This week I had my first work day in Japan, I went on a field trip to Kamakura and also invested a good portion of my time in developing an app.
Bringing Home the Bacon #2
I had my first work day this week. The office Iām working at is on the 21st floor of an office building. Weāve got an amazing view over the skyscrapers of the office district. Unfortunately, I kinda missed to take picture to show it here. Please donāt hate me, I swear to those super-sour gummibears I love so much that Iām gonna deliver those pics next week. Anyway, when I got in the office the first time and sat down at my table, people were kind of confused and stared at me. Probably because I am one of the two foreigners in the office. Maybe it was also because I wore a red shirt, while everyone else had their plain white, black or beige colored shirt on. I guess Iām the complete opposite of low-key. Oh wellā¦
I started to introduce myself, firstly, to all the colleagues around me and later on also in a group meeting to my team. Then I also understood why it took so long to get the contract. They never employed any student whatsoever. Apparently internships and working student jobs are not common here in Japan and so they were also confused about the fact that I am working there part time as a student. Nevertheless, they welcomed me to the company and their team and I could learn some things about how the business operates here in Japan. Iām eager to continue my work here and Iām also looking forward to the next few weeks and the tasks that I have to handle.
Getting Enlightened
My āJapanese Buddhism and Social Sufferingā course had an optional field trip this week to Kamakura. After postponing it a few times due to collisions with other events, we finally settled on this Saturday. We were around eight students and our professor. The main advantage of this field trip in comparison to a solo journey was the fact that our professor knows the history of Kamakura and its temples and could give us a guided tour, instead of us just aimlessly waddling around town. Our journey took us through four temples of which two were not typical small temples for praying, but actually training temples, the other had a giant Buddha statue and the last one was a rather large temple mainly for praying.
In the training temples they train people to become Buddhist monks. Their training consists of several different disciplines which can be roughly grouped into two categories: artistic training (consists of tea ceremony, playing the shakuhachi, flower arrangements, writing) and physical training (any Japanese martial art or archery). During our visit the monks were training archery. Their movement while drawing the bow was very slow, but precise and elegant. It was fascinating to watch them during their training. Each of them shot two arrows and then they switched. There was also a trainer present, correcting their posture if it wasnāt correct.
The third temple was called Kotoku-in. It is the home of a famous giant Buddha statue called Daibutsu. The statue is over 13m high and weighs 121 tons. Next time you roast a little kidĀ use this fact for your obligatory āYour mamaā joke. This will definitely destroy him. You can also go inside the giant Buddha to admire it from there. Although I found it to be a little underwhelming. But then again, Iām not sure what I really expected there to be. Also this temple is crowded as fuck, so if you donāt like other humans, donāt come here.
The last temple was also pretty impressive. This one also had a giant Buddha statue, but this time only around 9m high and made out of gilded wood. It also had a beautiful view of the Kamakura beach and a cool Koi pond. Although Iām not sure if there were actual Koi in it or just other boring fishes. Iām just not an expert on fishesā¦ or anything nature related in general.
All of the temples had incredible looking lawns and gardens, because the monks are also trained in gardening and flower arrangements. So if you ever want to learn something about gardening just join a Buddhist temple. Only takes you a couple of years of devoted training and youāre done. Definitely better than one of those boring gardening clubs.
Our last stop for the day was the Kamakura beach. We enjoyed a walk in the sunset along the beach and all took our obligatory Instagram picture in the sunset. Those pictures looked so damn good, you would think they are Windows screensavers. What a gorgeous sunset.
Project Young
My semester in Japan is, at least up to this point, completely self-funded. So, in order to ensure I donāt go broke in the middle of my stay, I started to write down all my expenses. Food, booze, entertainment, sightseeing, booze, transportation, booze, you know, the usual suspects. Anyway, I saved all the data in an excel table and let it automatically calculate some statistics (ācause I fucking love statistics, grrr). They include my average spending per day in a month, my projected spending in my entire stay and some over numbers. However, this procedure became somewhat cumbersome. I had to write down my expenses during the day on my phone in a note app and then, when I got home, I had to copy everything to the excel table like the damn cavemen I was. I felt kinda old, used up and then thrown into the garbage. Like death itself was staring at me at nightā¦ hmm, maybe it was just the pile of clothes on my chair. Anyway I decided to end my misery and approach my finances with a more modern solution. I fired up my laptop and started to create my very own finance management app. You might ask yourself why I didnāt use an existing app from the App Store; was it a concern about my private data, the non-existence of an app with my desired functions, or my wish for fame and fortune? Well, none of those. I just needed something to do for the evening because I was too lazy to get up from my desk and go out of my room.
The app has all its core functionality as of its current state. You have a list with all your expenses, some statistics, you can add new categories and edit or delete already existing entries. So Iām using the app since the end of this week instead of the excel table. It works just fine, however, I still want to add a lot of features. Users should be able to customize the shown statistics, the list of expenses should be a bit more readable and the UI needs a face-lift. It currently looks like a quick DIY project, which it kinda is, but I want to make it look a bit more professional. I also want to add at least a German translation to the app, maybe even some other languages. In the end, Iād like to release the app to the public, but I still have a long road ahead of me before I can do that. If I get around to do some major improvements Iāll let you know about it.
Also donāt judge me for all the money I spend on food. Is all that food necessary? No, definitely not, but Iāmma stuff myself with those cheap-ass desserts from the nearby supermarket until I go broke and live in a carton next to the damn station.
Thank you for reading and see you next week :)
Ash