=D

[Little Plague]

Well, well! Good day everybody and welcome to the first hangout in this section of the guild! Here we can meet new people and make plenty of friends. So welcome to a thread-yet-to-be-named!

Actually, there are many things yet to be done with this thread. . . For example, I don't even know what to do with it as of yet! But I will pull stuff together soon.  

[Kiseimaru]

fantastic ^_^ enjoying my day off from work. How are you?  

[FALKEN DRIFT EXTREME]

Im doing pretty good. im hyper and bored tho  

[Kiseimaru]

I usually try to do something in Japanese when I'm bored... like watch a drama, listen to a radio show, play a DS game in Japanese... work on my Kanji XD but then again I find it all fun... XD  

[FALKEN DRIFT EXTREME]

i find it fun to confuse people by throwing what i do know in japanese randomly into any conversation.
or just going up to people speaking the little bit of japanese i do know. their faces are priceless  

[Little Plague]

My gosh. I know practically no Japanese still. I suppose that I only have myself to blame for taking these ridiculous violin classes. Oi. Next on my list is Japanese! Then I can teach you youngins!

So I have a question, and I do hope this topic picks up a tad. Oh~ Perhaps we shall name it too! For being the first real living (sort of) topic around! =D Anyway, back to the question.

Do any of you intend on moving to Japan or somewhere near there? Gosh, I so want to but it's so difficult to pick a place that would be best for those who. . .
- Do not speak Japanese so well
- Would like to be near water AND/OR live in a kind community
- Would be a lovely place to raise a family

I'd actually rather not live in Tokyo so much because, well, living in Chicago has taught me that I'd actually prefer the country-ish side. Another thing is that I'd love to experience the culture. @ -@ What do you people think??

-Poor Kiwi has been dwelling on these thoughts for about three years. . .-

Oh yes. And what should I do with my LATEST problem? I got a boyfriend. Well, we're going through a trial period but he doesn't have any interest in Japan. Should I just leave him now, knowing this relationship would die soon or should I just steal him? I mean, seriously. This kid's hot but. . . I don't want him getting in the way of my dreams. D<

Gosh. I type a lot.  

[Kiseimaru]

Kiwi Popp

My gosh. I know practically no Japanese still. I suppose that I only have myself to blame for taking these ridiculous violin classes. Oi. Next on my list is Japanese! Then I can teach you youngins!

So I have a question, and I do hope this topic picks up a tad. Oh~ Perhaps we shall name it too! For being the first real living (sort of) topic around! =D Anyway, back to the question.

Do any of you intend on moving to Japan or somewhere near there? Gosh, I so want to but it's so difficult to pick a place that would be best for those who. . .
- Do not speak Japanese so well
- Would like to be near water AND/OR live in a kind community
- Would be a lovely place to raise a family

I'd actually rather not live in Tokyo so much because, well, living in Chicago has taught me that I'd actually prefer the country-ish side. Another thing is that I'd love to experience the culture. @ -@ What do you people think??

-Poor Kiwi has been dwelling on these thoughts for about three years. . .-

Oh yes. And what should I do with my LATEST problem? I got a boyfriend. Well, we're going through a trial period but he doesn't have any interest in Japan. Should I just leave him now, knowing this relationship would die soon or should I just steal him? I mean, seriously. This kid's hot but. . . I don't want him getting in the way of my dreams. D<

Gosh. I type a lot.

OK, first set of questions:
At one point I did want to move there... but now I'm thinking maybe being there for a few years and then getting a job that would send me back every now and again would be better. I just got back from a study abroad there about 2-3 months ago and it was SOOOOOOOOO much fun... but it was mainly fun because I was a student... my desire to live there might change after I go back to teach *hopefully*.

I wouldn't worry about the enlgish thing... unless you move all the way out in the country. There will be virtually no English out there. I was in the city of Nagoya and it was really nice. Not too crowed and everything was real close ^_^. A lot of people spoke some english and many signs had the english under the Japanese. It's great to want to experience the culture too... but I learned early on that I didn't really have the stomach for the more traditional food that seemed to be found the further away we got from the city... so for me, I'd really like to live in Nagoya... but you'll really just have to go around and see what you like. So I'd recommend visiting for a little while or a few times to different types of places to see which you like better.

Japan is a pretty safe country overall but it does still have it's weird ones. But there was never a moment that I was worried I was in danger... you mainly have to watch out for picpockets. So really you can't go wrong no matter where you go ^_^

However, one thing that I know that we talked about while we were over there was raising a family in Japan... there are a few things to consider.
1) Education system - it's very different then in the states... I've had a lot of the people at Nanzan tell me that highschool was harder that college XD Also, one of the classes had to take polls of the students... and for one...the majority of the females said that they only went to college to find a husband or kill time and that they would be happy to just get married and cook and clean. The majority of the guys said that they wanted a woman who was good at cooking and cleaning.... and that's it. I think there was one guy who did say that he likes good conversation... but he was the only one crying

2) You kids won't be Japanese ( or they'll be only half...) - That is unless you of asian decent yourself XD Regardless if your kids can speak Japanese... they will be more likely to get teased for being foreign. People will stare... not with the intent of being rude... but just because they've never seen a foreigner before... and it's even more true the further you get away from cities. My good friend who went abroad with me said she would never want to raise kids in Japan because, while more and more people are being more accepting of half or all foreigners, they are still more likely to get teased.... but then again, kids can be cruel no matter where you are... but it's still food for thought. *shrug*

3) You and your family will be in Japan, the majority (if not all) of the kid's relatives will be back in the states. - This is probably the problem that gives me the most worry when I think about moving to Japan.... it would break my mom's heart to never get to see her grandkids. So unless I land a super good job that could get my parents to fly in often... yeah... also.... if you end up with a Japanese guy.... and you never get around to learning Japanese (which you would be silly not to) how would you communicate with his family.... not to mention if his mom is more old fashion... they can be really picky about stuff.

So yeah, I dunno how old you are but you have a lot of time to worry about where you want to live and all.... and if worse comes to worse, you can always just retire there XD Same thing goes with your current boy worry, I assume that you are dating this guy 'cause you actually like him and not just because you find him attractive.... You never know, he might grow to like Japan... but there is not point in squashing out what you have now on a maybe ^_^.


and Pish to the I don't know Japanese because of violin lessons..... if the drive is there... so will the time do learn ^_~  

[InsomniacNightlight]

Kiseimaru

I usually try to do something in Japanese when I'm bored... like watch a drama, listen to a radio show, play a DS game in Japanese... work on my Kanji XD but then again I find it all fun... XD

i think kanji is extradonary for me biggrin

but as for violin i used to play the viola. and i was always into japanese, im trying to teach myself too. haha lol  

[Little Plague]

Yes, well, it would seem that my liking for him wasn't the same as his liking for me. I cut the relationship already. Pah. It's quite ridiculous, actually. Sometimes I wonder if men in Chicago even think with their real head. D<

Anyway, I'm of Japanese blood so I do believe things won't be so bad. My mother is. . . Loosing her mind. Unfortunately, she doesn't want much to do with me but my dad is cool. He makes so much money. . . He said he'd enjoy flying out to see me every now and then. Though he doesn't share his money. . . Stingy old folk.

I plan to wait to move until I find a place and visit some. ^^ I'm quick to think but I do think about how to do what I want.  

[The Comment Rabbit]

Yaaaaayy for the first hang out here : D
I really need to learn Japanese soon.
I know a lot of different words and phrase and stuff,
but I'm not even close to learning the whole actual language.
Aaaah.
Fail.
I really need to start studying more often soon :/.  

[Marie aka Rogue]

Yes, Japanese is fun to learn, and I agree with Falken Drift Extreme, it is just fun to throw in a word or phase, and people are like what? Like the other day I said the phase 'hi, how are you?' in Japanese and my friends were like 'what'? and I told them what it meant, and they were like, "oh, we just thought that we couldn't understand your English, but it wasn't even English" then they laughed at how stupid they were for thinking I said something in English.  

[Marie aka Rogue]

I guess no one is on this late, lol... well maybe when I get on tomorrow, or Friday morning?  

[Kiseimaru]

The Comment Rabbit

Yaaaaayy for the first hang out here : D
I really need to learn Japanese soon.
I know a lot of different words and phrase and stuff,
but I'm not even close to learning the whole actual language.
Aaaah.
Fail.
I really need to start studying more often soon :/.

lol when you think about it, not even native speakers know the whole language ^_^  

[Marie aka Rogue]

Kiseimaru

The Comment Rabbit

Yaaaaayy for the first hang out here : D
I really need to learn Japanese soon.
I know a lot of different words and phrase and stuff,
but I'm not even close to learning the whole actual language.
Aaaah.
Fail.
I really need to start studying more often soon :/.

lol when you think about it, not even native speakers know the whole language ^_^

I think you are right, but they are most likely closer than we will ever be  

[Marie aka Rogue]

I guess this hang out is not doing to well, come and hang with me smile