Writing-Vocabulary – 60/100
Listening – 87/100
Reading-Grammer – 126/200

Overall – 273/400 (68%)

I don’t know if I’ll be ready to take the new N3 exam this year. I’ve bought the text books but haven’t opened them yet so got a long way to go. Would be good to become fluent in Japanese.

Enclosed was my pension handbook that I had when I was in Japan and a “Notice of the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (Remittance)”. The icing on the cake was when I read the contents and noticed that the refund was five times larger than what I was expecting it to be, even after deduction of 20% income tax. Now I don’t feel so bad as when I left Japan and I was hit with one years worth of Resident’s tax in my last month – that left me feeling poor. Very poor.

The amount refunded is higher than expected because it appears I was contributing to an Employees’ Pension rather than the National Pension. I’m pretty sure I filled in the forms wrong (to claim the lump-sum), considering it was mostly Japanese and the English equivalent was pretty dire. At least the Japanese Pension agency knew what to do with it and has given me, what I would say, a fair refund of the contributions I had been making into a pension system I would probably never be able to receive any benefits from.

I did apply for this all the way back in July 2009 so it’s taken 6 months to process but I have a feeling that they waited until the new calendar year for the (resident) taxes to sort themselves out and to confirm my (non) residency status. The system is quite mysterious if you don’t understand Japanese.

For those in a similar situation, you should check if there is some agreement between Japan and your home country before applying for the lump-sum withdrawal. For example, your home country may allow those contributions you made in Japan to count towards your pension back home. As far as I know, the UK doesn’t have this agreement yet. The only agreement between UK and Japan is that I don’t need to be liable to taxes/national insurance contributions to both systems at the same time.

Now I just hope I gave them my correct bank details!

I got in contact with a few possible tutors when I left Japan but things didn’t really fit (schedules and location etc) so I took the self study route. I’ve been at it since September and have an idea what I need to know to pass. As it stands, exactly one month before my JLPT 3 exam, I’ve yet to start learning the Kanji! I’ve just covered the grammer points and I’m hoping I’ll have time to go over all of them again as well as do some past papers! Now that sounds like a challenge.

I did surprisingly well in last year’s JLPT 4 but I did have about one and a half year’s worth of tuition by the time I took that exam. This time I have about 3 months for double the difficulty. Anyway, I’ll try my best as always.

I’ve used various sets of text books in the past including Minna no Nihongo but my favourite is the Genki series from Japan Times:

If you’re just starting out in Japanese, I highly recommend starting with Genki I. There is a sufficient amount of English explanation for all grammer points as well as plenty of exercises. If you have a lot of money to spare or a Japanese friend who can buy these for you in Japan (much cheaper over there), I’d recommend getting the CDs, workbooks and answers too! If you’re attending a class, your teacher will probably have all the audio tracks and make copies of the workbook exercises as homework, so in that case you don’t need to get it. But for me, doing self-study, I feel they’ve helped me a lot.

CDs and workbooks:

Answers to the workbook exercises don’t seem to be available in the UK but they are on www.amazon.co.jp, so you’ll need to know someone in Japan to get that.

After the exam is over, I’ll be looking to move on from “elementary” Japanese to intermediate. Any suggestions for a good text book?

The iPhone 3GS is still working pretty well. Definitely feels faster than the previous versions. I ordered a hard case off ebay over a week ago but still waiting for it to arrive!

Anyway, I had a fun and challenging 16 months in Japan. That time has sadly come to an end though I’m not complaining at all about having to come back. It’s just hard to leave a country after living and working there and having made many friends. It was, at times, emotional too, especially after meeting a very special person (who shall remain secret). It’s always hard to say good-bye.

My last week in Japan was pretty hectic but I had a party almost every night. Mostly dinner with friends and co-workers. A huge thanks to everyone who could attend and also to those who I met during my time there. They made my stay really nice.

This was one group of friends (Hanako et al) at a jail themed restaurant called the Lockup. They asked the restaurant to give a special gift because I was leaving. So I got a birthday cake, despite it not being my birthday, and this Polaroid. (Sorry, I didn’t use a scanner.) The card they presented the Polaroid in spelt the restaurant name as “Rockup” and the space labelled for you to write a message said “Massege” making me think of a massage. Japanese English always puts a smile on my face. Huge thanks to Hiromi who helped me arrange it.

Later that evening I finally had a chance to go to Ayano’s bistro (Les Rendez-vous de Tokyo). It’s a cute little place in Nishi Azabu (near Roppongi). I wish I had the time to go and eat there but I did try an incredibly delicious Fondant Chocolat. Sweet Ayano also treated me for the meal and drinks. It’s a shame I never got to spend a lot of time with her.

During the weekday, I had dinner in Ginza with Alphametrics staff, Miho, Yuji and Kiyomi. So glad I could see them all again. Had some fun weekends with all of them and they were always very helpful.

My very last night was at Hilton Narita. I didn’t want to wake up really early the next day to travel to the airport. For sure, I didn’t sleep on the plane as always but I could stay awake without feeling too tired. I got some good shuteye in the taxi on the way back from Heathrow though.

This is for a bug report…my in flight entertainment system didn’t really like me pushing the buttons too much.

Anyway, what’s next? First I need to tidy my room and read half a year’s worth of post. Next, I’m on the market looking for a new/used car so I have some wheels to get to work. The iPhone 3GS has also jumped on to my “must buy now” list as I really need something where I can be connected all the time, hence a 3G smartphone.

And in a little over 2 weeks time, I’m heading off to Thailand for a bit of work and holiday. Still need to plan that!! So yes, I’m still fairly busy but I have a couple of days off before I start work again on the 1st of July.