Day 11 – DORM BBQ

Today is a more unique day, we are having a dorm bbq session. It cost only 500 yen and its held at the Shonai Ryokuchi Park. A total of 6 dorms came together for this session. I estimated around 50+ people turn up. I met new friends! Interesting the BBQ session have not only Japanese but people from the USA, China and so. It kinda sad that I couldn’t speak Japanese well but there are ways to communicate!

44089930_1742755779180154_5367776454966771712_o — Group Photo

We ended the day with a game of BINGO. Sadly, I didn’t win anything but it was a unique and interesting experience. The grand prize was Disneyland tickets and there were like 20 prizes to giveaway! One of the funniest prizes is 30 bottles of 500ml water LOL.

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Back to project work tomorrow! We have around 9 more days to the first prototype showcase! Hope everything goes well!

Day 10 – Atsuta Shrine, Random Sport Event, Cat Cafe & Arcade!

It Saturday and we decided to go to the Atsuta Shrine! So it located 30min away from our dorm at Jingunishi station. The place is HUGE, massing around 5 shrines at the area with the main shrine. We manage to witness a traditional Japan wedding and get to try their known Kishimen at the Miya Kishimen Jingu shop.

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After that, we decide to roam about the area. We found this park with an event going on, serving free food and drinks! They were having some sort of sports event between 4 teams. IT WAS MADNESS, everyone is so actively participating in the event.

Random Sport Event

FREE YAKITORI?

RED TEAM TENTAGE

After that, we decide to head to Sakae to get some stuff. While we were there, we decide to drop by at a nearby cat cafe. It was like 200 yen for 10 min and you have to buy an all you can drink for 350 yen. It was an interesting experience, we probably visit an owl cafe next!

Sleep

What an interesting way to sleep

We decide to drop by at the arcade to play some pachinko & medal game. We don’t get why is pachinko so popular in Japan but the medal game. Holy shit, it was so crazy. The sound the coins dropping have never felt so exciting before. Also with the minigames involve and I also almost won a jackpot. It was a fun experience.

JACKPOTTTT

THAT BEEF

RANDOM FESTIVAL

Tomorrow is BBQ with the dorm people! Hope to meet new friends!

Day 9 – First Company Talk and Japanese Lesson

So it seems for this next few weeks, we will be having Japanese classes with the luggage teacher and company talks every Friday. Of course, the company talks are all in Japanese, and they speak so fast that it is hard for me to even understand but it is a good experience. Today the company that was giving the talk was DELIGHT WORK INC. The creators of Fate Grand Order! Very interesting to see that the company was talking about the game industry in Japan and comparing it to the outside world. Also showing the growth of new genes that are growing now.

20181013_003627 — Free Gift during the talk

The Japanese class was interesting as well. They share about the social norms that Japanese have and our teacher gave us tips when coming to communicating with them. I can see it being very helpful and I probably try during the next session with my Japanese group mates.

BREAD

ONE PIECEE

Today ends up quite short time for project work but I manage to get the state pattern machine working for my Slime. Now for more improvements. Tomorrow we are visiting Atsuta Shrine (熱田神宮) to see one of the Japanese most important shrines.

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Day 8 – Half Day?

I swear I got to the point I have no idea what to write during school days. It always the same cycle, Breakfast -> Project Work In Morning -> Lunch -> Project Work till of school.

Today I guess it was supposed to be half day? We are allowed to leave like right after lunch but we decide to stay at finish our task at hand. Noting much for today but we found an interesting store and it made me buy something. Japan has many interesting concepts, this store at Osu Kannon, it is a store that clothes price are determined by the weight of the object. I decide to buy pants that weight 420g which cost 420 yen, THAT IS A STEAL! In future, I probably drop by if I am near the location to see there any good steals to get!

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Lunch was Saizeya again but this time with their lunch promo! IT ONLY COST 500 YEN? TAKE MY MONEY! Dinner was a surprising tuna bowl? I was shocked to see my dorm serve this for dinner. Is tuna on sale?

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I hope tomorrow will be great! Since we will be having Japanese Lesson and a Company Talk/Sharing! Looking forward to it!

Day 7 – Task Allocated

With most of the stuff discussed! We finally allocated the task to everyone. It was a challenge to communicate due to the language differences. To prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding. We spend tons of time discussing and making sure everyone on the same page. Normally, communicating through the same language will probably take less then a min but when both parties can’t speak a common language that timing multiply. We that out of the way, finally we can start on coding! We have around 2 weeks to create a prototype for the next tea session.

Did I say tea session? Yeah! I didn’t know what is it about until today. It was displayed on our schedule. So the tea session, It like some sort of chit-chat and to update on the progress of each group to the teachers. There were snacks lying around for us to eat! The Finland student also brought their local snack called “Salmiak”. It tastes salty and has a texture of a nut and it has a unique after taste that most of us don’t really appreciate it. Personally, I love it!

Too end it off! Have some food porn.

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Day 6 – Game Pitch Over!

Hey hey! The game pitch is over. It seems that the Japanese teacher and student kinda like the idea? With that in mind, we can full throttle on the game development. Today the whole day is on the discussion.

Also for today, the Japanese students are with us the whole day. Therefore a lot could be done! We managed to settle down on game mechanical and set up our project management tools such as GitHub, Trello and so on.

During Lunch, they brought us to a nearby store to have their lunch set. THE KARRAGE IS THE BEST, OMFG. Some more the price 650 yen!

THE AWESOME STORE

LUNCH MEAL

As usual, I will finish off by posting the usual dorm meal for breakfast and dinner!

Day 5 – First Meeting! Game Idea Settled!

Today is the first day of work/school! We settled down at our workstation (Forgot to take a picture) and begin brainstorming. After like 6 hours, We finally decide on the game idea, and we are going pitch it to the student and teachers of trident university tomorrow!

Today is a public holiday in Japan named Health and Sports Day. Therefore, the dorm canteen is having a break. With that in mind, we have handled our breakfast, lunch and dinner ourselves.

For lunch we decide to have coco Ichiban curry right next to our school with the Finland student are also in the exchange program. Personally, I couldn’t take spicy food, so I decide to order mild. My friend a bit out of their mind they ordered level 10 spicy which made the curry taste like dinner a spoon full of chilis.

i finish eatting before taking a photo DX

LEVEL 10 CURRY LOOK AT HOW RED

Dinner we went to Yamachan to try their popular fried chicken wings that were recommended by the English language teacher in Trident.

CHICKENN

FRIED RICE?

Closing off for today! Still, have to work on the powerpoint for the game pitch in like 10 hrs! A lot of potential in this idea, and I hope it comes out well!

Day 4 – Free and Easy Day!

No plans today! Since I only brought 7 days worth of clothing. I have to do some laundry, the control panel is in Japanese but there are some Chinese characters and symbols. So we roughly guess what button does what.

After setting some admin, I and my friend decide to go out since we still have the whole afternoon/evening. We decided to head back to Osu Kannon Shopping Street again to explore the places that we couldn’t explore yesterday. We also decide to walk toward Sakae which is around 15min walk from Osu Kannon Station.

To me, Sakae looks like orchard road in Singapore. Many brand oversea brand stores are around the area. They even lock down an entire street for shoppers to roam about. We saw some landmarks of the city such as the Nagoya TV Tower, Sunshine Sakae and Doki Building!

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Also while on our way there, we saw this small event in an area. There is much small food street stall set up around the area. At the centre of the attendance is a truck that can be converted into a stage. We saw local idols performing and huge fans (locals age 30>) supporting them. Crazy atmosphere!

Local Idol Performance

Takoyaki w Mayo

Takoyaki Street Store

After that, we decide to have dinner at Saizeriya. Since the dorm does not serve breakfast and dinner during Sunday and public holidays. Saizeriya was great as usual! Singapore also has Saizeriya but both countries have a different menu.

Dessert

CARBONARA

PIZZA

CARBONARA W EGG BROKE

With that, we explore around Sakae City to look for souvenirs for our friends back home. When is getting late, we head back to get ready for school tomorrow! Tomorrow will be the first time we going work together with the other oversea student and the Japanese student. Hope everything goes well!

Day 3 – Nagoya Castle & Osu Kannon Temple

Today we decide to visit the symbol of Nagoya, Nagoya Castle. Located around 35min away from our dorm location. It was a great sight to behold on, sadly it was a rainy day and the performance was cancelled. They have people who kinda cosplay/roleplay as samurai and ninja around the castle. It was interesting to see how they are so into the character. Also, the Castle main keep itself is getting a renovation until 2022, therefore it is closed for public entry.

20181006_121734 Nagoya Castle

20181006_112558 Program of the Day

With the performance cancelled we decide to head to Osu Kannon. Where lies the Temple and the Osu Shopping Arcade. The temple was great, we decide to offer some yen as a prayer for our safety in Japan for this 2 months.

20181006_142040 Osu Kannon Temple

The craziest place is the Osu Shopping Arcade. The place is pack with stores selling a huge variety of goods. Ranging from clothes, electronics and many more. We came across a unique store with an entrance that is probably around 90 cm high.

20181006_142543

Alice on Wednesday 90cm Door Entrance

Food porn section incoming in following order breakfast -> dinner. I like to state that the McPork was interesting and sadly MacDonald in Japan is not halal. So Muslim friends do take note!

Day 2 – Welcome Party and Meeting the Group

Firstly Food Report. Breakfast was FISH! It was between pork katsu or saba fish, the answer was simple, Fish. Probably the best breakfast for this trip for now.

20181005_072027 Breakfast

Dinner was a little disappointing but it was not bad. Some sort of Hayashi rice? It was like 80% vegetables than meat………

20181005_203522 Dinner

Today is also the orientation for student form NYP (Singapore) and Kajaanin (Finland). They toured us around the building and showed us our working area.

We were split into 2 groups: A and B. I was in Group A, our team is made up of 3 Singapore, 3 Japanese and 2 Finland students. Surprisingly, there is no artist in the Japanese student group. We are a team of 5 Programmers, 2 Artist and 1 Game Designer (who is title as a programmer lol). After that, we brainstorm for game ideas that we want to create.

Lastly, it was a welcome party, they prepare some local snacks and some drinks for us! Even shown us how they normally start a party with a kanpai (Cheers) and end with a itchō-jime (Single Clap).

20181005_172920 A game of Mario Cart on Switch during the party.

It was pretty interesting to see the culture of a Japanese party. Next up is Nagoya Castle and Osu Kannon Temple!