Stochastication

Reverse Culture Shock - Back to Australia after 2 years in Japan

I recently went back to Australia for the first time after 2 years of living in Japan. I was struck by all the things that I'd taken for granted when living in Australia,

Japan

Japan - October '18

I went to Japan on holiday with my friend Charlie in October 2018. He had never been to Japan before and when the chance came up to accompany him and act as a guide/translator, I jumped at it.

2020 Goals, and how I got to Japan

I should probably stop calling these 'New Year Resolution' posts, given that the last few have been closer to the middle of the year. Looking back on 2019 Goal 1: Japanese - Pass

Japanese

Learning Japanese After ̶2̶ 3 Years - Useful Concepts

In my last post I checked in on my progress learning Japanese after 3 years. This one talks more about what I actually learned. Learning Japanese hasn't just taught me a lot about Japanese, I've also learned a lot about the art of learning a language.

Japanese

Learning Japanese After ̶2̶ 3 Years - Progress Check

I've been studying Japanese for just over 3 years now. I last wrote about it 2 years ago, so it seemed like a good idea to revisit and reflect on my progress.

Japan

Moving to Japan

It's a strange feeling checking into the airport with a one way ticket.

Japanese

Japanese Monolingual (国語辞典) Dictionaries for Android

The first time I went to Japan I broke my smartphone cover and my poor wee Android Samsung Galaxy S7+™ was left shivering, naked in the cold.

Essays

New Years Resolutions 2019 - June Edition

A new years resolutions post in June? Huh? See my previous post for context. I'm catching up on the backlog and well, better late than never.

Blog Update (or, what happened to this blog?)

So I've been on a pretty long hiatus from blogging, as a couple of people have noticed. This wasn't due to any lack of things to say, but more a combination of work

travel

Streets of Sapporo

I tripped over to Japan for the third time in February of this year; yes I know this is a few months late. Besides just needing a holiday in general, I wanted to

Reviews

Book Review - Start With Why

In the past I've been dismissive of people who watch a lot of TED talks and then treat them as gospel.

Essays

New Years Resolutions 2018

I set goals at the beginning of each year, to help keep some direction and track my progress.

Japanese

Learning Japanese - 1 Year In

Previously I spoke about my experience after studying Japanese for 6 months. It's been a little over a year now, time to reflect.

Essays

Grades don't matter

I've often heard - and said - that grades don't matter. What's interesting about this is that two people can both say 'Grades don't matter' and mean completely different things.

travel

Things to do in Kyoto at night

I got a bit 'templed out' in Kyoto - while the many temples and shrines scattered through Kyoto are beautiful, I was craving variety by the end of each day.

travel

Japanimals 3 -The Deer of Nara Park

Nara is a city near Osaka and Kyoto. Nara is famous internationally for the deer; they live wild in the city and especially in the huge Nara Park.

travel

Japanimals 2 - Arashiyama Monkey Park

Arashiyama Monkey park is a short hike up a mountain on the western outskirts of Kyoto. If you're in the area, definitely check it out, it was one of my favourite stops in

Essays

Design 101

A talk I gave at work on 'Design' - A somewhat vague concept to many, that is actually more concrete and practical than many expect.

travel

Japanimals - Okunoshima, Rabbit Island

My girlfriend Shannon adores animals of all shapes and sizes, the fluffier the better. As such, we made it a mission to visit as many of Japan's animal attractions as possible. Japan is

Reviews

Genre Review - Investment

What do I mean by a 'Genre Review'? From time to time I get an itch for a topic and want to learn everything I can. This usually results in me reading 5-10

Japanese

How I'm learning Japanese - 6 months

Previously [http://stochastication.com/2017/03/20/learning-japanese-and-what-i-learned-from-studying-french/] I spoke about what I learned studying French, and how Japanese differs. In this article I want to talk about how to actually learn Japanese,

Japanese

Learning Japanese and what I learned from studying French

I've been learning Japanese for the last six months and I'm writing a couple of posts on how I'm going about it. My aim is both to help others who want to learn

travel

US Trip 2

I spent two weeks last month in the US for work, not the first time I've done so if you remember a post from last year [http://stochastication.com/2016/03/19/sleepy-in-seattle/

Exchange

Should you go on Exchange to France?

I've been asked about my experience living in Lyon and whether I recommend exchange. I thought it was worth writing down. Pros Exchange in general These are true of any international exchange * You

Celebrity deaths will be worse in 2017

This is in response to the current trend going round of saying 2016 was a terrible year, particularly with regards to celebrity deaths. There are a few images floating around with captions like