St Valentine's Day

In recent years, I did not have any sweetheart whom I gave chocolates on St Valentine's Day. I did not give any chocolate to anybody today neither. I bought social obligation chocolates, "giri-choco" in Japanese, to whom I planned to meet this week, but the plan was postponed.

I remember that an Iranian man gave me a rose out of a sense of social obligation when I stayed in Iran about seven or eight years ago. It seems that gentlemen give some presents to ladies in Iran on this day.

I enjoyed St Valentine's Day this year that was a little different from usual. I got some sweets at a marriage agency yesterday. The agency gives sweets to someone who visits the office during a given period. The sweets look good. I also had a cup of tea and a chocolate cake there. These were very nice.

Actually I ate five pieces of cake and drank a cup of coffee at a restaurant I found by chance before I went to the agency. I selected here because a chocolate for taste testing I tried near the entrance was really tasty and the restaurant had a cozy atmosphere. The price was reasonable; I paid 590 yen for five pieces of cake and a cup of coffee. I felt that the cakes were sweeter than I expected, but these were delicious.

I can enjoy the sweets which I got from the agency yesterday and the social obligation chocolates which I could not give to anybody today one more week.

Results of a recent IELTS test

I received the results of my recent IELTS test last Saturday. I took the test in late January.

It was the first time that I took the IELTS test and also I could not make adequate preparations for it, hence I thought that I would not be able to get high scores. After taking the test, I guessed that the overall band score might be about 5.0 because I was not sure I could answered most questions correctly in the reading and speaking sections. But I was relieved for finding the results of the test better than I predicted. I am happy to get the band score for the writing and listening sections 7.0 and 6.0 respectively. My overall band score was 6.0. Actually I must get at least 6.0 in each section and 6.5 overall if I enter the PhD programme which I hope to enter, but that's OK this time.

I cannot tell anyone about the band score for the reading and speaking sections. As for the reading section, actually I am in a terrible slump. Sometimes I can understand a passage once I read it, but sometimes I cannot do so particulary during a test. I will try to be familiar with passages in various fields. The band score for the speaking section was higher than I predicted, I must practice English conversation so that I can have over 6.0.

I have not decided when I will take the IELTS test again, but I will study hard in order to achieve my goal to get at least 6.5 overall band score.

Difficulty finding employment

I was very busy this week. I wrote my paper on Silk Road diplomacy last month, but I had to alter some parts of it and to add some explanations. Also I must find a job.

I have not found a better job than I experienced before. I was rejected after a job interview at an NGO office in Tokyo. Because my supervisor of an MA programme in the UK advised me to find a job at an NGO office, I thought that I applied for it if there was a vacancy on the staff. Probably I am suitable for an NGO staff in Europe and the US. However, Managing Director of the NGO argued that I am unique among the applicants for the staff. He said that Japanese NGOs are different from European and US NGOs. Why are they so? Especially the NGO for which I applied is the international NGO adopted and registered by the UN. Unbelievable!

Chairperson of the Board of the NGO argued that some applicants said that they needed some experiences as the NGO staff in order to get a job in an international organisation, but she did not want to lose the staff. There are many applicants for the NGO because someone who has the experience as an NGO staff is advantage for getting a job at an international organization. Actually I thought that if I would be hired as the staff, I would seek the way to find a job at an international organization.

I thought that if I would be the staff, I could contribute to increasing the level of the NGO. I was willing to engage in the job, but this turned to a dissapointment to me. From the first, they invited me to the job interview because I used my connections, but I got a disappointing result. However it may be all right, because the work at the NGO office is very hard. An annual salary of the staff is from 2 millon to 3 million yen, take-home pay is about 160000 yen a month with no pay for extra work that is recognised as volunteer activities.

I applied for a job at a temporary agency. I do not want that people do not have a negative image of the job, because temporary agencies have various kinds of jobs. Of course temp for a day is cruel.

I received an email from editors of the book on Silkroad diplomacy at the end of last month. The editors asked me that I made some changes in my paper. Actually, I had a little time to write the paper because the paper would not be my main work, I could not get fee for it and also I could have no advantage for me to find a job. I have to get a job by myself. I had my back against the wall, and therefore I might have abnormal mental state. But I decided to do this work by the middle of this month because the editors are very enthusiastic about it.

I went to the National Diet Library from Tuesday to Thursday this week. On Wednesday the 6th, I passed a person whom I saw somewhere on the street from the subway station Kokkaigijidoumae to the library. Probably the person is a member of parliament. I would like to shake hands with him, but I was smart not to do so because someone who had a TV camera walked several metres behind him.

I did not go to the library for a long time. Recently, some systems of the library are much more convinient for the users. For example, the way to request for materials was changed; this enables them to get materials and copies for a shorter time than before, though it takes about half an hour from requesting a book or journal to getting a copy. It is the same that they have to walk around in the library, for example, from the book or periodicals counters to the copying centers, this is good exercise for me, though.

Snowy day

The snow is falling in Tokyo today. I went to some grocery stores about 10 minutes walk from my apartment to buy some foods. It was hard to walk on due to the snow like sherbet on the road. Because the heel of my boot is damaged by the snow, I must bring the boot to the shoemaker and have the heel fixed.

It was very cold outside. When I came back to my apartment, my feet became cold. Immediately after returning to my room, I turned on my electrical foot warmer and warmed my feet. This is an electrical foot warmer made by Hitachi, Ltd. My father who was an engineer gave me this electrical equipment for a Christmas present about twenty years ago. I had not used it for several years, but I brought it from my parents' house this winter. I always use it in my room. Thanks to this foot warmer, my toes do not have chilblains and I can also have a good night's sleep these days.

("Snowy day", first published at nikinoblog.air-nifty.com)

Callback

31 January 2008

I went to an NGO office for the second interview today. I received the invitation for the callback from the office and scheduled an appointment yesterday. I concerned about the Japanese essay and the translation from Japanese to English that I wrote before the first interview of the 28th this month, but that seemed to be all right. I was confident that I could get a high mark in the test of the culculation. Actually, I had an average level of linguistic skill but a high level of mathematical one from my childhood. I should have majored in math and science.

During the second interview, I spoke with Chairperson of the Board and Managing Director. I could answered all the questions I was asked. However, because many people have applied for the job, it can be difficult that I will be hired. I can only pray for my success now.

("Callback", first published at nikinoblog.air-nifty.com)

Job interview (NGO)

29 January 2008

I had a job interview at an NGO office in Tokyo yesterday. Before the job interview was started, I took the tests of easy calculation, Japanese essay and the translation from Japanese to English. I finished the calculation in the time limit, though I did not know how long the time limit was. The essay and the translation had to be written in thirty minutes. Because I was not informed that I had to take some tests at the office, I did not prepare for it. But I did the culculation perfectly. I wrote the essay and the translation not perfectly but fairly, and I could answer the questions during the interview. It took about one hour for the test, essay, translation and interview. I am a little tired.

I will be informed the result of the job interview in a couple of days. I believe I will succeed, but if I fail, I will find another job at a temporary agency.

("Job interview (NGO)", first published at nikinoblog.air-nifty.com)

Welcome to Niki-no Blog

This is my personal diary. I call myself "a lost generation in contemporary Japan" which means Japanese people around 25-35 years old who could not have opportunities to get permanent jobs due to economic depression from the 1990’s to the early 2000’s in Japan and still have a hard time finding jobs. Though it is very hard for me to find a permanent job, my life is not always bitter. In this blog, I deal with many topics such as employment, study, travel and other interests.

I created my blog in Japanese in September 2006 and that in English last week, using another blog service (cocolog) in Japan. However, the service provides with only the Japanese version and does not suit well to the posts in English at the global level. Though the service offers sophisticated reporting tools and statistics with detailed access logs, I wanted to get a communication tool which enables me to connect with a lot of people around the world.

Now I found Blogger. That's it! I move previous entries here and publish new texts and photos from now on.