Thursday, April 28, 2005

User Centred and Enviro-friendly Design in Japan

So over the past few months, as a Systems Design Engineering student, its build in me to pay special attention to usability. I arrived here in awe at how well the Japanese design their everyday environments to suit user needs and to be environmentally friendly. The irony of it all is that Tottori U doesn't know how to teach design at all. Whereas Waterloo has one of the best, if not the best, engineering design programs in the Canada. But we in Waterloo have the most user-unfriendly facilities on campus. E.g. Davis Centre that open the wrong way, the Davis Centre all together (useless randomly located stools --> our tuition going to use), Needles Hall diagonal stairs, Quest, JobMine, all the engineering buildings, the infamous "bag checking system" at the UW libraries, the overall depressing 50's architecture, the ventilation in E2, etc.. etc.. I can go on and on.

In Japan, I see a lot of effort to suit user needs and be environmentally friendly:

  • In Japan, for both men and women, they have these "kneeling toilets" where instead of sitting down, you kneel and do your business. This like much more sanitary. And it works well for both sexes.
The crouching toilet
  • In my room, there is a choice of flushing the toilet with more water or less depending on whether you took a crap or simply went pee. As shown in the image below


  • In most public places, such as streets, libraries, etc.. the floor is tiled with these "paths" that help those who can't see properly. All crossings are equipped with the "bird-like sounds" that indicate to blind people that can cross the street.


Handicap assisted paths

  • The lights inside the university buildings only turn on when it senses movement in the hallways.
  • When you push the cross-walk button to cross the street, there is a feedback message informing you that you infact pressed the button successfully and to wait
  • when ambulances, fire trucks, police cars have their sirens on, a voice message is also present asking people to make way.
  • The garbage/recycling system is 10X more complicated than in Canada. Spilt up into categories: burnable garbage, cans, PET bottles, paper, and other non-burnable garbage. This can be a bad thing because of its complexity... BUT.. that means that they are actually recycling stuff and not just SAY they are like in Canada
  • And of course my personal toilet in my room, with a sink built on top. As one flushes the toilet, it allows people to use the same, clean water, that would normally be used to flush, to wash their hands, etc...

  • The one thing I dont like about Japan is that there are no such things as debit machines. People here only pay by cash
So thats my rant about usability. Well today, all the international students here in Tottori U were given free bicycles. So now we dont have to walk to school anymore in the scortching 30 degree weather from the Tottori University Int'l House to campus. EVERYONE in Tottori rides bikes and not to mention that the crime rate here is like next to zero. So everything is so safe. I was called paranoid once here because of our security cautiousness that's been ingrained into us from living in the west.

Next week is what they call in Japan "Golden Week" meaning everyone is off work and school for approx 10 days. Soo.. Ana and I are going to hit up Hiroshima (one of the two imfamous cities that were A-bombed) and do some other random travelling in neighbouring villages, cities, etc... Richard, Will and Teresa decided to go to Tokyo. So its all going to be fun fun and more fun. No school for a week is gold within itself.

I am writing this journal entry after ANOTHER party. This time its the Social Systems Engineering dept -wide BBQ. lemme tell you Japanese bbq's are absolutely amazing. Unlike Canadian bbqs which mostly only consist of hamburgers and hotdogs, the japanese PUT EVERYTHING on their BBQ's. Its super delicious. I'm late for the afterparty. So I'll catch everyone up with our latest antics some other time.


International students on a tour bus from our orientation two weeks ago

More material things...

So I have formatted the settings of the journal as requested by many people. Sorry for the inconveience. Hopefully now the blog wont take FOREVER to load as it only displays 7 postings per page. However, if you wish to see previous blogs, you will have to click on them individually from the right hand side panel titled "Previous Posts"

So this week I finally got a cell phone and only because I have no other access to a phone. I couldn't care less about material things like this. Heres my theory on cell phones "If I can make calls and receives calls, it's good enough". I dont need those 'extra' features like a camera, MP3 player, internet, etc.... They get outdated so quickly there's no point in buying expensive ones. In japan there are three cell phone providers (listed in order of 'relative' cost)
  1. Do Co Mo (most pricey)
  2. Vodaphone (formerly J-phone)
  3. AU (cheapest)
I ended up going to AU: for two reason, the prices are reasonable (good for students) and because I AU gives out relatively older models of cell phones for free. FREE is the key word. So i got a Sony Ericsson A1404S for free. Supposedly its the oldest model they have here in Japan.


Sony Ericsson A1404S


Some of you may be familiar with my cell phone back in Canada: the really old Nokia 3310. It was simple, it makes calls and it receives calls. Thats all I need. I have had the same cell phone since I was in Grade 11 (since 1999) and I dont intend on changing it. Now this Sony phone is way out of my league. So much features and useless crap. And on top of everything, the interface is in japanese so it makes it "that" much more confusing for me.



Japanese keypad

Which brings me to the topic of materialism. I found that the people I grew up with, including myself, were brought up in a bubble, and coddled. We were so isolated from the 'real world' being brought by the materialistic worlds that are "Markham and Richmond Hill". I estimate that AT LEAST 70% of people in my high school didnt understand the true value of money. There are those out there that still take immense pride and like to show off material things like high tech cell phones and cars purchased by their parent's money. Not until I moved out on my own to Waterloo for almost 3 years that I realized how 'pampered' we were back in Richmond Hill. This past week in Japan, I found out that the bank drafts werent going to be issued until May 10th or so. So basically what that means is that I'm going to have survive with the $30 of money I have left for the next two weeks. I have never been in a budget crunch before in my life (the damn Canadian debit cards didnt work at the ATM machines). I decided to not take this experience as a hardship, but as an 'eye-opener' and a valuable life-lesson. You learn A LOT about yourself when you move out on your own, more so in foreign country where very few people speak your language. I think the next goal in life, after graduation, is to become financially independent from my parents. It is very very important for me to be able to earn and spend MY OWN money. I especially look forward in giving back to my parents and family after everything they have done for me while growing up. I appreciate it as I wouldnt be able to achieve as much I have without their emotional and financial support.
This is one HUGE reason why I have become active in Engineers without Borders. There people that I know that wouldnt survive a day in places like Africa because it lacks material things like cell phones, cars, technology, and basic infrastructure we . I would really like to do an internship in a developing country sometime in the near future(considering Costa Rica fell through). It will defientely help me grow as an individual and help me pursue my career in the field of 'human development'.

PS SARAH: I havent been able to find decent coffee here in Japan yet!!!!!!!! I dont know how Im functioning.

(shout outs to Rej... for eating a large chocolate pie, a cheddar melt, and a gigantic milkshake. and for holding her poo)

Saturday, April 23, 2005

The Teaching Bug

Sorry for the lack of posts the past week. I've been swamped with school work and my work term report. I havent had much time to do much else.

But yesterday I went to teach English. Basically this class is called Conversational English for Japanese students. There were three of us who were native English speakers teaching the class: Matt, a teacher in his late twenties from New Jersey, Anna (not Waterloo Ana, but another Anna) an earth sciences major also in her late twenties from Jamaica, and myself the undergrad engineering student from Canada. Basically we had to do a 20 minute presentation about each of our countries and discuss it with the Japanese students.

Anna and Matt went first since they had experience. So I had a chance to take some notes while observing their teaching techniques and I had also planned out what I was going to say. So by the time I went up, I was suprised how naturally it all came out. I knew exactly what to say, how to say it, and what to write on the blackboard. However, one bad habit I'm noticed I've picked up is that I'm starting to speak "Japanese English" to Japanese people, when I should be speaking proper English instead. I covered topics from Canadian geography, languages, multicultralism, food, sports, imports/exports, currency, animals, school system, weather/seasons, etc... I felt extremely invigorated on stage. This experience has really changed my perspective on possible career directions after graduation. I have defintely caught the teaching bug.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Tottori Sand Dunes and Canada going awry

So today we got woken up at the cycling centre at 7 am... Good thing I went to bed at 11 last night or else I would, yet again, be mucho sleepy for the whole day, like yesterday.

So after breakfast at 8:30 am we went to the Tottori Sand Dunes. It was super duper gorgeous. The weather was sooo perfect. It's basically a GIGANTIC beach filled with hills and tons of sand. When other Japanese people or foreigners think about Tottori, they think of the sand dunes. It was absolutely spectacular... We toook tons of pictures there... Sadly, the IFA only allowed us to stay 20 minutes there. (poo on their heads)

So then we were told that we were going to take a freakin tour of the Tottori Library. We left the f#@^&#$en sand dunes to go take a tour of a library. We walked through the building and they pointed out different sections and that we were allowed to get library cards. Not to mention that this library is FAR away from our residence and the university campus.

So afterward we jumped back on the bus and we headed back to the International Exchange plaza where we had the party yesterday. Guess what we did... we had a 1 hour lesson on how to sort garbage in Japan. We left the amazingness of the sand dunes to take a tour of a library and learn to sort garbage.

So what's the f#$#$@ is going on in Canada. I leave the country for 2 weeks and the people go bazerk. How in hell are they even considering a Conservative government. okay... there is the sponsership scandal, but it seems like Canadians are hearing about it for the FIRST time considering
the sudden reaction. Stephen Harper and his goons are a bunch of red neck social-conservatives that's going to turn the social-liberalism, which a lot of Canadians take pride on, upside-down. I can see issues like same-sex marriage, immigration rights, and minority rights slowly going down the drain. Can you imagine "Foreign Affairs Minister Stockwell Day" or "Prime Minister Stephen Harper"??? The very thought of it makes me want to vomit. So thats my overseas rant. If there's an election this summer, my proxy vote will be there.


Me at the Tottori Sand Dunes







Saturday April 16, 2005 - mock Earthquake!!!!

So today was super crazy. We woke up at 7:00 am to go to some orientation that's suppose to last two days. I woke up VERY groggy. I was also missing my Tim Horton's coffee. I miss it too much. So afterward Ana took FOREVER to get ready....heheh... girls girls girls... so I left without her. Basically all the international students here at Tottori for the first time had to go on the orientation.

We went to some cycling rest centre... basically to discuss logistics about travelling... like government documents and health services and stuff... So then we headed back to the residence to watch a fire drill... FIRE!!! in Japanese is KASHI!!!!!... and ambulance is KIU KIU. You dial 1-1-9 in Japan not 9-1-1.

Then we had an earthquake simulator, which teaches us what to do in the event of an earthquake. We were allowed to try the simulator in pairs... So Richard and I went. The simulator starts off at a Richtor scale of 6 then goes up to a 7. It was crazy. Knowing me, I would panic during the event of a real one.


Richard and I on the earthquake simulator... you can see the Richtor scale in the corner


Myself, Ana and Richard pretending to be Professor Woolford

Then we finally headed off the International Exchange Plaza... where we had ANOTHER welcome party. This time it was run by the International Friendship Association. So.. more FREE FOOD... Ana and I have been loving the free food considering we still DONT have our bank accounts set up. Then we headed back to the cycling centre, and stayed the night in tatami-bunk beds. I got a chance to make MOCHI... which is rice pounded into little circles.



Me pounding some rice to make mochi


A group of international students


The party put on by the IFA (Int'l Friendship Assoc.)

I've also noticed that the Sakura trees are turning green. So it was great that I went to the festival last week when they were in full bloom.


Sakura flowers turning green

Friday, April 15, 2005

Friday April 15 (TODAY!!!)- Day of Relaxin... finally

Since we have no classes on Fridays, I decided to take the day off and spend the day at the lab to relax. Just a day to myself, update the blog, and catch up on some work. Its crazy how busy we have been the past few days.

I was speaking with Megan, from Waterloo, she brought up the point about how exausted she was when she went to Germany for exchange back in high school. The communication barrier and the new environment drains a lot of energy out of you. I completely agree with her.

So I'm finally caught up with my log entries. Let me tell you... its been an absolutely insane week.

We finally got our Tottori University student cards today.



Tottori University Student Card

Thursday, April 15, 2005 - Kendo paaati

So today was a mixed day. In the morning we had our intro to design class. Basically the professor allowed us to run the class ourselves. As long as we meet the goals and objectives given by Professor Hipel's course outline. So that went pretty smoothly.

Then we had the English seminar for Systems Models, where Japanese students read an english textbooks. It went soooooooooooooooooooooo slowly. It took them like 10 minutes to read a paragraph. I guess it'll be the same problem if we had to read a Japanese textbook. As if the material wasnt hard enough in English.


BlindSYDEd in Models class.. Japanese style

Then we went to the big lecture hall for the actual lecture given by Kitamura-sensei. It was tough... as it brushed on a lot of stuff from Signals class which I still need to look over. Too bad I left my signals notes and textbook in Canada. Its so funny.. Ana and I have been comparing professors and buildings at Tottori University to ones in Waterloo. It brings a smile to my face to see the similarities.

Then at night each of us went to our desired clubs we want to join. Basically we only have time for 1 as they take up a lot of time. There are tons and tons to choose from. I was debating between the rowing club, the kendoo club, swimming, and jazz infusion. I decided not to do rowing because its too American... lol... and plus I would be too exausted considering it requires practice everyday after school at 5. I cant do swimming because it starts in June. And I need to start exercising now... not in 2 months. Jazz infusions requires one to own an instrument. Which I dont have here in Japan. So that leaves the Kendoo club. I was leaning toward Kendooo anyways since its a Japanese sport and I'm in Japan... so why not.
  • Ana went to hip hop dancing
  • Teresa went to badminton
  • Will and Richard played basketball and
  • I went to Kendoo
So at 5, I walked over the the Tottori U athletics area and I was introduced to the guys and girls at the kendoo club. Surprisingly, one of the girls, named Mariko, was the girl who walked Ana and I to the library the second day we arrived. She was glad to see me. It the first day and the newbies sat there and watched. But they gave us a small lesson. Considering I did some basic Kendoo back in Canada in September 2003, I was surprised I still had the moves down. So they were impressed with me. A foreigner who played Kendoo before outside of japan... sheesh... who would have thought. .



So everyone at Kendoo made a big deal that I was there since I was the "foreign kid". So they all took me out to dinner to make sure that I stick with the club... The Japanese sure know how to welcome newcomers... They were all superfriendly and the food, as usual, was super yummy.
Some of them came up to say hi to me in their full kendoo uniforms. I couldnt see their faces since they had their masks on so they had to reintroduce themselves at dinner. I realized how hard it is to remember japanese names, since they all sound alike. So after I asked everyone their names, I made sure to write them down.


At dinner, I forgot to take a picture of the people. LOL.. I just took a picture of my yummy food

I went home and made some super progress with my work term report. So overall it was a productive day.

Wednesday April 13, 2005 - Engineering in Japanese

So this morning we had our first engineering class. It was thermodyamics with Suzuki-sensei. This class is held for the five of us only. So we get special attention HEHE. Thank goodness I read ahead in the morning before heading to class because he delivered the lecture in Japanese. I could follow some of it but most of the time I was lost in what he was saying. He was writing in Kanji and speaking really really fast Japanese. Most of us around table looked really confused. He would say some English here and there to put us back in track so that was good

So afterward we had to write the Japanese diagnostic test. It was tough but I answered most of it, so that was good. Afterall its a diagnostic test. I dont want to be placed in some advanced class that I shouldnt belong to.

One the way home, I stopped by a vending machine and bought a can of "Royal Milk Tea". I immediately fell in love with it. It's goign to be my Tim Horton's coffee equivalent.




Tuesday April 12 - PARTY and more PAATI!!!!!!!!

So today we did more running around. Today we met up with serveral professors who will be teaching us the Engineering courses to discuss the syllabus and the Waterloo 3A textbooks we brought over.

First we met with Suzuki-sensei, who is going to be teaching us Thermodynamics. He's a extremely nice man and I look forward to the class.

We then had a break, so I went to the library to use the internet and work on some Japanese.

Then we met up with Kitamura-sensei who will be teaching us the Systems Models course. I regret not bringing my Signals and fluids textbooks and notes from last term. They would ahve really helped. We then fixed our timetable

So afterward was the welcoming party. We had to make speeches to introduce ourselves. It went really well. We met the president of the university, we met students from other labs and all the professors of the department. And like always in Japan, there were TONS OF FOOD. Everyday this week that Ive been here I have eaten sushi and other exotic and unique Japanese food. So I must be many pounds heavier than when I left Canada. They keep feeding us and feeding us non-stop. Which is also a good thing considering that our bank accounts havent been set up yet and that I have very little money left. So the party went really well. We also met two American english teachers. They live near our residence, so hopefully I can hang-out with them sometime. I defintely can learn a lot from them.

So after the welcoming party, the Urban planning laboratory (another research area within Social systems engineering) had an after party for us. The food was transported over to another room. And We ate, we drank and we drank more. Ana, Will, Richard, Teresa and myself were teaching the Japanese guys some Canadian drinking games like "I never ever...".



Click Here for video of party (quicktime .mov)

We also taught them the Engineering drinking song. It was a blast. Most of the Japanese guys were drunk at a really early stage. I left the party after 6 drinks sober. It's funny to see how the Canada has made me alcohol-tough. Well then again, Richard, Will and Teresa were drunk so I wouldnt say it's Canada.

Monday April 11, 2005 - Brain Drain

In the morning, I went up to the Coastal Engineering laboratory (a reasearch area within the department of Social Systems Engineering) which I was placed in. I wont be studying Coastal Engineering. I was just placed there so I can have a place to work. I will also be met the graduate students and the professors. Boy was there a HUGE communication barrier between us. With the grad students, it took approximately 5 minutes to translate one sentence of conversation. They was the most exausting conversations I've ever had. However, the professors had okay English, so I could communicate with them fine. I really need to work to improve my Japanese. My speech right now is filled with both langages jumping back and forth. But everyone was super nice. They are supposedly having a lab party next Monday as my "welcoming party". And I told them my birthday and they are celebrating that as well when the day comes. The Japanese sure know how to welcome someone

Today, Yokomatsu-sensei took us to three different classes. Japanese Culture I and II, and Japanese language I. These classes are intended for those advanced in Japanese, so all of us, with the exception of Ana, was completely lost. Afterward, I went home and passed out on my bed. I was so drained and tired. I didnt realize how poor my Japanese skills are until today. Basically in Japan there are three different types of Characters

Hiragana - which is used to represent Japanese characters phonetically
Katakana - used to represent English words that have no Japanese equivalent.. e.g. computer in japanese is konputa
Kanji - chinese characters

Kanji plays a HUGE and I say HUGE part of the Japanese language. Basically, even though I'm Chinese, my Kanji is really bad. The Chinese international exchange students have a definite advantage.

I went the Univeristy stationery store to go buy a binder. It turns out, there is no such thing as a three ring binder in Japan. So I had to buy plastic clear holders to carry hand-outs in. Thank goodness I brought some Hilroy notebooks from Canada.

Our engineering classes have not started yet. We still havent figured out our timetable yet

Tomorrow is the welcoming party for us put on by the department of Social Systems Engineering

Sunday April 10, 2005 - SAKURA FESTIVAL!!!


(photo taken by Ana)

This morning Ana and I went with a bunch of International students to the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival in the rural parts of Tottori Prefecture (province). It was a very gorgeous area, there were mountains surrounding us at every angle and the rich colour of the Sakura trees accented the serene environment to another level. when we arrived, we met up with the entire village already seated on tatami mats oustide in a gorgeous field flanked by the sakura trees. There were LOTS AnD LOTS AND LOTS of food, desserts, beer, sake, candy, snacks, etc... This food wasn't from restaurants, it was 100% authentic home-made Japanese food made by the people of the village. And did I mention it was all freeeeee. Considering we dont have our bank accounts set up yet, being fed was defintely a plus. The people were so friendly constantly offering us food, and drinks. One man kept pouring us beer. You can tell that the Japanese are cheap drunks. By like their second cup, their faces were completely red. They sure know how to have a great time. We were also entertained with women playing the koto and Hawaiian style dancing. After that we all got a chance to get up in a circle to dance to traditional Japanese folks songs. We had sooo much fun. The trip was organized by Waka sensei (the man in the hawaiian skirt). It is definetely one of the most memorable events here so far. Its not everyday that one gets to explore rural areas of a country half way across the world. Ususally if someone were to come to Japan, they would go to big cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, etc... The awesome thing is that we didnt know about this till late yesterday when one of the Nepalese students told us about it. There was supposedly was a sign-up sheet posted in the International Residence that we didnt see. So all late yesterday we were frantically trying to find the person in charge. But luckily this morning, there was enough room for us on the cars. Words cannot describe the amazing atmosphere of the event. So I'll show it in words



Henry, grad student from Kenya and myself on the way to the Sakura Festival


Me at the festival


Gorgeous landscape in rural Tottori province







Everyone enjoying the HUGE FEAST at the sakura festival


Ana and I enjoying ourselves at the Sakura festival


Mushroom.. mmmmm...


mmmmm... more mushroom


Waka-sensei (the man in the hawaiian skirt) organized the fesitival for all the int'l students






Free Food and Free Beer (great combo)




Ana and a Japanese baby


Everyone enjoying their meal


Me and Japanese muscians playing folk music


Japanese ladies folk dancing


Japanese dessert wrapped in Sakura tree leaf


All of us doing traditional Japanese dancing


Ana danving


Me breaking down some moves


The area of Tottori we were in... too bad I dont know how to read it


Village houses


Saturday April 9, 2005 - Japanese Shopping Day


I woke up at 9 am this morning and took a nice shower. I had to use the shower stall that had no lights and with the lights not working, since there was someone else in the "nicer" stall. The water temperature was very unstable. Sometimes it was hot and sometimes it was cold. We were both fighting for the hot water.

I went downstairs and bought canned coffee from a vending machine. Only Japanese vending machines serve HOT drinks. The coffee tasted disgusting (NOTHING compares to Tim Horton's coffee). Nevertheless, the fact that a vending machine can serve hot drinks is cool


Vending machine HOT canned coffee

I made some calls and then we were planning to leave to go grocery shopping. We were stopped by other international students and we sat and chat for an hour. The students from northern China marvelled at my English. They thought was god with the American accent. So I agreed to teach them English if they teach me Mandarin. I'm excited, like Ana, about making connections throughout the world.

So we finally left for the grocery store. It was the most EXCITING experience. We had a blast. The types of food you purchase is similar yet SOOO different. I didnt even know what to buy considering I dont have a fridge in my room :-(. So I tried to limit myself to non-perishable foods. We walked back home and had a nice chat. We had lunch, then we headed back to Tottori University at 4:30 to use the internet to clear our inboxes and to respond to some e-mails. The library closed at 5, so we couldnt do much.


Me shopping (still looking drained from the plane ride)



Really expensive apples (228 yen approx $ 2.28 US)




Famous Tottori crabs


Oreo !!!!!!


Ana shopping with me


My shopping receit



The people here in Japan are so much nicer than Canadians. I stop random people on the streets to ask them for directions and they gladly told me where it was. There were even some people who offered to walk us to the destination. The cars in Japan are completely different than those in America. Honda, Toyota, Mazda, and Nissan have makes that we havent even heard of in Canada. For example, there's the Audi A3. Most of the cars are tiny. There are also TONS of bikes.


There's a bicycle lotterly next week at the Tottori City International Exchange Plaza. There are 15 bikes for 25 of the exchange students. I really hope I get one. It will make getting around so much more convenient.




Tottori Street Signs

So later that night, Ana, myself, and Henry, a Kenyan Masters student, went to a billiards club to play pool. Like every other night, the streets were completely dead. Unlike Toronto where the night ends at around 3 am in the morning, here in Japan, the ends at around 5 pm. Only a handful of people: Japanese businessmen coming home from work, "hoodlum" teenagers and youth, and international students or "gai-jins" are ever seen on the streets.

Something else I have observed is that nobody in Japan j-walks. In Toronto and Waterloo we are so accustomed to across the street when there are no cars in sight.