Tiny People

The people here are fucking tiny.

I'm trying to buy shoes online, using the Japanese version of amazon.  No one here has shoes that go over size 9.  No one.  The online retailers literally have no option above size 9.  There is not a person in Japan that has feet longer than 28 centimetres.  Size 9 is the biggest their feet ever get.  No one in the history of japan, its entire history, has ever had feet bigger than size 9.  No one.  Ever.

I went for a run yesterday, and my knee was a little sore.  I'm going to give it another week or so to recover, and instead I'm going to focus on gym work.  This got me thinking about my shoes though, as I've been pounding these trainers into dust for months now.  Time to get new shoes, I thought.

Anyway, I've bought a pair of the biggest shoes I can find for thirty quid, so let's see if A: they turn up and B: they fit.

It's funny, because when you talk to the locals, they will tell you they're drowning in foreigners.  All these foreigners walking around, destroying their ways of life, taking their women and jobs etcetera.  That many foreigners is a hefty market to be leveraged, and if I know my humanity, any exploitable resource will be shanked immediately upon being discovered: therefore one of two things is true.  Either, humanity isn't as transparent as I've been led to believe, and this massive market of foreigners isn't being tapped - or this massive market of foreigners doesn't exist, and the market therefore refuses to cater for them as it would be too costly.  You decide which is true.

It's also snowing a veritable shit-ton, but it's forecast to start raining soon.  Hopefully it won't rain and they'll cancel school (it really is precipitating vociferously).  Of course, now I've written this it'll stop.  Damnit.  I want to run outside and make a snowman, but it's warm enough that I fear it wouldn't last the night anyway.

Oh well...

On a side-note, I have some pictures to upload.  One of them is a picture of me, as drawn in a japanese cartoon style by one of the kids - the other is a collection of more pictures from when I was pelted by beans.

University and Studying

So I've been accepted into Aston universities correspondence teaching course.  And I finally found the correct apostrophe on this keyboard.  ' look much nicer than `.  I don't even know what that second one is.

Due to my initial interest in this course beginning when I was in Korea, half of my address information was Korean (as I didn't know where I would be in Japan, I was advised to simply put down my (then) current Korean information) and the other half was Japanese.  As such, the university queried my personal information, and this pushed me over the April deadline for admissions.  This means I'll be enrolling in the October intake.

In the meantime, I have a mahoosive reading list, a dozen titles provided by them, and dozens more recommended to me by others.

I also need to send in a certified copy of my passport page.  In the spiel given to me by the university, it states that I need a professional to certify it, which can be any one of: a doctor, lawyer, civil servant, police officer or worker of the state.  It also means a teacher can provide this certification.  Does that mean I can sign it myself and send it back to them?  Either way, I'm surrounded by teachers, and I have three possible head teachers to choose from, should they be willing to verify my documents.  I'm going to try and convince one of them to write a little message in Japanese, to see if anyone at Aston understands.

In footwear related news, I have received a new pair of shoes, curtesy of my father.  They're the brightest, most vulgar things you have ever seen.  They're running shoes, with tons of give and flex, and they weigh nothing.  Needless to say, they're bitchin'.

I am reminded of visiting america a number of years ago and purchasing a pair of bright yellow Saucony running shoes.  They didn't leave my feet until I'd outgrown them, and this bright orange pair being of the same make and comfort, I expect the same will be true here.

If you ever come to Japan, make sure you bring two pairs of shoes with you.  One pair will act as your outdoor shoes, and the other will act as all-purpose, indoor footwear.  I use the bright orange ones indoors and for exercise, as they provide the most protection from constant pounding on treadmills and whatnot.

If you're interested, these are the shoes in question.  I can vouch for their initial awesomeness, but not for their longevity or wear.  Only time will tell, as they say.

That's all there is to it, at the moment.  The cherry blossoms have almost all fallen, which means something I'm sure.