-
Rinku Town Kansai Institute
33
If I were to call any place in Japan home, it would definitely be Osaka. Rinku Town is located just next to Kansai International Airport (the one on an artificial island), and is an excellent spot to relax, and so is the Kansai Japanese-Language Institute, with an excellent view all around of the sea. BTW: This article is a blog entry for April’s Japan Blog Matsuri!
Here’s my window view fromt the ninth floor of the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai. Had quite a long name, so we called it Kansai Institute for short ^^ That’s the Rinku Gate Tower Building, (fortunately) the second tallest building in Japan, since we usually got off the station at 2AM and used said building as a guide. Was quite fun getting lost at night (Japan being very safe), but after two hours of walking you just wanted to go home and sleep!
Here’s another nice view from the beach, five minutes away from the Kansai Institute. To the left is the Sky Gate Bridge (talk about a fancy name!) that leads to Kansai International Airport. Summer was just the right time to grab our bikes and head for the beach. Tottemo Relax desu yo!
Since many have asked before about the Kansai Institute, I might as well start explaining: As I wrote on my About page, I was invited to a study tour in Japan by the Japan Foundation, and this is their Kansai-based headquarters for us learners of Nihongo. Besides studying Japanese, we learned loads of cultural aspects and even some Kansai ben, honma ya! ^^;
茶道, the Japanese Tea Ceremony is one of Japan’s cultural trademark, and of course we learned that at the institute, or at least we pretended that we did while our feet were all numb (you have to keep your kneeling position called 正座 while you’re at the tea ceremony). My friend Lydia above was probably so numb that she started laughing? ^^;
The sensei’s from the Institute. Everyone treated us so well ^^ for those who don’t know when you are treated well you say お世話になりました (osewa ni narimashita) — meaning “thank you very much for all you’ve done”.
Our Aikijujutsu sensei. Originally I thought that a man that age wouldn’t be able to hurt me so I challenged him to his most painful special move using only one hand. Oh yes, the pain stayed there for a whole week, and I’m not exagerating. Someone must’ve caught it on their camera, gotta ask around my friends ^^
Rinku Town at night was a great place to enjoy with your friends, fireworks and all. (spotting cute bijin gals is harder at night though)
Loved the sea side when were leaving to Osaka. I think this picture is no longer from Rinku Town but technically from Osaka Bay.
Back at the Kansai Institute, we had lots of lessons. One of my favorites was Kansai-ben, Osaka’s dialect (nice article about Kansai ben). Most of us Japanese learners study 標準語 (Hyoujungo), or Standard Japanese, which mostly was based on Tokyo’s Japanese and is used for official communications, TV, etc. However, after being a while in Osaka, I was surprised at how much Osaka people use their dialect — akan instead of dame, honma instead of hontou, ya instead of desu, and much more that I don’t remember or didn’t really understand. Any other memmorable osaka-ben that you’d like to share?
Kansai Institute’s library was huge, with books from different cultures and languages too, for those who were homesick ^^ didn’t miss my Spanish or Chinese since I could practice both in there. Speaking of which, everyone loved how Spanish sounded, especially Russian-speaking gals (yes cute). Does Spanish sound cool to you? How about Japanese? Japanese sounded cool ten years ago when I started studying and still sounds kakkoi =) On the other hand, everyone hates how Chinese sounds, but I can’t tell since I’ve been speaking it since the day I was born.
The Institute’s Lobby. Quite a luxurious building. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the Yamaha Grand Piano, sounded great. (piano is one of my hobbies ^^)
More of the Institute, huge recreation areas too.
Food was great but unfortunately it featured many international plates like fried potatoes or other common Americanized foods (not that I think they taste bad, but I’m pretty much used to that stuff). European and Halal food was great though ^^ definitely something I had never tasted before. Two takoyaki (octopus dumplings) on the picture. Takoyaki originated from Osaka and I stuffed myself. 100 yen for 8 takoyaki was a bargain!
Another view from my friend’s room. The only problem was the whole area smelled like fish, though it didn’t disturb me that much.
Rinku Town Station. Shuttle bus from the Institute ran until 10PM, so no buses meant a one hour walk.
The only great thing about summer was that night felt like normal daytime. Take a look at the Supermarket’s name — MaxValu (yes Engrish)!
Western-style house near the Institute.
Chikan chuui! Means “be careful of pervs” ^^ Japan may be very safe, but pervs are apparently quite common (as a man it didn’t affect me of course), especially on crammed trains. One of the things I don’t like about Japanese society is their lack of communicating their real feelings. Not like pervs should communicate what they want to do though @_@
My friends pretending the Japanese newspaper is interesting ^^;
Look! Aquos are on sale! Seriously, with so much advertising can anyone even read them? Trains follow a similar trend too ^^
Now this is interesting: 100 yen (plus 5 yen taxes) used manga at the local Book Off. Thousands of manga. If you’re buying stuff in Japan, particularly manga, I seriously recommend second-hand stuff, or 中古 in Japanese. Bought Love Hina here, I’m currently reading it, great to practice your nihongo as it is not too hard ^^!
My favorite relaxing moment of the day, my friend Osk enjoying the breeze ^^; that’s Kansai Airport at the end of the Sky Bridge!
Phew — all that write up made me hungry, some instant ramen maybe? Hope you enjoyed today’s post and don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed if you liked it ^^. Special thanks to Osk for some of the pictures =)
New around here?Currently Read (Switch to Related News)
Related News (Switch to Currently Read)
View from my window, near Kansai International Airport Well, today I felt the need to write my own "... (more)
More of Rinku Town in Osaka, a silent town where you can find peace away from the big cities. In my... (more)
Here's a picture I took of Osaka JR West (I think). When I first went to Osaka, me and my friends w... (more)
MaxValu spotted in Rinku Town, Osaka. MaxValu is actually a large chain of super markets in Japan. ... (more)
Comments for this article (33)
Leave a Reply
Tasty~
Hey, thanks for the link! Just to let you know, my site is now http://gakuranman.com ^^ I’ve never been to Rinku Town, but it looks nice! I’ll have to go there when I get back to Kansai in the future :)
I knew about your site but didn’t know that you wanted new articles pointing to the new one — done!
Yup, everything now points to http://gakuranman.com. michaeldowney.net will become my personal portfoilio site in the future.
an interesting article and beautiful photographs. looks like it was an excellent experience. looking forward to studying in osaka myself.
Osaka is a nice place, to my eyes Osakans are more friendly ^^ don’t forget to visit Rinku Town!
I love the whole article. The pictures and narration is great.
Someday I will visit Japan and take my own pictures.
Thank you very much for sharing yours.
Hao, Have you been studying Aikido for a while? I’ve recently become interested in that form of martial arts and I’m looking forward to learning more about it.
Great article and awesome pics.
Thanks!
Actually I don’t know much about Aikido, but I’m also interested in learning it better. Maybe after my weightlifting progress stalls I’ll start studying Aikido =)
What I do know is that you don’t need to be strong, since there were two female sensei’s along with us who were also quite talented but were quite skinny and not too strong too.
Makes me feel like visiting. Say alot of gaijins around. I actually sped-read your commentaries but from the pics I would like to know if the peeps are exchange students or something.
Could not help it, I went back and read everything. It was just to interesting. Still, I don’t know if the gaijins are bloggers, students, or what….
I know that word seems offensive to some foreigners but I was considered one when I was at tokyo years ago, and I am. I feel I have the right to say it.
Thanks :) I’m not offended or anything by the word gaijin so don’t worry.
The reason you see so many of them in the pictures above is because the group I was with consisted of exchange students from about 55 different countries from all continents. A very fun experience, will post pictures of the ceremony too so that you can see the whole bunch of them ;)
I enjoyed this entry very much. All the stuff esp the bookstore is so neat and tidy.
Very interesting, I’d never heard of Rinku Town – looks like a good location for some slow times.
Favorite Kansai-ben: “meccha” / “meccha-kuccha”. Somehow conveys a depth that “tottemo” / “sugoi” / “taihen” / “hijouni” just lack…
Thanks Chris!
Whoa, I didn’t know that meccha and mecchakucha were kansai-ben! Use them all the time ^^
Hey there ハオさん~ ハサナです。ブルネイから来ました。どうぞよろしく。
Firstly, cool blog!! And I was surprised that u went to Kansai Institute too! I actually went there last year for a 6-week training course. I went to most of the places that you’ve been (in the pics above). I’m so missing those times & the places there. Oh and I miss Takoyaki too! *sniff* Really love that place. I surely will go there again :D
Just so u know, I stumbled upon your blog when I was searching for ‘master’s degree in japan’ :D
Hi Hasanah ^^!
Thanks! Never expected to bump into someone who went to the Kansai Institute here — was lucky that I wrote about the scholarship stuff just a few days ago =)
The institute brings back lots of memories to me, how many folks were you able to meet there? With my plan, I was able to meet about 60 students from 55 different countries. Made great friends and contacts and am lucky enough to have met some of them after our period — hoping I can meet ‘em again this year!
Are you thinking about applying for the scholarship? If so, you should do it soon since there’s about one month left ^^
Thanks for your reply. Yep..it really brings back the memories :)
Wow..u got to meet a lot of people and they’ve became your friends too! That’s really an achievement :D As for me..I met about 30 friends or so from the Institute. I’d say around 10 countries maybe. We had a quite small group back then. Even so, I loved meeting them all. It was really enjoyable seeing a lot of people from different backgrounds. Really interesting indeed.
Yes..I’m thinking about applying for the scholarship..but I’ll have to finish my final exam first (which is going to be this Monday *ack-i’m-nervous*) How about u? Are u gonna apply it too? ^o^
Whoops! I shouldn’t have asked that. Of course u would apply! Omg.. Sorry for being so forgetful. Lol.
Still 10 countries is a lot ^^ I felt overwhelmed at many times with so much information and so many ways of saying “Hello” in 30 different languages. I myself taught others some Spanish, Chinese, and bits of Taiwanese ^^;;
LOL!! Yes, I *will* apply for the scholarship =D if you haven’t received your diploma yet or finished your degree you can still apply and get a certificate that you’ll be graduated by the time of the scholarship, did you know? Just in case so that you wish to apply, I think the period should end in May 29th too in your country so you should check with the embassy. Or you can wait one more year =)
Hey, I found your blog informative! I’m about to head over to the Kansai Institute on May 13 for a 6-week study tour myself and I wanted to know what to expect. :) (excited) I’m especially curious about the book-off in your pic. Where is it located? Is it near the institute? I was planning on going to Nipponbashi during a weekend to buy some used manga and CDs, but if I can find what I want nearby, I’ll just hang around the vicinity some more. :) The train from Rinku Town to Ebisucho seems expensive. >_<
The place seems really beautiful, by the way… *_* I can’t wait to go there…
Hi, glad that you could find a bit of info in here ^^
You can expect the best of it, my advise is that you start speaking in Japanese from day 1 so that people around you don’t speak English with you. The nearest Book-Off is closest to Osaka Center, but you can find tons of used manga/movies near the Institute too, in normal convenience stores, etc. From Rinku Town first you have to take the shuttle bus and then it’s a 1-hour ride to Osaka City, but you’ll find yourself doing this roundtrip lots of times (I think it’s close to 1000 yen).
Ask if you’re going to stay at the Tokyo Institute in Urawa as soon as you arrive. If you are, there’s a Book-off really close by and you can take your time to buy manga/DVD’s and don’t need to carry a load back. It’s really really close and you can ask me where it is when you’re in Japan =)
Akihabara and Nipponbashi are more of an “electronics” towns (video/hardware/video games/figurines etc.) but not that much manga in there, so plan ahead and think about whether you’re buying manga or looking for other stuff :)
Enjoy your trip and if you have anything on your mind now/while at Japan I’ll gladly help!
According to my schedule, I’m going to have 2 nights in Tokyo. I’m guessing I might stay at the Tokyo Institute, then. :) The best thing is, the trip happens during my first weekend there. If so, then I think I just saved on some transportation. :D As for Nipponbashi, I was thinking of buying a denshi jisho while there. (And maybe just look around at the merchandise)
Thanks for the help ^_^ I’ll keep your tips in mind. I’ll ask you again when I have any more questions. :)
Two nights in Tokyo means it’s the same as my trip ^^, you’ll have the chance of choosing an optional trip to somewhere I forgot the name, my advise is don’t go to the trip if you wanna shop, since one day is not enough and you’ll need it to visit Tokyo Tower+NHK+Asakusa. You’ll be stopping at Kita-Urawa I’m 100% sure, and there’s a book off reaaally close by.
To tell the truth, anywhere is fine for a Denshi Jisho. They won’t be cheap since they’re oriented for the Japanese market (not foreign students). Anywhere is fine, cost the same everywhere and used ones are not cheap enough to be worth it.
There’s an NDS dictionary called (Kanji Sono Mama Rakubiki Jiten, J-List (banner on the top right side) probably sells it but I’m not sure. If you own an NDS I recommend this software as it costs less than $50 and the NDS costs about $130 now. Both bundled may be even cheaper than one single Denshi Jisho and that software is very very complete, that’s the one I use.
Yikes, I forgot to ask how the internet access will be there if you have a laptop. In the briefing given to me (grant info) it said you can access the net using the phone in the room and if you have a modem (obviously 56k) T_T But when I looked at the website, it said there’s LAN in every room. Which is it, really? :o
Yes, there’s LAN access on every room so forget about the modem issue, I don’t think modems are widely used anywhere in the world anyway ^^;
You just need to fill your request as soon as you arrive and after a few days they’ll give you a LAN cable (take one just in case, but I’m 99% sure that they have cables — would be dumb if they didn’t ^^!)
Optionally, the center does have computers just in case you need to write some quick email
You can find plenty of manga, especially if you’re into Moe style. Most of it’s going to be new, though. Try Melon Books (you can’t miss it – it’s HUGE) or K-Books (they do carry some used manga sets, though it’s heavily moe-oriented), and they’ve got a huge Animate store (major anime goods chain), packed with all kinds of manga there, too. :)
Might be pricy to trek out from where you’ll be, but Geektown’s always a lot of fun – I’d say it would be worth the money spent to visit!
Have fun in Osaka!!!
Thanks :) I’m not much into “moe-style,” though… ’cause I’m a girl. ^_^ (Well, sure some girls like it, but not me) Where are those stores at, by the way?
Sadly, I don’t have a DS. I might have to put up with EDICT on my phone without a touch screen, then… At least I have a dictionary… (I’ll just have problems identifying unfamiliar kanji) May I ask where I can request for the LAN?
You’ll be able to request for the LAN cable at the Center’s 受付 (uketsuke) after filling the application for room internet =)
Aaah, games, they’ve taken so much of my precious lifetime already. I wonder if I’ll get a bonusgame when I die =P
Haha… Actually it’s been a month since I came back from the Kokusai Center. ;) Man… it was so much fun T_T Made so many memories there. I had a blast at the book-off… And I made some trips to Denden town and splurged my money on the 10 yen manga at A-Too XD I worried about how to bring all my stuff back, actually. Thanks for your pre-trip tips! I kinda knew what to expect there already. ^_^ Now I’ll join you with wanting to go back. :)
I agree… Osaka would be #1 on my list. Having lived in Kobe, I realized that there really is no place like Osaka for convenience, cheap food, and entertainment.
I liked your post a lot ^^
and I went there this year , kansai institute , I loved it , felt like home , I was lucky to go there T_T its been just a month since I returned to JORDAN.
I enjoyed riding the bike to all the places you posted about ^^
just 2 weeks in japan , but seriously the best 2 weeks of my life ^^