Watashi

Hi everybody, my name is Astria or as I usually use in the magical world of internet, Acha. I'm 23 years old girl from Finland and right nowI study Japanese language in language school in Takadanobaba, Tokyo, Japan. My studies are ending in December 2015 when I am also going to take JLPT N2 exam and hopefully also pass. I also work as a Finnish language teacher two times a week. I blog mostly by photos accompanied by some picures about my experiences in Japan.

My co-pilots name is Mikko, he is in this with me. Originally I thought the idea about Japan as I would travel alone, but it could not have had made me happier when he agreed to come with me as well. So many things are easier for us since when we share the rent and other living costs, we save a lot of money and my last experience about moving to another country without knowing anyone was that the beginning sure is rough.

   My first engagement with Japan was in 2012 when while having summer vacation from my job I travelled to Tokyo with Mikko. We spent all together little bit over 2 weeks in Tokyo and then travelled by local trains to Kyoto and stayed there for a week before travelling back to Tokyo. I absolutely fell in love with the country, to its people, but most of all, in the language and Tokyo as a city. I have been studying Japanese since 2011, but my studies have been scattered and there has been long periods with me not studying at all. Almost all the studies have been self-studies though institute we here in Finland call "Työväenopisto" as workers institute or night school has offered courses from Japanese. The problem with this courses is that the phase is usually terribly slow, especially if you are a fast learner. So I have continued mostly by myself, watching anime, reading manga and doing Japanese work books one after another.

  When I started the language school in Japan in 2015 January I was facing completely different level in school that I whought I would be. So word of warning, do not underestimate beginner levels in language schools. I started from B course (Courses starts from beginner A in my school advancing towards advanced G and H classes.), in beginning I knew most of the grammar but it quickly started to change much more challenging. Of course my biggest weakness was speaking and for the first three months I didn't speak much, but after first holiday I started to be able to express myself better.

  My goal for future is for now go back to Finland to complete my own studies for my dream job, interior desingin. There is couple of reasons why I can't consider doind the same studies here in Japan. One is of course money, which of course is problem but could be overcome if wanted. The actual problem is that education about interior design in banchelor degree level variates awfully alot in different countries, thus I can work as a little bit overeducated interior architect in Japan with Finnish degree, but the opposite is impossible, Japanese degree lacks things that the degree keeps nessecary in Finland. So I go back, hope to keep up my Japanese and someday hopefully return.

  The idea about Tokyo Through Blue Eyes begun in December 2013, but I soon realized that I had nothing to write about this plan because nothing was really advancing forward with this plan. The situation was enough changed in July 2014, half a year later, when our visas were pending and suddenly the whole trip was so close. I wanted to share this whole experience from early beginning, all the planning, saving and struggling. And keep telling about it while we would be conquering the Japan and who knows what happens with us, but at least by reading you will know when it happens. I know many people have done the same, it's a minority though and when I tried to find people blogging or making notes about this kind of experience there wasn't that many, at least from Finland (okey which is terribly small country so big surprise!).

So kinda as much this is for you it still is for me too. So while leaving comments, be nice, but yes do leave comments because I would like to know what people think about our experiences and have you experienced the same.

Thank you for all the readers
Best regards,
Acha