PREPARATION TO JAPANNN

Sorry for my poor grammar. I just want to try writing in English

During the Golden Week (the worst time possible to travel to Japan), I was in Tokyo.

In case you didn’t know, Golden Week is like Lebaran in Indonesia. I bought my tickets in September last year and just randomly picked the dates.. I didn’t know GW would fall on those dates. But, I’m also grateful that I picked those dates, because if I had come to Tokyo a week later, I would have been trapped in the earthquakes.. (I hope Tokyo will be okay after the earthquakes!)

Actually I really wanted to (and still want to) Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara). But from what I read on the internet, it would be better if I stay in Tokyo during the GW. I even planned to go to Tateyama Kurobe, but after finding out that I would travel on GW, everything shattered……. T___T

I really hope that next time I can go to Kansai, Nagoya & Tateyama Kurobe & Hokkaido!

PREPARATION

-    1. Ticket to Japan

I bought my ticket in Garuda Travel Fair 2015. It was IDR6.500.000 for return trip from Jakarta to Narita with transfer connection via Denpasar. I asked for direct flight but the travel agent staff said it wasn’t available. After I got my ticket issued, I found out that in the other travel agent’s booth, you could get Jakarta to Haneda direct flight ticket with cheaper price -_-

I RECOMMEND YOU BUY DIRECT FLIGHT TICKET FROM JAKARTA TO HANEDA because transfer connection is seriously a pain in the *s, especially during midnight.. Besides, Haneda is located near the Tokyo’s city center, unlike Narita which is located about 1 hour away from Tokyo. Also, if you want to go to Kansai too, buy open jaw ticket (Jakarta-Haneda + Osaka-Jakarta).

-      2.  Accommodation

Airbnb is a really good website to search for cheap and comfortable apartment to stay while travelling. It’s a pretty good deal if you’re not travelling alone. You can search for private room (you will be staying with the host), private apartment (you have the whole apartment for yourself) or shared room (you will be sharing the room with other guests).

I went to Japan with 3 other people. I booked a private apartment in Katsushika, Tokyo near Ohanajaya Station, IDR7.800.000 for 8 nights. It’s actually located quite far from Tokyo’s city center..

Another thing to note is YOU WILL BE HAPPIER IF YOU BOOK AN ACCOMMODATION LOCATED NEAR/IN THE CITY CENTER T_T

-      3. Visa

It’s a hassle (for me) to apply for the regular visa since you should prepare all the documents dan apalagi harus endepin duit selama 3 bulan di tabungan  so I replaced my old passport with e-passport so that I could apply for waiver visa (full story is on my previous post :3)

-      4. Entrance ticket to amusement parks

It’s a good idea to buy your tickets beforehand so you can avoid the long queues at the parks’ entrance gates. I bought my Disneysea and Fuji Q Highland tickets from a travel agent which is located in AEON Mall. The price is the same as the price on Disneysea’s website and Fuji Q’s website (on JPY), and then it will be converted to IDR according to the exchange rate on that day.

-           Useful applications you should download on your phone

Ø  Tabimori (download the offline rail routes inside the app, you can also learn simple Japanese phrases)

Ø  Google Translate (download the Japanese package, especially if you can’t speak & read Japanese, it can scan and translate Japanese words from pictures)

Ø  JED (Japanese dictionary)

Ø  Gurunavi (for searching restaurants, similar to Zomato)

Ø  Japanese rail map (not application but image)

And don’t forget to bring your travel adapter when packing to Japan.

Pengeluaran
-Tiket pesawat PP -> IDR 6.500.000
-Akomodasi 8 malam -> IDR 7.800.000 : 4 orang = IDR 1.950.000
-Buat e-paspor -> IDR 655.000
-Tiket Disneysea & Fuji Q Highland -> IDR 822.342 + IDR 631.654 = IDR 1.456.996

Total Pengeluaran IDR 10.561.996

See you on my next post!

Taking the JLPT Exam

Soo JLPT is the abbreviation of Japanese Language Proficiency Test, or in Japanese, JLPT is called Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken (Nouken). In Indonesia, it is held 2 times in a year, usually on July and December. There are 5 levels, from N5 to N1 (N5 is the lowest level while N1 is the highest).

I have been studying Japanese since 1,5 years ago and have passed the Chuukyuu level (like..middle level?) in the Japanese course where I studied at. I decided to take N4 which I thought was okay for people who can speak Japanese in Chuukyuu level. 

I studied from an N4 book (which I think is officially released by the JLPT team) and from the books in the Japan Foundation's library--sadly I couldn't borrow those books because I'm not a member of the library, and to save time, I only read the vocabulary section :(

Finally the day of the exam had arrived! The exam was held in a school. A lot of people was taking the exam.

The first section of the exam was vocabulary and kanji. I felt that it was really easy. That time, I thought that if I knew the exam was this easy, I wouldn't study at all. The vocabulary and kanji was really easy compared to what I was trying hard to memorize. I was confident that I would definitely pass this exam with a great score.

The second section was grammar and reading comprehension. Well, I didn't study grammar at all because I thought that it wouldn't be too different from what I studied at the course. But when I looked at those question...God, I didn't even know what I was answering. My mind went crazy. Even though it was actually simple particles, but somehow I just couldn't find the right answers. Gahh! Finally I moved on to the reading comprehension questions. Then I was like....akskdjdhdjdkahsh y the passages r fckin long????!! N the questions r all traps!! Y the passages on the book I studied isnt this long and isnt this difficult to understand?!!.. And then suddenly the observer of our exam said that only 15 minutes left to do the exam. All of my confidence broke down.... I didn't have enough time to read all those long passages so I just picked one of the choices randomly. I really regrets that I only focused on studying vocabulary. I should have study the grammar and reading comprehension part from the books in Japan Foundation's library too, really ;;--;;

The last section was listening. The questions were only played once and luckily, they were quite easy.. But my mind had went mad from earlier, so I didn't really concentrate answering those listening questions. I hope that I choosed the right answers though..

That was my somehow-sad-experience on taking JLPT exam, please excuse my engrish :3

UPDATE--

On Aug 27, the results of JLPT were announced..........thank God, I passed the exam!!

My total score is 136 out of 180 XD