Loco: How are you doing today? Private Student: …I’m…I’m chotto, wakannai… Loco: Are you ok? You seem troubled. How was work? Tough day, ne. Otsukaresama desu. PS: No, I was not busy. It was quiet day. Loco: That’s good, ne. PS: Demo, saa…this morning on the train… Loco: Ohhh no! Mata? Another chikan? PS: Oh [...]
I was trying to find a clip that captures how I feel when I’m able to escape from Yokohama for a weekend or even overnight. Loco crawled to freedom through 500 yards of shit-smelling foulness… A little dramatic, I know. But, that’s almost how I feel sometimes. The best part is it makes the escape [...]
The Japanese do it, and you should trust their wisdom. If you follow #6: Avoid Gaijin (Gaijin bars, Gaijin friendly areas and the Japanese girls who dwell there) it can do wonders for your sanity. You would think in a country where the natives avoid you like the plague you might find solace among people who share your fate. Trust me, you won’t. [...]
Making Japanese friends is important, and can have the added benefit of helping you maintain your sanity. Here are my top four reasons why: 1- If you’re studying Japanese, they are an invaluable resource for natural nihongo. 2- They can help you with the array of things you have to do to maintain your life in [...]
I almost included this post in #1 don’t be you or #3 learn that Japanese. But, I’ve found #4 Just keep smiling to be such an integral part of all the accomplishments I’ve achieved here in japan that it deserved its own post. Whether it’s basic communication or finding employment or making friends or just keeping people from giving me a reason to elbow them [...]
Well, it should go without saying but I’m gonna say it anyway: #3 in my 10 ways how NOT to go Loco is: Learn that Japanese! I studied French for 2 years in JHS, 4 years in HS and 2 years in University, and if you asked me right now how to say anything in French except “Would you like [...]
As I’ve mentioned, #1: Don’t be you, is by far the most difficult step. A lot of water has to pass under the bridge before that kind of transformation can occur. So, what do you do in the meantime? My mother used to say, “fake it until you can make it!” In other words, pretend [...]
I know it’s difficult to do anything life altering. I came here planning to alter my life, not to have it altered. It just kind of happened, and I fought it every step of the way. Which only made it more intense, and more interesting I’d like to believe…the results of which I am filling my blog [...]
…why the hell not??? I feel very fortunate that I didn’t meet someone like me when I first came to Japan. Someone who’d been here a while, knew the ins and outs and ups and downs of life in this tiny island nation, but could, without an excessive amount of cynicism or negativity, present me with guidelines [...]
It has been 10 years since my last rejection letter. I’d written my first and only novel, and once completed, found an agent, went under contract with her, and I was on my way…Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Micheal Crichton, Tom Clancy…make room for loco on that bookshelf, I’d told myself. Then, I got my first rejection [...]
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