They tend to be really noisy and it's really annoying if you're trying to sleep. They don't come during the week-end. They don't come everyday except for changing the trash can's bag.
During the summer, it get really hot. You have an air conditionner which is helpful but I didn't really like it so. And sometimes, they smell... They came to clean it once but after a while, I felt like it start smelling again so I would open my windows after using it lol.
Also, there are cockroaches during summer. Yes, unfortunately. Not a lot. But you might find one or two in your room. You'll be okay if you keep your room clean, but it might happened anyway. I found one in mine (that I managed to flush in the toilet) and my roommates had two (at two different times). But I think it's like that in every house in Japan so lol.
During the winter, it get pretty cold. I was always freezing in my room and it wasn't even that cold in December so be aware of that. The air conditioner can be use as a heater as well but I didn't want to spend more money on electricity so.
Another thing I dislike about the dorms is that we didn't have any comfortable seat in our room. The chair is atrocious and I ended up having terrible back pain because I didn't have any comfortable place to study. I would either sit there or on my bed which wasn't really better.
I've only said negative things, but I still liked the dorms. It wasn't too expensive and it's really close to the school and the station, so it's really convenient. You have all the basic you need. Also, if you have a problem, they will come right away to fix it so it's nice as well.
I hope this could help you and if you have any questions, don't hesitate!
Hello everyone!
I hope you are doing good!
So, today's topic is "How to choose a Japanese Language School."
I know a lot of you are trying to find the right school for you and it's not always easy. This is my own advice on how to choose a Japanese Language School.
There's 4 things that you should take in account:
The City
Where do you want to live in Japan? Most people choose Tokyo, but there's a lot of school all around Japan so you might prefer to stay in Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Sapporo, etc. Living in a smaller city will give you less chance to speak english which is basically a good thing. It can be a scary thing for you as well. However, this is not the most important point. You might not have a precise idea of where you want to be and that's totally fine as well!
Your Budget
Coming to study in a Japanese Language school is not cheap. Living in Japan is pretty expensive as well. The rent is the most expensive thing I think. So, if you choose a smaller city, the rent will be less expensive as well. Except for the rent, living in Japan is not too bad if you're not spending too much on things you don't need. (But let's be true here, it's pretty hard to resist lol). Tuition fees and the price of the rent should be one of the first thing you check! How much can you pay for rent? Not all schools offers dorm (Actually there's only two or three I think), so you should take this in account as well.
Your Goal
This is probably the most important point. Why do you want to come to Japan? Why do you want to study Japanese? What do you want to do after? You should ask yourself this question and this will help you find the thing that are important for you. It will help you find the right school for you.
The duration of your stay
You should think about this as well. How long do you want to stay? Some people come for 3 months to see if they like Japan/ the school and then come back later.
Because there IS a possibility that Japan might not be the land of your dream like you thought. It happened to a lot of people (Me included I'd say). It's not about having some weird ideas that Japan is perfect and stuffs like that, but you do have a lot of expectations before coming and often, these expectations aren't true. No matter how prepare you are, there's always unexpected thing. I know it's a thing that a lot of people tend to forget (me too), but you shouldn't forget about this.
And I don't want to scare you of something, but it does happen more than you can think. But in the contrary, a lot of people also fell in love with Japan and want to stay here for a long time.
Something else that I didn't mention as well: not all school accept students every 3 months! Pay attention to this as well :)
When this will be over, you should be able to choose a few school before choosing the one. :)
I'll tell you how I choose Akamonkai.
City: Tokyo or Yokohama. Budget: Small budget Goal: To be able to translate Japanese. Also, to be able to go to a lot of concerts. Duration of your stay: 1 year.
None of the school in Yokohama pleased me, so I looked at all the school in Tokyo. I ended up choosing between KAI and Akamonkai. KAI was more focused on the conversation while Akamonkai was more focus on the JLPT/EJU exams. Also, Akamonkai was in a less expensive part of Tokyo and was the only one that had dorms. It was also the cheapest one in Tokyo. That's how I decided to choose Akamonkai.
If I had to go back to Canada and then come back, I'd probably choose the Fukukoa Foreign Language College because it looks pretty nice :)
That's it for today! If you have any questions, don't hesitate and comments here or on my youtube channel! (Or Twitter as well)
Hi everyone!
I finally had time to film a new video!
This time, I'm giving you my four personal tips to remember kanjis!
I guess all of you might have watch the videos, so I'm not gonna repeat myself again!
I'll just give you a bit more information about some points that I made!
Website you can use to talk with Japanese native speaker Interpal
http://www.interpals.net/
I think this one is pretty well known. I used it a long time ago and haven't use it in years, but it's still a pretty useful website.
Shared talk
I used this website about 5 years ago and it was super useful. I was always on it! It allowed you to chat with people who wanted to practice a new language. Unfortunately, the website closed just recently :( However, they are starting something new, so hopefully it will be as good!
http://talk.considerate.ly/?adw2&gclid=CPj0hpCI9McCFdcRvQodk88DJw
Oh my Japan
https://ohmyjapan.com/
This one is kind of a dating site and a site to meet language partner. I used it a bit, but I didn't like it that much. I'm still sharing with you in case you might like it.
Ameba blog http://mypage.ameba.jp/
This isn't really a website to find a language partner, but I find it really useful to practice my Japanese. Basically, it's a blog site where you can create your own personal blog. I've use it since April 2010! If you just want to write and practice, you can just talk about your daily life in your blog! I think it's pretty motivating myself! Plus, you can still meet Japanese people who might visit your blog and comment! Or you can go on Ameba pigg and try to chat with people as well :)
By the way, here is mine!
http://ameblo.jp/nozofan/ (I write in Japanese, but more often in English lol)
Applications Hellotalk http://www.hellotalk.com/#fr
If you are following Rachel and Jun on youtube (if not, you should!), you probably know about this app! I won't talk about it more here since Rachel did an excellent video about it!
I used this app a lot before coming to Japan and I loved it :) It's pretty well done!
Remembering the kanji/ Heisig Method
I won't share any links on here for copyright reason, but if you search on the internet, you can find an extract of the book! Then, you can see if this method is for you!
Anki
http://ankisrs.net/
This isn't the only flashcard program that exist, but I personally like this one a lot!
It's easy to use and there is a ton of ressources for learning Japanese!!
You can also use it on your phone and on the internet directly!
Do you have any tips to remember kanjis? Or any website/app useful? Please feel free to share!
Thanks for reading and hopefully, I will see you soon!
Hi everybody!
Long time no see!
I'm sorry we have been away for so long!
So, first here is our new video!
As you can see, I did this video by myself [Andiie], because Victor has decided to step out from Japaneki. So, from now on, I'll be doing videos all alone! Of course, since I'm almost always with him, you'll probably see him from times to times ;)
So, I received a lot of questions about studying in Akamonkai, so I decided to do a video about it. I feel like my video is all over the place, so I'm sorry! I'll try to do this blog post a bit more structured!
And also, sorry for always saying "basically" in this video, it annoys the hell out of me. Being a French speaker, I'm searching for my words a lot of times! I'm sorry about this! (;w;)
What we use to study
Minna No NihonGo
The book we use is Minna No Nihon Go. To be honest, I'm not particulary fund of this book, but Japanese seems to love it so... I used this one as well at my university. If you are curious about this book, you can easily find it on the internet, so you can look at it. Also, you don't have to pay for this book, it's include in the tuition fees.
Hiragana/Katakana book
We use this one only in the first month since this is where we learn hiragana and katakana.
Vocabulary book
This is the vocabulary book that goes with Minna No Nihon Go. It's basically the vocabulary you have to know for each lesson.
Kanji book
This is the kanji book that we use to learn new kanji everyday. You have the kanji, the reading, words with the kanji and sentences using that word.
Kanji Practice book
This is the book we used to practice our kanji everyday. You have to write each word 10 times. Plus, you have to write the reading in hiragana above each one.
Katakana book
This is the katakaka book we use starting from the second month. It's images and katakana. We do this everyday.
Sakubun
The Sakubun is a book for when we do writing. Sometimes we do it in class, somestimes it's an homework.
The first month
The first month is really basic stuffs. You learn all hiragana and katakana. You learn how to do a basic sentences, how to count, etc. You learn till lesson 6 in Minna No Nihongo.
Also, you have two teachers by class. One for Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the other for Tuesday and Thursday.
Then, you have a test to know if you go to the quick pace class (2 days a lesson) or the slow pace one (3 days a lesson).
The second and third month
So, you get a new class after the test. New classmates and new teachers, yeah!
I was in the afternoon class and I will tell you how it looks like:
13:00-13:45
We usually do the kanji and katakana test. Then, we learned new kanjis and new katakana.
13:45-13:55
Break!
13:55-14:40
We usually review what we did the day before and practice a bit more.
14:40-14:50
Another break! Yeah!
14:50-15:35
We learn new stuffs.
15:35-15:45
Yes, another break!
15:45-16:30
We still talk about the same thing we start learning.
Somedays are pretty boring, I must admit. But sometimes, they are also pretty fun. I think the subject and the teacher can make it fun or boring, but so far, I didn't have any bad teacher.
We usually get one sheet of exercices as homework which is not much. Plus, the kanji practice that you have to do. I usually take about one hour to do my homework. (Because the kanji are long to write.)
I can only speak for this level so far, but I have a lot of free time. If it's something that worries you about Akamonkai, I can tell you that you will have free time in the first three months. We have a lot of vacations as well. Of course, during longer vacations, we have homework as well, but it's not that bad. Also, we don't have more homework for the week-end as we do during weekdays, so no problem there as well.
So, I hope this helped you a bit more and if you have any questions, please ask me in the comments section! I'll be happy to help you!
You can also join me on twitter (yukinozofan or Japaneki).
Thanks for reading and see you soon hopefully!
P.S. I know this blog looks so ugly, I'm sorry! I'll try to change it when I'll have time!
Hello everyone!
We finally release a new video! Sorry for the long absence!
Today, I'm going to present you an attraction we found in Sunshine City!
Actually, we were supposed to go to Sunshine City's aquarium that day, but we found a little gem on the 3rd floor which is the J-World!
So, basically, J-World is a small attraction parks (kinda) and its theme is Shounen! The three mains are : One Piece, Dragon Ball and Naruto! It's basically made for children, but adults can enjoy it too. Actually, there were a lot of childrens, but also a lot of girls (teens and young adults).
We first headed to the Dragon Ball area because Victor is a huge fan of Dragon ball! The Dragon Ball sections has two games: "Seek! DRAGON BALLS!!" and "Shoot! KAMEHAMEGA".
We did the Kamehameha first. It's pretty cool actually, even for me who isn't a fan.
First, there is someone who explained you the three steps for a good kamehameha. Then, you enter a room with a big screen and you put the 3D glasses on. It really feels like the character talks to you! And then, you help them beat the bad guys. It was a really fun experience!
Picture from the pamphlet
Then, we tried the other one. You had to find the dragon ball that the Red Ribbon (?) had stolen. Basically, it was a lot of mini games. It was quite fun even though Victor and I weren't really good. But we still managed to bring back the 7 Dragon Balls. At the end, you can go to a little show which is quite nice if you're a fan! The Dragon Ball section also has some place where you can take pictures!
Everyday, there's a different mascot. Victor had luck since that day, it was Goku!
Then, we head to the Naruto section!
(I had to take a picture in front of Konoha!!)
The Naruto section is the smallest of the three. It only has one game (One piece has three).
It also has some mini games as you can see on the video.
The game in the Naruto Sections is called "A fierce fight! NINKAI TAISEN EMAKI".
Basically, you had to fight against Akatsuki. Kakashi and Gaara gives you instructions and you have to do some stuffs. It was really fun!
(I saved Konoha!!)
The food section is also in the Naruto Section!
We both ate Ramen in the Ichiraku Ramen place. It was good, but a little bit pricey.
There was also a pattiserie shop!
It was pricey, but I had to tried the Kakashi one :D
We didn't visit the One Piece section as we aren't really fan of One Piece (I have to watch it though!).
There's also a J-World Store Inside which was quite pricey and they didn't have a lot of stock of One Piece, Naruto and Dragon Ball. They had more of the three anime (I don't know the name) that had an exposition at the J-World at that moment.
There's also a J-Carnival place with is like a small game center.
Overall, we spent about three or four hours in there. We really enjoyed our day!
