Hi everyone!
Greetings from our beautiful apartment on the 24th floor of Roppongi T-Cube!
We have been in Osaka and Kyoto on a holiday since 23-Dec, and arrived in Tokyo on the eve of 27-Dec, where we'll remain until 3-January. We're staying at Oakwood Roppongi T-Cube for the week and are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We currently live in Sydney, Australia, so it's a long journey!
It isn't our first trip to Japan, but it's the first one since learning Japanese through Jpod, and what a difference! You know, sometimes during the lessons I would be thinking, "Why is Peter-san teaching us this? I'll never need to use that expression." I was wrong on every count. We have used all of probably the first 30 Beginner lessons and the first 20 Survival lessons during our time here!
When we came up from the subway in Kyoto, for example, the expression Takushi Noriba really came in handy, and people love it so much when you make the attempt.
Stilll, the most valuable expression? Eigo de Daijobu desu ka?
We also thought it was strange to be learning the Japanese pronunciation for English terms, too, as to our ears they are so similar.... however, you really DO have to keep putting on the right accent to get those expressions across! I keep thinking of Yoshi's bad American accent that he sometimes puts on while speaking Japanese, and worrying that I sound like that, which I'm sure I do!
Now, from our apartment, we look out over Akasaka, and the National Diet, so I know we are probably also looking straight on to the building where the JPod gang work! Would love to contact them, but know they probably get that all the time, so we're fighting that urge!
Nonetheless, if anyone has any good plans for New Years tomorrow night or is in Tokyo and wants to meet up, contact us! We'd love to!
