Alien Times April 2004
LALA GARDEN TSUKUBA Opens with Hooplala
The third weekend in March began with huge traffic jams along Tsuchiura-Gakuen Sen as cars scrambled to find parking places for the grand opening of "Lala Garden", a new shopping center in Tsukuba. A total of 65 shops and stores line the two-story mall, beginning with "Grand Plechef", a glorified Kasumi supermarket.
According to the "Joyo Living" newspaper, the large, L-shaped complex was designed by Fernando Vasquez with architectural designs from the Toscana Italy region in mind, to provide a layout people won't soon tire of. Whether that dream will be realized, of course, remains to be seen. The complex consists of an enclosed mall area (on the lower level of the bottom of the "L") with a variety of small shops, particularly those focused on fashions for the young. In the center of the complex, there is an open-air plaza with a stage for mini-concerts, etc. The Grand Opening hoopla included a "Los Tres Amigos" look alike Latin music band, among other events. (For you newcomers, "Los Tres Amigos" is a well-known group from South American countries that have been performing for years all over Japan, including numerous times locally.) Starbucks fans will be happy to know that the king of coffee shops has finally arrived in Tsukuba, with a small shop next to the plaza. The second floor above Plechef (pronounced more or less like the French, which comes out in Japanese as "Purushe") is likewise a mini-mall, with shops on both sides of a narrow passageway down the middle.
I visited LALA on a Wednesday afternoon and found it unbelievably crowded for such a weekday. Cars were lined up for several hundred meters just trying to get into the parking lot. I would imagine things will settle down once the novelty has worn off, but in the meantime, I would recommend going early in the day and avoiding weekends if possible. Likewise, you might want to just go by bicycle if you're reasonably close. It's roughly halfway between Nishi Odori and Ushiku-Gakuen Sen (408) to the west of downtown Tsukuba.
As is typical for Japan, the names of the various stores is a creative mixture of English and Japanese, with roughly half written in English (or at least words that are written in the Romanized alphabet anyway) and the other half in Katakana Japanese. One "fashion" store is named "Drug Store's", and among the goods it sells are shirts, hats, etc. with its theme, which reads, "drug store's: It's a name for girls loved by a pig", with the "pig" not written out, but with a cute picture of a pig. Whatever that is supposed to mean, at least it is not as bad as some I've seen on Japanese clothing. But then, I've seen some pretty weird Japanese/Chinese written on shirts in America too. And then to further confuse the linguistic scene, there is that old standby of an American clothing store named "Oshkosh B'Gosh", which has now invaded Japan and has its first outlet in Tsukuba in LALA. For those not familiar with this company, it began in the Wisconsin city of Oshkosh, on the shores of Lake Winnebago - good Indian names, and the B'Gosh is from a slang expression, "By gosh", which shows surprise (As in, "By gosh, this store is actually in Japan!").
After you have browsed the stores and your kids have spent a small fortune on various games in the large arcade, you can choose from a variety of restaurants, including a fast food shop named, "Freshness Burger." Stores generally open at 10 am and close at 9 pm, with the exception of Grand Plechef, which stays open until midnight. Also, the restaurants and coffee shops are open from 11 am to 11 pm. The 1100 car parking lot opens at 9:30 and stays open until 12:30 am, with free parking.
With a similar mini-mall named "Q't" (pronounced (katakana style) as "Kyuuto", "cute") now under construction next to Tsukuba Station, shopping in Tsukuba seems to be on a trend away from big chain stores such as Seibu and more towards complexes of small shops in mini-malls. It will definitely increase variety as well as competition. Whether downtown Tsukuba is going to be able to handle all of the new traffic without turning into a Tokyo look alike, however, remains to be seen. That certainly doesn't look like a likely prospect to me.
Tim Boyle
Science News
A car that checks out the road for you
Researchers in AIST (Tsukuba) and Meiji University have developed a car that can detect dangers on the road. This car is equipped with sensors and cameras to monitor the road. If it gets to close to another car or if there is a danger on the road, an alarm will sound to warn the driver. But one of the biggest dangers on the road is when a driver falls asleep. Thus a special camera located in the rear view mirror checks the blinking of the driver's eyes. This camera will trigger an alarm if the blinking indicates that the driver is getting sleepy.
More details at www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn/search-news/899732/drowsy20drivers-0-1.html
Toyota's trumpeting robots
Toyota has recently unveiled 4 humanoid robots with astonishing capacities. Two of these robots were able to play a trumpet. Another is equipped with a seat and can carry somebody, and the last one has been optimized to walk fast. Many different applications are sought for these robots in nursing homes or in manufacturing, for example.
More details at www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040312a3.htm
Don't let the avian flu scare you
Avian flu can not be transmitted via cooked food, and thus consumers in Japan (and elsewhere) should not be scared by the current avian flu epidemic. The Japan Times has published some facts about the avian flu at www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040317a9.htm
Japan is Expanding its Territory
A study made by the Geographical Survey (based in Tsukuba) shows that Japan's landmass has increased in 2003. This increase comes from land reclamation projects across the country and adds up to a bit less than 12 square kilometres. The city of Tokoname (Aichi Prefecture) itself won 4.27 square kilometres thanks to the land reclamation done for the construction of an offshore airport. The total landmass gained from the sea since 1950 is slightly more than 1000 sq. km.
More details can be found at www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040210b6.htm
Mad Cow Disease Resistant Cows Cloned
Mad cow disease occurs when a protein called "prion", which is found in the brain tissue of many animals (including cows, mice and humans), takes a wrong shape and forces its neighbours to take the same shape. The role of this prion in the brain is still not well understood and to study it research teams in Korea and the US have removed the gene producing this prion from the DNA of a cow and cloned the clone. The 5 clones were born last December and are now being raised in Tsukuba. Their behaviour will be studied so that scientists can determine if the removal of the prion has any effect on the growth of the cattle. These cloned cows are expected to be resistant to mad cow disease.
More details can be found at
www.oregonlive.com/science/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/science/1074690490175701.xml and
www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=article&article_id=218392168
Nicolas Delerue
Book Review: Memories of Silk and Straw
by Dr. Junichi Saga, published by Kodansha
How were people living around Tsukuba one century ago? A doctor from Tsuchiura has recorded stories about the life of his patients when they were young. Things have changed a lot from the Meiji period until today. Each of these stories reminds us that people living here at the beginning of the 20th century were often very poor and eating white rice was a luxury that they could afford only on special occasions. From the life of a yakuza to that of a Geisha, from the skills of the fishermen to those of the tofu maker, this books gives us glimpses on how life was here less than 50 years before the Science City.
This book is available at Tsukuba Library in the foreign books corner under reference 382.1S
Nicolas Delerue
Driving in Japan
Please read all the information found at the Alien Times website first (see the articles in the "Transportation" section of the TOPICS part of this website). It's a lot of info, but its good info. I would consider my information as a supplement to that information. The credit goes to its writers for making sure I passed the test on my first try.
First word of advice is to make sure you know how to get to your licensing center. I had no problems, but that was due to lots of planning and research done ahead of time. For me, it was a two hour train ride and a 30 minute bus ride to my licensing center. Plan ahead of time, since the foreigner licensing window is only open from 9-10am. According to the sign, its open from 9:30-10am, I don't which one is truly correct. The earlier you are there the better.
Here's the break down of the day:
9:30 Arrival
9:45 Turn in Papers
10:00 Written Test
10:20 Passed Written Test
12:00-1:00 Lunch Time
1:15-1:30ish Driving Test (passed it)
1:30-2:00 Processing Time
2:00 Took Picture
2:10 Received License
When you get to the center, be sure to start signing in and stuff. You need to pay for your paper work at a different window. I brought passport pictures, which are not the correct size, so I had to get pictures taken again. Near your center, they should have everything you need (i.e. picture place, ATM). I even paid 300yen to get them to fill out the paper work for me. If your Japanese is ok, you can probably do it yourself. For the sake of saving time and neatness I had them do it. They type out your info and print it on the sheet for you.
Let me warn you, no one spoke English at my licensing center. I would suggest you go with your boss or a friend if possible. I went alone, but I did alright. Even the instructions in Japanese were not very specific, so at one point I was waiting in the wrong area. After you pass the written test, you should probably go to the driving course where you should find the rest of the foreigners. They will line you up and tell you who you will take the test after. You also get to ride in the back seat while the person before you is doing their test.
You have to choose between an automatic or manual transmission car. I chose manual, most people choose automatic. In my case I never got to ride in the back seat because the woman before me bailed out and asked to do the automatic car, only after she took the ride. In my opinion if you can drive stick, go for it. It's not that bad/much harder than auto. It was only my second time driving stick in a right hand drive car. Since we are talking about cars, the car you will drive for the test will most likely be one of those Japanese taxi type cars. So if you have a friend with one of those, I would suggest you ask them if you can practice driving with it. I have only driven K-cars while being in Japan, so the bigger car felt a bit different. It's kind of like driving a boat.
OK, now to the test. Some people say this and that about how to use your blinker when you start the course. This is what I did and I passed so I think it's correct. There were three lanes from which you will enter the course. I was in the middle lane so I signaled right since I was merging into the right late, then right before I got onto the course, I signaled left. Of course stop and look before you enter the course. While taking this test, when you look right and left, you HAVE TO over exaggerate. This means even turning your shoulders when you look. There will be one point on
the course where you will have to make a left turn, before making this turn, look around. You also need to look back over your left should to check for bicyclists. You need to basically half turn out and look. My friend failed
the test once for not doing this.
Before taking the test, be sure to walk the course. This test is not about whether you can drive it not. It's about how well you can take the test. I am not joking about this statement; I can only explain it as being very "Japanese". There is a right way and a wrong way to do the course, even my Japanese friend was shocked that I passed it the first time. I even went as far as pretending to hold the steering wheel while walking the course. Make mental notes on where you need to do things. Even picture where the tires of the car should be while making turns and stuff like that. While walking the course, you will notice that there are number signs on the side of the roads. I believe those signs are there for a reason. They indicate that you probably need to do some thing there. For example blinker, change lanes, slow down, blinker again. There will be a triangle slow down sign near the corner of the course. When you pass the number sign before that sign, it's your signal to slow down. Once you pass the triangle sign, you should be going exactly 10km/hr as much as possible. The car I drove only had numbers starting from 20km on the speedometer, so I just slip the difference between the 20 and the 0.
While driving, keep your hands at 10 and 2, with your thumb pointing upwards. When making turns, don't cross arm over arm, "it's really dangerous". What you need to do is shuffle your hands while turning. It feels really strange while driving, but it's the "right" way to do it.
Ok, almost done. So after my test, I totally thought I failed, but he said OK, you passed. I think one of the tricks to this test is to listen to the man. If he tells you, "you did something wrong," be sure to correct that mistake and don't do it again. A fixed mistake is a lot better than a repeated one. For example, there is a zig zag turn on a really narrow road. I couldn't make the turn so I needed to back up. While backing up, I forgot to look back. The tester got mad at me and told that was very dangerous. When I came to the second turn and needed to back up again, I was sure to do the over exaggerated look back. So although I made a really bad mistake, but fixing I think I made the guy happy.
I hope this will be a help to you all in your quest for a Japanese drivers license. I wish you luck and hopefully it's not as hard for you as it sounds.
Justin Carvalho
BBS for Chinese Residents
Welcome to TSUKUBA BBS. This is a forum for Chinese people to communicate and relax. English and Japanese speakers are also welcomed.
www.oginfosys.com/tsukuba/index.asp
Qin,lin
Medical Clinic in Tokyo
My clinic has been well-known to the foreign community (especially the stable and older generations in Tokyo) for more than 50 yrs. I am providing the highest medical service available in a private clinic. If you might want to make references to some people to learn how reliable my clinic and services are, you can find about me from:
St. Mary's International School
Aoba-Japan International School
Amici International Preschool
IAEA
United Nations University
UNU Institute of Advance Science (UNU/IAS)
Dr. Nishio (St. Luke's International Hospital)
We accept credit cards and Japanese insurance as well.
www.thekingclinic.com
Leo King (Toshio Kon), MD, UNEP, JMADOM
JR Suica Card Just Got Better!
For all of you that use the train on a regular basis, the Suica card just got better. Up until now you could preload the card (which is good for travel on all JR East lines) and avoid the hassle of buying tickets, adjusting fares, and looking for change. Now you can also use it to buy food in station restaurants and convenience stores.
www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=4&id=292316
The Suica Card (which stands for Super Urban Intelligent CArd, by the way) looks like this (see above) and you can find out more on the (Japanese only) website: www.jreast.co.jp/suica.
Jerrold Litwinenko
2004 Tax Guide for American JET Participants
This information may be helpful to Americans, especially those who are teaching. It was prepared by Adam Rogers, an ALT on the JET Programme.
ibarakijets.org/guides/2004americantaxguide.doc
Adam Rogers
New Internet Telephone: Skype
There is a new kind of Internet Telephone that people living away from their friends and families will LOVE. It is called Skype and it is available at www.skype.com. Some of you may have tried the voice function of messenger programs, but this is much, much better than that. The reception is so clear it sounds like the person is right beside you. In fact, the reception is better than my phone.
In order to use Skype software, your computer must meet the following minimum system requirements:
PC running Windows 2000 or XP
400 MHz processor
128 MB RAM
10 MB free disk space on your hard drive
Sound Card, speakers and microphone
Internet Connection (either dial-up: minimum 33.6 Kbps modem, or any broadband: cable, DSL, etc.)
I downloaded the program and tried it out with a couple of friends in Tokyo and I was really amazed with the results. If you tend to spend a lot on phone bills, this program could save you a great deal of money.
Shaney Crawford
See also...
You might find these articles from past issues helpful:
Need help switching from heating to air conditioning?
Air Con Kanji ... Nicolas Delerue (2003-12)
Just arrived? Get some good advice from local residents.
How to Find Out Stuff in Tsukuba City ... Eleanor Olds Batchelder (2003-03)
Welcome to Tsukuba ... Vivian Lee (2003-06)
Local events and community information can be found on...
