Lukas and Martina in Japan//japan.lukas-prokop.at/blog/2016-11-23T22:09:00+09:00Volleyball 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>
I’m Japanese!2016-11-22T23:30:00+09:002016-11-22T23:30:00+09:00Martinatag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-22:blog/im-japanese.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This happened on Monday, the 21st of November 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A few days ago my tutor accompanied Lukas and me to the post office. I had to bring a letter there. Together we went from University to Sannomiya. In Sannomiya we had to find the post office which is located in a shopping mall. The easy part was to find the shopping mall and the corresponding floor. But my tutor was not used to this place and Lukas and me have never been there before either.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So my tutor asked a passerby where the post office is. The woman thought for a moment and then pointed in a direction while replying "Straight… まっすぐ" (the latter meaning "straight ahead" in Japanese). Then she continued her description in Japanese. Of course, my tutor understood her without problem. After she was gone he said to us "Why? I’m Japanese!". So for every Japanese student out there who is frustrated that Japanese people try to explain things in English to them, this happens to Japanese citizens as well. (At least when they are accompanied by foreigners.) 😉</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The next time my tutor had to ask for the direction, he asked us to wait in few meters of distance. Obviously, because it was in the middle of the street. But Lukas asked him "… to make sure they speak Japanese to you?" and we shared a good laugh.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Arriving in Japan2016-10-01T23:21:00+09:002016-10-01T23:21:00+09:00Martinatag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-01:blog/arriving-in-japan.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 29th of September 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our arrival in Japan was well planned. We arrive (by the latest) at 18:40 at Kansai International Airport, go through the passport control, get our <a href="">Residence Card</a>, and finally claim our luggage. The next step would be to take the <a href="">MK Skygate Shuttle</a> to go to the <a href="http://yumenomad.com/">Yume Nomad hostel</a>. Of course, both services were already booked from Austria at the end of August.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The first few steps went smoothly. The dinner and breakfast at the plane was fine. We even got our first towels - Japanese people use - to clean our hands before eating. The plane landed without troubles, we filled out some forms (Japan government loves its forms), got through the passport control after some waiting, and received our Residence Card right away.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Obviously, we were the last passengers of our flight due to this long procedure. We looked for our luggage on the baggage lane, but could not spot it. A few moments later an airport employee approached us and guided us to our suitcases. They were standing next to the lane and two other employees watched over them. If I had not experienced this on a previous trip to Japan, I would have been really surprised by this.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>No challenge so far. But from now on, all our wits were needed.</p></div>
<div class="dlist"><dl>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Challenge 1
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Find the counter of the MK Skygate Shuttle. The e-mail said "After passing through immigration and customs, please come to the MK counter next to gate H on the first floor of the airport as soon as possible."
So we went as fast as possible from the ground floor to the first floor. Up there we looked around for the counter or gate H, but could not find either of them. Lukas went to the information counter to ask, where we need to go. And that was the moment we got reminded that in Japan the ground floor is called first floor and the first floor is called second floor and so on.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Challenge 2
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
After we finally found our shuttle, we travelled quite relaxed to our next destination, the Yume Nomad hostel. This should not be a problem, since the MK Skygate Shuttle takes people "right to the door". Unfortunately, the Yume Nomad hostel is in very small side street of a shopping street (no cars allowed). The driver even bothered to get out his car and showed us the way to our hotel. We only noticed that this was the wrong location when he was gone already. Walking around, we tried to find the hostel on our own. Our approach to show the address of the hostel to some people around us did not work out. One local pointed out, that this address is "1 hour foot walk this direction". Actually, it was close by 2 minutes by foot at this point in time. The Japanese address system is quite complicated and maybe we would have been more successful if we had asked for the Yume Nomad hostel instead of its address. During our short journey around the Shinkaichi area we found different food shops, a Patchinko hall (gaming hall) and a train station. Just when we unsuccessfully checked the whole shopping street for our hostel, a nice Japanese guy approached us. He recognised immediately where we wanted to go and took us to the Yume Nomad hostel. This will not be the first and only time Japanese politeness helped us out!
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Challenge 3
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
We finally managed to arrive at our booked hostel. But since we arrived at Shinkaichi close to 10pm and this is the deadline for check-in, we were already too late. There was a phone number given on the door and we decided to call it. But my mobile phone did not work. It still does not. Luckily, Lukas' mobile phone worked without problems. We managed to call and we could still check-in. The staff was really nice.
</p>
</dd>
</dl></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>This was our first day with actual Japan feeling. Polite people, Lukas' first ride on the left side of the street, thin cars compared to American SUVs, we applied Japanese slipper conventions in our hostel and Lukas bumped into the low ceilings.</p></div>
</div>
</div>