Lukas and Martina in Japan//japan.lukas-prokop.at/blog/2017-06-08T20:30:00+09:00Visiting the Kobe University Medical Center2017-06-08T20:30:00+09:002017-06-08T20:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-06-08:blog/kobe-university-medical-center.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses an event from Thursday, the 8th of June 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Unlike Austria, universities in Japan have a medical center on their own. If you are a student of the university and feel sick in any way, you have to go to the medical center. Also as a resident of the dormitory administered by the university, if you feel sick, you have to contact the universities' medical center.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Since the training camp in May 2017, my knee hurts. However, I decided against going there and preferred to rest my leg as good as possible. Right now, it hurts only little and on Saturday, I will try doing Aikidō again. After my first exam this week (Japanese composition on Tuesday), my throat began to hurt. Today the rainy season began and people are turning on and off the air conditioner often, because the high humidity makes you feel sweaty and at the same time, the air is actually cold. So people have a different opinion on the perceived temperature. Anyhow, during the exam the air conditioner blew extraordinarily hot air and I was the last student finishing. So my throat got dry and ever since that, my throat hurts a little. I think this is actually just a consequence of a recent lack of sleep. In average, I sleep about 5-6 hours per day, which is below my Austrian average of little less than 8 hours.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I decided to go to the doctor. On the one hand, I was a little concerned, because the throat only hurts on the left side (to my knowledge, this is uncommon) and on the other hand, to get an idea how the Medical Center works. You have to enter at the north entrance, unlike the west entrance we used for the <a href="last-oct-week.html">yearly Medical Checkup</a>. After entering, you push the button to get a ticket just like in an Austrian or Japanese governmental building. A staff member immediately responded and asked me for the matter. I replied with "My throat hurts". She gave me a surgical mask and a clinical thermometer. She asked me for my student card, which she returned very soon. After one minute, 37.1 degrees have been measured. It seemed very professional.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I was asked into a small room. The doctor was sitting in front of the computer and asked me to sit down. After conveying that I prefer English over Japanese, he continued in English. I told him the symptoms and he took a close-up look at my throat. He pointed out that it was red inside and I have a "common cold". "I will give you some drugs. Please wait outside". So apparently that was it and I went back into the waiting area. I got some pills and they informed me about the pill’s schedule. Goodbye.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Overall it took less than 20 minutes and I was wondering about the performance. The beginning was really fine, but the doctor potentially came to premature conclusions. I was not even asked about allergies or other medicines I take. I think these are compulsory questions before prescribing some pills.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Japanese health care system is considered stable, but a little bit out-dated according to <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/19/national/japans-buckling-health-care-system-crossroads/">japantimes</a>. It’s main advantage is that the vast majority of people in Japan are covered by health just like in Austria. One well-known difference between Japan and Western countries (Europe and especially the US) is that foreign prescribed medicine is typically much stronger than Japan’s. So painkillers, for example, are weak and the American continued to suffer from toothache after taking the drug. On the other hand, one foreigner with mental health issues was put on extremely heavy drugs to control his anxieties at night. He said he felt like he was drunk all the time and recognizably, he moved much slower. Every movements of his was exhausting to perform for him. I will leave it to the reader to judge on this, but I think the treatment of mental health issues is very different in Japan and other countries.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Coming to a conclusion: The infrastructure is professional, but the medical attention comes very short. From just one encounter, I cannot draw any further conclusions. For students, it is of course convenient to go to universities' Medical Center. Regarding Austrian students, you need to go to the hospital by public transport or if it is not possible, you can call the ambulance.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
My summer term schedule2017-04-17T15:12:00+09:002017-04-17T15:12:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-04-17:blog/my-summer-semester-schedule.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This table discusses my schedule in summer term 2017/2018. My courses do not differ between the quarters.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Compared to <a href="my-winter-semester-schedule.html">last semester</a>, this semester’s schedule is quite easy. I got accepted for the Intensive Japanese course, which allows me to do a lot of Japanese, a tiny bit Mathematics and lots of Aikidō. Or at least that is the plan. The intensive course is worth pointing out, because it <a href="http://japan.lukas-prokop.at/blog/first-intensive.html">did not work out last semester</a> and therefore I had to find alternatives. Only 10 people are accepted per intensive course per level. But now, the pre-recognition at University of Graz is in progress and I am looking forward to a semester, where I want to:</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
improve my Japanese skills a lot
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
take an Aikidō exam
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
finish my bachelor thesis in Mathematics
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>However, I have to make a sacrifice. It worked out nicely last semester spending one day of the week on sightseeing. However, this semester, I am too busy to continue this effort and I generally terminate this concept. I will focus on spending some time in the park, follow events of my Aikidō club and study hard. As such I will only occassionally go for sightseeing and will postpone most of the actions to next summer.</p></div>
<table class="tableblock frame-topbot grid-all" style="
width:100%;
">
<caption class="title">Table 1. My schedule in summer 2017/2018 as Kobe University exchange student</caption>
<col style="width:6%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"> </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Monday, 月曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Tuesday, 火曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Wednesday, 水曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Thursday, 木曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Friday, 金曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Saturday, 土曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Sunday, 日曜日 </th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>07:20-07:30</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>07:30-07:40</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>07:50-08:45</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>08:50-10:20</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Upper Elementary Japanese Listening</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>10:40-12:10</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Upper Elementary Japanese Speaking</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>12:10-13:20</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>13:20-14:50</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Upper Elementary Japanese Writing</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Bachelor thesis seminar</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Upper Elementary Japanese Reading</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Japanese Kanji and Vocabulary B</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>15:10-15:30</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>15:30-16:40</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>17:00-17:40</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>17:40-19:00</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>19:00-19:45</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikidō</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>19:45-20:30</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>20:30-23:59</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Free</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</col></col></col></col></col></col></col></col></table>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I like numbers. So let’s talk about statistics:</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
In the 1st semester, I spent 12 periods in class after dropping 2 periods. This semester, I spend 14 periods in class. One period is exactly 1.5 hours.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
In the 1st semester, I spent 7 periods in classes I consider as language acquisition (58%). I spent 2 periods on Japanese culture (17%). 2 periods on extracurricular topics (17%). 1 period on Mathematics (8%). This semester, I spend 13 periods on language acquisition (93%) and 1 period on Mathematics (7%).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
So I spent 18 hours a week in class. In average, I was in the Aikidō Dōjō on 3 days a week for about 2.5 hours. That’s 7.5 hours in class. And in average I spent about 4-5 hours per week on sightseeing. That makes 60% university, 25% Aikidō and 15% sightseeing. Now, I spend 21 hours in classes. I am going to spend 4 days a week in the Aikidō Dōjō for about 3 hours each (12 hours per week in total). And there are no plans to do sightseeing regularly. So 64% language acquisition and 36% Aikidō.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>がんばって!(engl. Let’s go for it! Let’s do this!)</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ "At university" means I study at university. I study Kanji, write my bachelor thesis or revise <a href="http://wanikani.com/">WaniKani</a>.<br>
※ "Free" means I study, eat, shower, tidy up my room or organize my life. Sometimes I have <a href="https://appear.in/">video conferences</a>.<br>
※ "Going home" takes me ~40 minutes and most of the time, I visit the supermarket before going home. This takes me further 15 minutes.<br>
※ Lunch time means eating at university (LANSBOX Vege Dining cafeteria), chatting with Martina and going back to studying until the next class begins.<br>
※ My "Intensive Upper Elementary Japanese" class covers grammar, vocabulary and interactive exercises of <a href="https://www.amazon.de/Minna-Nihongo-Kanji-Kana-Hauptlehrbuch-Kanji-kana/dp/4883196461/">みんなの 日本語 book 2</a> and maybe a little bit more, but this is not scheduled yet.<br/></br></br></br></br></p></div>
</div>
</div>
Wien? No. Vienna? Oh, interesting!2017-02-01T15:23:00+09:002017-02-01T15:23:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-02-01:blog/wien-no-vienna-yes.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article talks about my presentation on Monday, 30th of January 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Monday, I held a presentation about Austria. The beginning was Japanese and on the 2nd of 4 pages I continued in English. In front of 3 people and one teacher, I showed them geographical, historical, culinary and cultural aspects of Austria in 1.5 hours. Due to copyrights, I cannot show you the slides, sorry.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>But after the presentation, one of the guys talked to me:</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Him: Oh man, you made me tired during your presentation about Austria. But when you mentioned in the end that ウィーン (Wien) is actually Vienna, you got all my attention.<br>
Me: Why?<br>
Him: I don’t know Austria, but many of my Christian friends go to Wien. I didn’t know that Wien is Vienna. Now I am interested.</br></br></p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— Conversation with an international student
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Okay, I guess I learned something new about Austria again.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
My winter term schedule2016-12-10T19:00:00+09:002016-12-10T19:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-10:blog/my-winter-semester-schedule.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This table discusses my schedule in winter term 2016/2017. My courses do not differ between the quarters.</p></div>
<table class="tableblock frame-topbot grid-all" style="
width:100%;
">
<caption class="title">Table 1. My schedule in winter 2016/2017 as Kobe University exchange student</caption>
<col style="width:6%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<col style="width:13%;">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"> </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Monday, 月曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Tuesday, 火曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Wednesday, 水曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Thursday, 木曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Friday, 金曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Saturday, 土曜日 </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-center valign-top">Sunday, 日曜日 </th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>07:20-07:30</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up, stretch</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>07:30-07:50</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Breakfast</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Sleeping</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>07:50-08:45</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Get up</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>08:50-10:20</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Elementary Japanese Integrated</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Elementary Japanese Integrated</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Jap. Listening & Speaking</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Elementary Japanese Integrated</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Elementary Japanese Integrated</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>10:40-12:10</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Speech communication</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Jap. Reading & Writing</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">English Composition ※²</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Studying, commuting</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>12:10-13:20</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Lunch time</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>13:20-14:50</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Japanese Culture</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">A comparative study in Japanese Cultural Industry</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Japanese Kanji and Vocabulary A</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>15:10-16:40</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Bachelor thesis seminar</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>17:00-17:40</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">EU-Japan comparative seminar</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At university</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Academic Writing ※¹</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido, Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>17:40-18:30</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">EU-Japan comparative seminar</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Kyokushin Karate</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Academic Writing ※¹</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>18:30-19:15</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Event day</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>19:15-21:00</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">optionally Aikido</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-right valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><em>21:00-23:59</em></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">Going home, at home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-center valign-top"><p class="tableblock monospaced">At home</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</col></col></col></col></col></col></col></col></table>
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ "At university" means I study at university. I study Kanji, write my bachelor thesis or revise <a href="http://wanikani.com/">WaniKani</a>. Sometimes I upload photos or blog articles after writing them.<br>
※ "At home" means I study, eat, shower, tidy up my room or organize my life. Sometimes I have <a href="https://appear.in/">video conferences</a>.<br>
※ "Going home" takes me ~40 minutes and most of the time, I visit the supermarket before going home. This takes me further 15 minutes.<br>
※ Aikido lasts 2 or 4 hours on Thursday. Aikido lasts 3 hours on Saturday (beginning at 12:00, 13:00 or 17:00). Kyokushin Karate only lasts 1 hour.<br>
※ Lunch time means eating at university (LANSBOX Vege Dining cafeteria), chatting with Martina and going back to studying until the next class begins.<br>
※ My event days are documented in the <a href="category/event-day.html">event-day category</a>.
※¹ My "Elementary Japanese Integrated" class including grammar, vocabulary and interactive exercises based on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Minna-No-Nihongo-Beginner-2nd/dp/4883196038">みんなの 日本語 </a>.<br>
※¹ As of <a href="this-mid-nov-week.html">19th of November 2016</a>, I do not attend "Academic Writing" anymore. I got informed from the beginning of the semester, that I cannot get a grade. I go home earlier.<br>
※² As of <a href="this-mid-nov-week.html">19th of November 2016</a>, I do not attend "English Composition" anymore as I got informed, that I cannot get a grade.</br></br></br></br></br></br></br></p></div>
</div>
</div>
Aikido Trained the Austrian and Japanese Way2016-11-27T23:45:00+09:002016-11-27T23:45:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-27:blog/aikido-training.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This text was a recent submission by Lukas in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay">essay</a>-writing for our class "Academic Writing". Lukas is not attending this class any more.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Aikido is a traditional martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba in Japan. It employs a defensive approach using the attacker’s energy against himself. The techniques typically terminate with a throw or a joint lock. Today, Aikido is practiced in many parts of the world including Austria and Japan. Let’s take a closer look at the apparent differences in the training styles between the two countries.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
First of all, training in Austria is done with less structure. People greet each other when entering the Dojo and warm up together. They also offer to work together formally. But in Japan those greetings and wishes are expressed more often. Specifically before every individual attack, people express their gratefulness. The greetings and wishes shared is generally much larger.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Secondly, Austrian teachers use their sense of humor to express their thoughts. They like to share a good laugh in class while proceeding with their explanations. They try to establish a focused, but happy, atmosphere. In contrast in Japan, Ukes and Toris show little feelings and focus on Sensei’s opinion. The Sensei strictly sticks to a formal style, where the explanation is given after demonstrating the technique twice. No audience interaction is intended. Therefore the training seems more robotic, but people also stay focused on the techniques practiced.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Finally, the differences are also visible in clothing. In Austria, people wear casual clothing if the Gi (Aikido clothing) is currently not available. People train in T-shirts transforming the group into a less uniform one. Additionally, The Hakama is a black trouser worn by advanced Aikidokas. They protect the knees better, but especially acts as a symbol for the advanced status of the practitioner. In Austria, Hakama are worn beginning with the 5-th Kyu. Japanese practitioners need to fight hard for their right to wear a Hakama. They are allowed to wear it beginning with the first Dan.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion, differences in Austrian and Japanese training styles are apparent in the training structure, the use of humor and also clothing.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Volleyball training in Japan and Austria2016-11-23T22:09:00+09:002016-11-23T22:09:00+09:00Martinatag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-23:blog/volleyball-training.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This text was a recent submission by Martina in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay">essay</a>-writing for our class "Academic Writing".</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>There are three major differences between Volleyball training in Japan and Austria.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
First, in Japan more time is invested into training. For instance, Japanese club members meet four times per week to practice, while in Austria they only meet two to three times. Furthermore, in Japan each training session takes three hours, whereas in Austria it only lasts for two hours.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Second, due to cultural customs the attitude towards training differs. For example, in Japan all club members try to participate in every practice session. Even if the are sick or hurt, they come and support the other members’ exercise. In contrast, in Austria members might skip their training when they are busy with work or studying. Additionally, in Japan teammates sometimes come late because they have classes they cannot skip. Still, they undoubtedly show up and join the practice. Whereas in Austria, if a member cannot manage to arrive at the practice starting time, they most likely skip the whole practice.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Lastly, the goals of practice in both countries contrast. While in Japan, the target is to hit the ball as hard as you can, in Austria the focus is on tactical play. Austrian exercises vary from session to session to achieve as many possible attack styles as possible. Furthermore, in Japan due to a fixed training schedule, where everybody does the same exercises, players practice the basics of all field positions. On the other hand, the training for Austrian players focuses mainly on improving their individual strength in their assigned position.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To sum up, Volleyball practice in Japan and Austria differs in training schedule, motivation for participation, and the objective of the training.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
The last week of October 20162016-11-01T00:30:00+09:002016-11-01T00:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-01:blog/last-oct-week.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the week of 24th to 30th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Last week, we had some event almost every day. So let’s mention them briefly:</p></div>
<div class="dlist"><dl>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Study Abroad Fair
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
On Wednesday, students at Kobe university interested in studying abroad dropped by at the Study Abroad Fair. Exchange students voluntarily get in line and students can ask questions. Me and Shoko represented Austria. It was stupid from my part that I didn’t join Shoko at her table, but she was chatting with Japanese people and I currently asked American and Chinese people about their home university. I learned how organization at American universities is done (at least at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_College,_City_University_of_New_York">Queens college</a>). Chinese universities feature a system close to Kobe University. One student actually showed up at our table, but only asked about American universities. No-one was interested in Austrian universities though European universities are in general not unpopular.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Dinner after club activity
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
After Karate, one of the cafeterias is still open. It offers a nice dinner. I think I will eat a soup regularly after being at the Karate club.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Medical Checkup
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
On Thursday, we had a Medical Checkup. In Japan, it is mandatory that universities do a medical checkup for their students. Exchange students need to check on the first available date in April or October. Regular students need to check in April. As a foreigner, this seems ridiculous and also concerning to your privacy. As far as I can tell, they check whether you have tuberculosis and are vaccinated against MMR (measles, mumps and rubella). But you also need to provide a urine sample, your sight is checked and an electrocardiogram is taken at the Medical Center. It took 2 hours and I missed 1.5 courses this day (it was announced to take ~45 minutes). Annoying.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Halloween party
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
On Thursday, students organized a Halloween party. I didn’t attend. I wanted to focus on my studies / Kanji test tomorrow.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Scholarship
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
We received our first payment of the scholarship. Financial troubles are therefore gone and we can pay our rent.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Wiffle Ball
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiffle_ball">Wiffle ball</a> is a lightweight version of Baseball. If this is new to you: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Japan#Professional_organizations">Baseball is the most professional sport in Japan</a> and therefore very popular. We met at <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/34.68693/135.19964">Minato no Mori Park</a> to meet some locals who created an event at Meetup on Sunday. An American and a Briton shared a game with us. We tried pitching and batting for (almost) the first time. It was really fun. I claimed I can bring more exchange students to the next Wiffle ball game. Once the sun set, it got cold and we went for the Foodie.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Foodie
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
After playing Wiffle Ball, we went to <a href="http://modernark-cafe.chronicle.co.jp/">Modernark</a> to eat for dinner. I ate the most delicious cake in my life: It’s called "Pecan Pie" and originates from the US.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
This event day is covered in a separate <a href="horyuji">article</a>.
</p>
</dd>
</dl></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Lukas is batting a Wiffle Ball at Minato no Mori Park" src="images/wiffleball.png" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Finally, a remark on current life:</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
We are often tired. I assume we currently lack some ingredient in our daily nutrition (iron?). We are investigating.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Our next goal is to buy a mobile phone to have mobile data available here in Japan. Both of us need a new device.
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
</div>
</div>
Course registration2016-10-29T22:50:00+09:002016-10-29T22:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-29:blog/course-registration.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 17th of October 2016 and before. I am a mathematics student (Faculty of Science) at Kobe University.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A university teaches students by holding courses. Because a university focuses on specialization, students have different <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_(academic)">majors</a> and choose their field of interest. For the university, it is important how many students attend a certain course, so they can allocate resources accordingly. This is the abstract view on course registration. And these processes differ between University (of Technology) Graz and Kobe University.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_university_of_technology_graz">University (of Technology), Graz</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>At University of Technology, the same procedures apply as for "University of Graz". They share the same information system software.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>You get registered as a student at the respective university and followingly get a PIN to register in TUGrazOnline or UniGrazOnline. This information system allows you to check your curriculum/syllabus, search for courses and register for exams. As such the important tasks related to the course is represented in a digital form. At the beginning of the semester, you look the curriculum/syllabus of your studies. Specially you look at your respective semester to determine which courses you are suggested to take. You can check all dates for the course and if you think it fits your schedule, you register. To register for a course, you click on "Course registration", select your studies and confirm it. Then you are done. Be aware that most courses have a specific time frame within course registration is possible. If there are 3 assignments in some practicals, you cannot join right before the third assignment is due. Hence, you should check which courses you want to register and apply for them.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_kobe_university">Kobe University</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>At Kobe University, you are registered at a specific faculty and therefore the faculty is responsible for registering you.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At the beginning of the semester, you have roughly 2 weeks at university to try out courses; at least on my faculty it was 2 weeks. One week is suggested as soft deadline on the Faculty of Intercultural Studies with a hard deadline after 2 weeks. The 2 weeks help you a lot if you just arrived as exchange student and had only little opportunity to attend classes in the first week. You might be busy with setting up Health insurance, residence registration or alike. Also professor’s might be still absent for a conference and classes might be cancelled for one time. All of this was true for me.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To the best of my knowledge, <a href="https://beef.center.kobe-u.ac.jp/login/index.php">BEEF</a> is used as an e-learning system to share teacher’s documents with students. <a href="http://www.office.kobe-u.ac.jp/stdnt-kymsys/student/student.html">URIBO-NET</a>, on the other hand, is actually used for course registration. You can register for a selection of courses. At this point in time, I cannot state how many courses you can actually register. First, because the majority of the content is available only in Japanese, I can only read parts of it. You can also see on the website how much content is embedded in images, making it impossible to copy and paste it into a dictionary. Secondly, the search interface (to actually find the courses) is incredible inconvenient. You can compare this with <a href="https://kym-syllabus.ofc.kobe-u.ac.jp/campussy">Syllabus</a>, where searching is very difficult.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Let us make a small test: Assume we want to find the course "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking", I am attending this semester.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Click "display English" in the <a href="https://kym-syllabus.ofc.kobe-u.ac.jp/campussy">Syllabus</a>.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Click "Search (Keyword etc.)"
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Enter "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking" as "Course title"
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I won’t tell you the Department, instructor or timetable code as you won’t know them by the first time you hear of this course. Leave them blank.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At the beginning, I was not sure, but now I can confirm that leaving all possible semesters, days and periods is fine. First, I thought I didn’t get any results, because I didn’t tick those 20 checkboxes. Leave them unticked.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Click "Search".
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
"No data found of your condition class. Please change search condition" will appear in red font.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Remove "and", hence enter "Elementary Japanese Listening Speaking" as course title.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A set of courses such as "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking B" will be found.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Recognize that "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking" is as close as "Elementary Japanese Listening Speaking" to "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking B".
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the end, I filled out a sheet of paper with all my courses listed per period. I submitted the form on the day of the deadline (Monday, 17th of October 2016) and the office lady was busy the following days to register me for my courses. I need to point out I was already registered for my bachelor thesis course.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Camera lost2016-10-17T10:00:00+09:002016-10-17T10:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-17:blog/camera-lost.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 11th of October 2016 and the following days.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The 11th of October 2016 was a Tuesday. As every Tuesday I have my presentation. But I lost my voice on the 9th of October. So I wrote my professor an email stating that I can’t hold a presentation and will only raise some questions, I have about the Machine Learning book.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the morning, I had the orientation for international students. It was postponed from the Wednesday before to this date because of the Typhoon. And because Monday was a public holiday (Sports Day), it was more difficult to get up after the long weekend.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The orientation helped us with basic information about living in Kobe, though most of this information was already given at the Residence’s orientation. Some other information just came too late and deadlines already passed. Anyways, the most useful information was insurance-related. We have a very basic, compulsory health insurance, but for riding a bike or driving a car, an insurance covering more cases is recommended. I unexpectedly met my tutor after the session and chatted a little. Martina’s tutor was with us the whole time.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the second session, I joined "Speech communication" for the first time. It was astonishing to me, how insecure I can be. Between sessions there are 20 minutes of break to go to the other campus. Then it takes about 10 minutes to find out where the office of the building is. You need to ask for the room number and hopefully you can find the room soon. Therefore I arrived late for class and there were two doors. One had a red arrow pointing to the right handside door. I couldn’t read the Kanji explaining the arrow. I heard the lecturer talking and determined that it should be my Speech Communication lecture. So I wanted to enter using the left handside door because it is in the rear of the classroom and therefore would attract less attention. But there was the red arrow. So I should enter in the front; basically running into the lecturer. I stood there for approximately 5 minutes just to think about how to proceed and whether I really want to do it. Of course, I went through the righthand side door eventually.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Speech Communication seems to be a nice challengine course for me. We discuss how pronounciation works anatomically (acoustics & phonetics) and discuss differences between languages (Japanese, English, Korean, etc). If I study hard enough, I should be able to know the International Phonetic Alphabet by the end of the term. I got curious how all students already had access to the documents. I asked the lecturer and she told me to access BEEF. Apparently the WiFi password will be sent together with credentials for BEEF; a moodle system of Kobe University. So I had to wait to get access to documents including the homework of the last week. I should receive the credentials during the week and as it turns out, this is going to happen on Wednesday.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After Speech Communication, I met with Martina in front of the cafeteria. She already had lunch, but I didn’t. So I went into the shop and grabbed some cheese cookies and joined her sitting on the benches. Martina took care of my stuff in the meanwhile. After chatting and eating a little we split up again and I went to the math department. In the students' study room, I prepared for my bachelor thesis seminar later on. I left my stuff unattended while going to the toilet. I went to the board at 15:10 as usual and asked my professor a few questions related to the book. I sat down to watch my tutor presenting in Japanese. It is really difficult to derive anything just by context, but it is a nice learning experience to hear a few Japanese words and try to remember what the vocabulary means.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Afterwards, we met with Martina again. I wanted to attend "EU-Japan comparative seminar". As the description indicates, the lecture will be about migration policies and three different lecturers will present. We didn’t know where to go specifically, but we guess it takes place in the Economics building. So we changed campus and because we turned around too early, we used additional ten minutes to go back. It was way too late to be in time. Eventually, we arrived and asked at the office, where the lecture takes place. We went upstairs to room I320, but no-one was in there. We had no plan how to proceed, but a Chinese girl had the same problem. She joined us. Martina suggested to go to the Intercultural Building, because the lecturer of today works at this graduate school. So again we changed campus. We arrived there and wondered where its office was. We couldn’t remember. We asked some students and one student mentioned that she took that class last year. She doesn’t know where it takes place, but we could write the lecturer an email. For today we will be too late anyways. We kind of ignored here and found the office.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At the Intercultural Studies office, they didn’t know about this lecture. On the one hand we had no clue how to get there, on the other hand we verified that the information by the Economics office was wrong. We wanted to confirm that and headed back to the Economics building again. When we arrived they told us that it actually takes place in room I230 today. Next week, it will be room I320 again. So eventually we found the room, but had to go a long path between campusses. In class, we sat down and listened the European Union’s definition of a migrant, of a refugee and fundamental Treaties of the EU. We discussed the associated issues in small groups. Right before that, I recognized that my camera was lost.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>First, I was not very worried about its absence. I had to put down my camera bag several times during the day to fetch documents from my knapsack. Furthermore after 12 days I got very used to have it with me all the time. I didn’t pay special attention any more. After the lecture I immediately checked the Economics building, but found no camera. At this hour, we couldn’t access the other building and couldn’t search there. The next day I went to the places, I have been, as soon as possible. No camera. I asked at all respective offices of the building whether a camera was found. On Wednesday, nobody found it. As far as the Orientation is concerned, we have been told that the organizers checked for belongings after the Orientation, but no camera [bag] was found. The staff at the office, I am registered at, ensured me they will inform me if the camera is found. On Thursday I informed the Kobe International Students Center and the lady responsible for us immediately phoned all offices again. On Friday, the last woerking day of the week, I checked all offices again and even went along the entire path we took on Tuesday. Without result. I attracted the attention by the administration of the math department. A staff member wrote down its model name and chronological details. We wanted to ask for the camera via phone. However, because one week later, I didn’t receive any notification I assume this was also without result.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So after 3 days of search, I was left without camera and struggled with myself to find a potential reason, why and how I lost the camera. I concluded:</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
I got used to having my camera with me. As such I paid little attention.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I checked all places. As such I assume someone took it with him/her, when he/she saw a chance. I don’t know how much criminal energy was necessary.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I assume it most likely happened at the math department.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The camera is unique, because it has several pixel errors in the LCD screen. It was a Fujifilm FinePix HS10 (as you can find out by the EXIF metadata of the pictures).
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So sadly, my gallery will lack some good photos. Two weeks later, I settled the issue with Felix, who is the actual owner of the camera. Sorry, Felix. Thank you, Felix.</p></div>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<img alt="Fujifilm FinePix HS10" src="images/camera.jpg" width="400">
</img></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
A day of disappointments2016-10-09T12:00:00+09:002016-10-09T12:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-09:blog/a-day-of-disappointments.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 7th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>With little sleep, I got up in the morning and we headed to Rokkodai 2nd Campus. I asked at the International Students Center whether I can be accepted for the intensive course in any way and she rejected and pointed to the other available Japanese courses. I accepted this decision and felt misunderstood. I concluded with two points:</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
My advisor does not really care about reading what I write in my forms.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I should have responded with "No, I won’t take the J-CAT test" via email 24 hours ago immediately. This way my advisor might have forwarded the form right away in time to the intensive course administration. I hesitated, because Japanese people don’t like confrontative behaviors (to the best of my knowledge).
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the morning I attended the regular Japanese class. I was bored because we covered content I learned in February 2016. By the way, Martina got accepted for her intensive course.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After her intensive course was finished, I remembered that we will meet at 12:30 to meet her tutor and head to Sannomiya. Today is the deadline to register for the National Health insurance system and we need to provide the documents to our Faculty. Our destination was the Chuo ward office. Kobe (because of its size) is distributed into 5 wards. We need to register for Health Insurance in our ward. I showed up at 12:20 where Japanese classes take place and waited for her. I couldn’t find her. Because the location for the meeting was not fixed, I thought we might meet at 12:30 at Rokkodai. Waiting for her, it was already 12:27. So I ran down the hill and arrived at approximately 12:32. At Rokko Station I again could neither find her or her tutor. However, a train just left. I wanted to look for her past the ticket machine, so I bought one and entered the train gates. Again, I couldn’t find her. Trying to act rationally, I thought it would be the best to head to the ward office as fast as possible. Possibly I can catch up.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At Sannomiya, I left the train. I looked up the Chuo Ward office the day before, but I don’t have mobile data available now. So I knew the approximate location. However, without a floor number or anything, I won’t be able to find it. First I tried to get some temporary connection at Starbucks. I failed (you need to sign in with a password in some way). So I went to the street and asked a person in uniform where to find it. He seemed to recognize "ward office", but didn’t know the location. He guided me to an information center. With my best English and Japanese skills I tried to speak to the ladies at the counter. They didn’t recognize what a "ward" is. So I pointed out that it is a administrative unit and it is specific for Chuo (probably I said "Chou"). After two ladies could not help me out, a third lady immediately recognized what a "ward" is and gave me a map showing "Chuo ward office" on it. The other ladies recognized that I meant "ward" (I really think the two ladies just did not pronounce <em>ward</em> in their life and therefore did not understand it). I headed to the building with the information that it covers several floors.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>First I ended up in the Kobe Library, but soon made my way to the ward office. At my destination, I looked for the floors. Floor 2 said "Foreigner’s information". So I took the elevator, but recognized that on Floor 2, I have been before. Actually it was the place we visited on Monday. An official person was distributing people into lanes, but I could not find "Foreigner’s information". But the map next to the elevator showed the floor descriptions also in English. Floor 7 is dedicated to the National Health insurance system. Do you remember that on Monday we visited floor 2 and 7 as well? I went up there and there were two sets of people: Waiting people or people at the counter. I didn’t want to bother them and if I really need to register now, I won’t be able to discuss terms and conditions in Japanese. I decided that "we might have done it on Monday already" and headed back to Sannomiya. I wanted to describe my problem to the Faculty and with the possible option to extend my deadline. It was roughly 13:45 and I expected the Faculty office to close at 17:00 (hopefully also at this Friday).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I arrived at the office and opened my laptop. Where is Martina? Let’s write her an email and call for help. I received an email half an hour ago from her. Apparently, we registered for the National Health insurance system on Monday. Our tutor did not mention that. We will receive our National Health insurance document(s) by mail. Our tutor did not tell us that. Martina met with him at 12:30 at Rokko Station. I was wrong that classes end at 12:20, they end at 12:10. So she met her tutor and they went to the ward office. They have been there for 50 minutes to eventually find out documents will be sent by mail. Then Martina went home to the Residence to take the documents from the mailbox. Then she got back to university on her own. Luckily, she knows my mail box secret and therefore picked up my documents as well. I closed my laptop, submitted some other documents to the Faculty office and went to the cafeteria. If she arrives that the campus, I will see her.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Indeed, she just arrived as she wanted to attend Japanese class at 15:10. She had all documents with her. We shared our thoughts on that incident and submitted the Health Insurance document at the Faculty. I joined her Japanese Kanji class, which started with a Kanji test (Yay! I knew 0.5 out of ~16 Kanji).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After class, we wanted to attend "Academic Writing". The course has an English description and takes place at 17:00. Perfect, because it indicates classroom language English and it won’t collide with other courses. Remember that I am writing my bachelor thesis and I hoped for some English practice. Furtherore I needed more hours per week, because without the intensive course I probably have too little hours per week for the Visa. Searching for the lecture hall, we had no experience with Rokkodai 1st Campus (on Thursday I took some photos, but of course wasn’t interested in the structure of the Faculties/Graduate Schools). We looked up the course description, the faculty and you cannot find out where the lecture halls at the faculty are located. So we headed to the building. However, we got lost and found out that at 17:00, club activities often start. We saw people practicing instruments for orchestra and saw Baseball players. We also discovered buildings like the Faculty of Business Administration.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>With approximately 20 minutes delay, we arrived at the right building. We asked some Japanese people where the lecture halls are located and they wanted to know for which course. "Academic Writing" did not tell them anything and a nice man lead us to the Faculty’s office. They are not aware of any courses like "Academic Writing" (only at different sessions; not now). Apparently they got somehow confused that graduates (I said we are "graduates") were looking for an undergraduate course. I was not specifically aware that this course is for undergraduates. Apparently it takes place for 1st year students in "Intercultural studies". When we said we come from the Faculty/Graduate School of Science, it felt like we are aliens. He lead us to the lecture hall and after a small introduction we sat down. It is held by an English professor who pointed out that this course will be too easy for us. He described to the Japanese students what a paragraph consists of. It needs a main topic, an introductory sentence, several arguments and a conclusion.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The class was kind of nice. Japanese people are really struggling with speaking English. They know the vocabulary and grammar, but are just not used to speaking it. The English professor is funny and fluent in Japanese and English. His English accent is wonderful which was my main motivation to stay. Indeed, the speed of the class was very slow. He explained sentence structures and exercises several times with different words, so all Japanese students can follow. I focused on learning his accent. He also made some references to typically Japanese issues and compared it with Europe. In these situations he asked Martina and me for our experiences in Austria. Overall the class was really pleasant and we decided to attend also upcoming lectures.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>However, at the Faculty’s office it was pointed out we won’t get a grade (I don’t know under which assumptions). Is it worth going for an easy class on a Friday evening without getting a grade?</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When we got home, one Japanese student followed us. He also needed to go to Sannomiya. He was comfortable with speaking English as he spent 2 weeks at Oxford university. He was a gentle, clam, male student and we shared some thoughts on Japan and the university. We also stopped briefly at the International Students Center to take a photo of this wonderful night view at Rokkodai. At Sannomiya, Martina and I dropped by at a coffee shop - before going home - and we got some delicious toast bread.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The evening was okay, but in general: A day of disappointments.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
First intensive Japanese course session2016-10-07T01:02:00+09:002016-10-07T01:02:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-07:blog/first-intensive.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 6th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Getting up; breakfast; train…</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Nope, I accidently dropped a 5 Yen coin into the machine (apparently, I still cannot distinguish 5 and 50 Yen coins). So an alarm went off and the machine swallowed 200 Yen of mine. Some Japanese guy started talking via loud speaker and when we recognized that he was on the phone with us, we told him that we can only understand English. He answered "Please wait 5 minutes". So the question arised: Assuming he comes in 5 minutes and will be done right away, I might be in time. Otherwise I will be late for class. To put it in her words: Martina does not have class in the first session and therefore was not in a hurry. She gave me her ticket and asked me to go without her. I wasn’t sure, I should, but eventually I left.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Train; up the hill; university.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The intensive course was slower-paced than the regular class, because beginners also participate in this course. So we started with self-introduction and basic Hiragana. I got bored, but instead I was able to collect a bunch of vocabulary I need to revise. I think when the first few weeks are over, I will be challenged enough again. The intensive course consists of two sessions in the morning, meaning we start at 8:50 and end at 12:10 with 20 minutes of break. In the break I met Martina. She told me she waited for ~10 minutes and nobody showed up. So 200 Yen got lost in the machine. She also met her tutor and he showed her how to withdraw money; get cash money from the card. At this point in time she recognized that also her intensive Japanese class started already today and she should join at least for the second session.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Lunchtime! Apparently I had no cash money left and asked Martina for some. Martina was clever enough to bring enough cash from Austria without necessicity to buy bedding equipment.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It was a wonderful weather this day, so I walked around at the campus and took photos. I submitted some forms and waited for Martina’s third session to finish. In the meanwhile I studied the vocabulary, which I still don’t know by heart.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Afterwards we went to the bank. Martina showed me how to withdraw money. I sent 50 € from Europe and now 4200 Yen were on my account. We cannot explain the fees at this point in time.
I took the money with me and we went home. Beautiful photos at this day, but nothing special.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At night I sat down to write articles, tidy up my photos, chat with my parents, finish my MOOC assignment (Probabilistic Graphical Models) and take the <a href="http://www.j-cat.org/en/">J-CAT</a> test. I got an email by my advisor this morning. In my application for the Intensive course (deadline today evening), I stated that "I didn’t take the J-CAT test because I am sure my skills don’t fit higher classes". His response was information regarding the J-CAT test. Specifically how I can take the test despite the last official opportunity last Monday. My reaction was "Oh shit, I need to take the test in any case". In all previous situations I stated the same and their oral response was "It is fine, if you are sure about elementary level". In this case, it didn’t seem to be fine. I scheduled to take the J-CAT test this evening. Martina told me it takes roughly 1 hour to take.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At night I had time to do the test. At first, the MOOC seemed more important to me (not all lectures watched so far and last hard deadline). Suddenly I got a Japanese email stating "We are missing information regarding your application and have to tell you, you did not get accepted for the Japanese intensive course". The intensive course is selective and only 10 people are allowed. I kind of panicked and I got very mad. I came to Japan with a list of courses, I want to attend. This plan had to be thrown away, because at least half of the courses changed. On Tuesday I spent the night selecting new courses and had a new plan. With this email, my plans got thrown away again.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Considering two semesters in Japan, I thought a good plan consists of one semester focusing on Japanese and one semester on extracurricular courses (Linguistics, English, etc). Because the first semester certainly comes with understanding the organization at university (which is IMHO necessary if you want to attend extracurricular courses). So I should focus on Japanese. My assumption is that taking random classes is easy in Austria, but not necessarily in Japan. Not being able to attend the intensive course means that I will learn only half of the content (comparing regular with intensive class). But especially the second half is important to me. It covers grammar I never put into practice. It covers vocabulary I don’t need here in daily life. With the intensive course, I should be able to attend upper elementary class in the next semester (Martina is taking the course this semester, because she lacks some Japanese for Intermediate level). This would boost my Japanese skills until returning to Austria.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I was very mad at this result and was just in the progress to take the J-CAT test. I continued anyways and first I was very lenient. For example I ticked "I can follow discussions about hobbies and weekend plans with difficulties", which I believe is not true just because I am lacking vocabulary. Because of this selection, I also got difficult questions. Listening, Reading and Grammar are categories of the J-CAT test and besides for the really easy questions, I wasn’t able to answer any. From 4 multiple choice answers, I always ticked a random one. I am not aware of any possibility to tick "I cannot answer it". In the end I got a score of 105; 5 points above "elementary". With this result, I thought "Shit, I accidently ticked some correct answers". I took the test again. This time I didn’t tick the discussions-about-hobbies section and therefore only got less and easier questions. Again, I couldn’t answer some of them and therefore I just waited for the time to pass by. Typically you have 3 minutes to answer e.g. Reading questions. Apparently the next question appears and I recognized that you will just get new questions until you have answered a certain number of questions. This way taking the test would take me roughly 3 hours and now it is 2am in the morning. So I fell back to ticking answers randomly. My final score was 36. I think this was close. The Austrian friend (which shares the same Japanese level, I guess) had a score of 50.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I answered with an email that I am sorry, it went this way, but I didn’t have the opportunity to take the J-CAT test earlier. Also I pointed out that in my application I was sure about taking the elementary course anyways. I spent one hour with answering a quiz for the MOOC, but I hadn’t begun the programming assignment for the MOOC. I concluded that 3 hours of sleep are necessary and I dropped the MOOC as well.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Presentation day2016-10-06T23:51:00+09:002016-10-06T23:51:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-06:blog/presentation-day.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 4th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Tuesday, the 4th of October, I was asked to give a presentation on the introductory chapter of Bishop’s book on Machine Learning and attended my first lecture.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After a night without sleep, you feel fresh and awake in the early morning. This changes a lot during the day. I took a shower, ate some breakfast and waited for Martina to meet up. This helped me to reduce my anger, which developed during the night. The anger is mainly due to a lack of a good internet connection. So most of the time during the night I didn’t have internet access, which annoyed me a lot considering my todo list. Tasks on the list mainly depended on internet access, therefore I could only do the most important stuff with a lot of patience: The presentation and finding lectures, I want to attend.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I want to separate this blog post by topics.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>## Syllabus</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We got to university the usual way; by train and walking up the hill by foot.
At university, I attended my first lecture; Japanese on elementary level. Yes, it was necessary to decide upon the classes I take.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Technically, I prepared very well for the selection of courses. The course search interface at Kobe University is terrible. At TU Graz, the interface has little features, but if you plug in English course names, it will find the course. At Kobe University this is not guaranteed (even if you copy&paste the name). In May I wrote a python program which automatically retrieved all the university courses and stored them in a SQLite database. I provided HTML templates to dump filtered outputs of the database. This helped a lot to handle prerecognitions.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Prerecognitions are certificate which certify (by deans of a curriculum) that after successfully completion of a course, it will be recognized for the regular curriculum. So I used my script to retrieve course IDs, titles, lecturers and descriptions. This was essential to be able to type all course information into CampusOnline quickly (for TU Graz or Uni Graz respectively). I pre-recognized all possible combinations like the same course with two different IDs, on different days or sessions or the "semester"-combination as well as the "quarters"-combination. Kobe University is currently transitioning from a semester-based schedule to a quarter-based schedule.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Well, it became very awkward, when we recognized CampusOnline shows the original course names (therefore Japanese), but the print server does not have proper JCK typefaces installed. Therefore CampusOnline prints only showed lots of rectangles for uninterpretable characters and only the course ID was left. With this ridiculous paper, we showed up at the dean’s office. Luckily enough, all deans have been lenient.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>And now I got very annoyed by this whole bureaucracy, when in September 2016 Kobe University replaced its search interface and also its course syllabus. My script did not work any more and all courses got updated. Every course ID got longer (typically it got two additional characters as prefix) and the script failed, because Kobe University now tracks you with a search token. You cannot parameterize any HTTP request, but a unique token will be updated for every POST request you do.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion:</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
WiFi is too unstable to look up all the new course data for now.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Tomorrow morning I want to attend classes, which technically started today.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
My program to retrieve data does not work any longer anyway.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
And many courses I intended to attend (and therefore prerecognized) don’t even exist anymore.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I was terribly frustrated this night and simply concluded: "Screw you! I will take Japanese classes, do my bachelor thesis and don’t care about anything else". So I want to do the intensive Japanese class at elementary level. I will proceed with my bachelor thesis as planned. And I will probably run into troubles with recognizing probability theory and statistics, because I am not able to attend classes, because of the intensive Japanese course.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I will lay out my schedule in a different blog post.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In class, we were two people. Two Austrians already familiar with Hiragana and Katakana. So our teacher sped up a lot with the content and revised basics of Japanese. In the end the lecture was a very good revision and it seemed a lot like individual support. However, being tired makes it difficult to follow the lecture and also I want to take the Intensive Japanese class in the future, not the regular one.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I also remembered taking a photo of the temporary WiFi password to fix this issue.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>## Preparing for the presentation</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Last night, I read through most of the chapter. I am not familiar with Bayesian networks and therefore could go through that content, but the general outline of Machine Learning is still in my mind. I had a lecture on this at TU Graz in 2013. For the presentation I learned (by my tutor) that projectors are not often used and blackboard are used on a regular basis. Therefore I prepared without requiring a projector and wrote down what I will write on the blackboard. During the day I needed to finish a program illustrating the problem of polynomial curve fitting.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So after Japanese class, I headed to the room where I am allowed to work at and put my stuff there. I worked on my program. Because I was so tired, I fell asleep multiple times, because it is so quiet. Anyways, writing it in python took me little time and I finished before Lunch time. At lunch we met Martina’s friend Choko, we already know from Austria. She showed us how to proceed at the cafeteria. After lunch I got back and tried to port my program to Lua. After lunch, concentrating was especially difficult and I decided to take a nap like Japanese people often do. I dozed off for about 15 minutes.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After some time after I woke up, a secretary came in (I knew her from the day before when enrolling) and asked me to write down my name. I did and wondered what this is about. Apparently, I attracted someone’s attention and they checked whether I was allowed to be in that room. At this moment I did not feel welcome anymore.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Anyways, I focused on my presentation and couldn’t finish the last ~20 lines of Lua code to finish the Lua port.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>## Presentation</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In time, I went to the presentation room. I introduced myself to the audience of 4 graduates or PhDs (I guess) and, of course, my advisor. I started my presentation and had a nice line in my presentation even though I got stuck sometimes on minor issues (distinction between terminoloy, etc). I think my flow was nice. Then it was pointed out that 10 minutes were left and I tried to skip content to introduce the Curve Fitting Problem. I became very chaotic and didn’t know which parts of the presentation I can (not) skip. Anyways, time was running up and my professor asked me whether I know certain fields of research. It is really sad, that I have not attended a course on measure theory yet.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So my presentation was fine (I guess) and I stayed to watch my tutor at his presentation on matrix factorization in Japanese. I recognized that their style of presentation is much different from ours. I mean I generally stick to a style I primarily learned from American universities through Massive Open Online Courses, because Europeans present in an unstructured way too often. The best way to describe this is that lecturing in Japan requires a much less confrontative style which avoids interaction with the audience to some extent. Furthermore the goal of my talk was to show that I understood the content and want to present the subject to the audience. However, as pointed out in conversations after my talk, I should raise questions, I don’t understand and skip everything which is understandable. This approach seems interesting and it will take some time to adapt to it. I have my next presentation in 1 week.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I asked my advisor to sign me up for the intensive course. He asked for an application sheet. I wasn’t aware of any. Martina remembered the very first Excel sheet, we got. Yes, it was the right one and I don’t need to find a printer. Sending it per email and I was done for today.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Afterwards I was completely wracked. I was never at home that fast, because I dozed off in the train. Luckily Martina helped me out to find the right way. In the end, I fell into bed at about 18:30 and Martina headed to the supermarket. Thank you, Martina!</p></div>
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Registering at university2016-10-05T19:21:00+09:002016-10-05T19:21:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-05:blog/registering-at-university.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 3rd of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Monday, the first official day at university started. It was a day full of tasks to finish.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So far, we already know how to go from the Residence to Sannomiya, but now we need to go to the west. Rokko Station is extended by a bus line to Rokkoudai 2nd campus. At <a href="http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/documents/en/campuslife/campus/Rokkoudai2.pdf">Rokkoudai 2nd campus</a> "our" faculties are located. At Sannomiya we searched for a ticket machine and entered the Hankyu Line again. At Rokko station we left the train and already saw a few international students. We decided to follow them. "50m to the north, the bus stop can be found" was said on the Math department’s homepage. So we followed but at the next intersection we recognized they we going by foot, not by bus. So we continued to follow them until the top and now we understood why Taichi (a Kobe student, we came to know in Austria) says going up the hill is exhaustive. Indeed, the street’s incline is very recognizable and not sweating in the summer will be difficult. However, I considered as a nice fitness walk every morning.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After about 10 minutes we reached the 2nd campus of Rokkoudai. Martina planned to meet her tutor and her academic advisor Prof. Fukuyama at 10:00 which was when we arrived at the Faculty/Graduate School of Science. We were unsure about whether I was about to enroll as well, but followed her, because in the opposite case I will enroll at 14:00, when I will meet my tutor. Office ladies lead us to Prof. Fukuyama’s room, where we received a folder of documents to go through. It contained our student ID card, a paper to register for courses and a few forms to fill out. We were asked not to fill it out by now and told corresponding deadlines. Martina afterwards also told me she received a key to a room, she can use for academic work. In the following, also her tutor joined. Lukas was eager to answer as many questions as possible.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We were sent to the International Student Center, because we discussed issues related to scholarships. So we met Mrs. Narui, which we already shared many email conversations with when planning our trip to Japan. Somehow it was pointed out that "you are our first exchange students". First I thought about "the first one to register", but it was actually related to the Faculty somehow. So we don’t know whether this means "we are the first exchange students of the Math department of Faculty/Graduate School of Science" or just only this year, but I am sure that very few people register as exchange student at this department. At the residence we recognized that most exchange students study Law, Economics or Business Management. The amount of Japanese students is also recognizably small (I think they prefer other universities).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I need to point out explicitly, that in Japan we are not registered "at the university", but our designated Faculty (bachelor’s degree) or Graduate School (master’s degree).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>With initial paper work done, we asked Martina’s tutor to take us to the municipal office. The municipal office will certify that we "moved in" and add the address to the residence card. Our tutor read through all the signs and eventually lead us to floor 7. Remember that floor 7 is the 6th floor in Europe. As in Austria, we take a ticket with a number and for your number to be called out. So we waited a few minutes to find out that we need to go to the 2nd floor. At the second floor, we filled out a form with our data and waited for confirmation. In the following, we were sent to the 7th floor and our data was checked again. Then it took some time, but eventually we got our residence card back together with the address printed on the back. Mine was printed with a machine whereas Martina’s residence card was extended with handwritten characters.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I scheduled to do this at a different day during the week, but getting rid of this was great. However, we are now late in a sense that it was 13:15 and I will meet my tutor at 14:00. I would have preferred some proper Japanese lunch, but we just went to LAWSON conbini (convenience store) to grab some snacks. But this ensured we were ready when my tutor arrived by train. Basically he joined to finish our next mission this day: Register for a bank account.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Very close to Rokko Station, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is located with an office as part of their "Rokko branch". It is recommended by university, because other banks require further proofs of identity foreigners can often not provide. We went to the office and filled out paper work again. Our tutors worked as a translator, though I need to admit many questions were left unanswered after opening the account. However, we got an accounting book and a cash card. With the numbers incompatible to Europe’s IBAN system, I got curious whether money transfer will work out.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Together we got back to Rokkoudai, our university. This time we got a taxi, because sharing a taxi for 4 people makes 10 Yen less per person than going by train. At this point in time, it was raining heavily.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At university, our teams split up and my tutor showed me his working place. He has a place at the laboratory for his academic work. For the first time, I met my academic advisor I wrote emails with. In April 2016 I asked him whether I can do a bachelor thesis with him using a software project his department maintains. He gave me two topics to chose from (Machine Learning and algebraic properties of Ideals) where I chose the first one in May. In September we agreed, I will give a presentation tomorrow on the introductory chapter of Bishop’s book on Machine Learning (especially the Curve Fitting Problem). So at this point in time, he checked whether everything is fine for the presentation tomorrow and my tutor continued to show me around. He showed me the library, the department’s office and finally I asked for the cafeteria. I learned that unlike the US, people don’t study at the library, but get designated work places at the department. My tutor asked my advisor (he is also working with) where my place will be. I share my workplace with other bachelor-level students in a study room. In the meanwhile, Martina waited for her advisor, but was eventually introduced to her work colleagues.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Finally, we were done for now at Rokkoudai and went down the hill again to Rokko Station. We took the train back to our residence and grabbed some sweets at the conbini.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At night, I tried out an electric Japanese toilet for the first time. Granted, it is comfortable. Because of its many differences to European toilets, I will discuss them thoroughly in a separate weblog.
I prepared for my presentation tomorrow and recognized that we forgot to look up the temporary WiFi password at university. Because there was much work left for the presentation and I was required to decide upon my courses for this semester, I did not sleep this night at all.</p></div>
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