2016 Update on visiting Shiramizu!

Richard here,

Shiramizu continues to be very active in Sugito, Saitama, Japan.

Also Koike Sensei won a gold medal at the Wadokai World Cup last August in Nagoya.

And Arakawa Sensei again plans to visit Kenzen Sports Karate in Victoria, Canada in March with the International Budo University karate team.

For those interested in visiting Shiramizu, please contact Arakawa Sensei directly by sending an English email.

arakawa.takamasa at nifty dot com

If you want to train at Shiramizu for a longer period of a week, Arakawa Sensei is still happy to received people.

Most foreigners can get a 90-day visitors visa when they arrive in Japan as long as they either have a return ticket for within those 90-days or they apply to the Japanese embassy in their country before they leave.

If anyone wants to stay longer than 3 months, please read the previous posts on traveling to Japan.

Basic tips of living in Japan to train Karate while working

Richard here,

Recently I had some emails from people wanting to come to Japan to train at Shiramizu for longer than a 3 month tourist visa, so here's some straight forward advice we normally pass along when asked.

People from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Korea, and Hong kong can get 12 months on the working holiday visa - it's either an initial 6
months then easily renewed for another 6 months here, or sometimes the Japanese embassy office just stamps 12 months in your passport prior to departure. If you are not from these countries then look at the Japanese cultural visa and a dojo to sponsor you. After you arrive you can apply for a work permit to teach 20hrs a week - learn karate and teach English - as immigration will not give out work permits to teach what you came to learn.

Shiramizu fee for training any time is 3000-4000yen per month. Tournaments, camps and special events are extra.

Accommodation varies - foreign guest houses (gaijin houses) can have
shared rooms from 20,000-40,000yen, single rooms from 30,000-50,000yen.



Full apartments are maybe 50,000-90,000 if you live outside Tokyo up
in Saitama by the dojo, but then you also need to furnish it, and
perhaps pay key money and deposit money.

30,000yen should be more than enough for food, and normally cooking 
yourself most of the time is a good idea, but there are many cheap food options for the
average person here.

Google is the best tool for learning how to live and work in Japan so be
creative in how you make your searches.

The work and school schedules run April to March, so the main job
hunting season is from December to March for starting in April.



However, people quit the English teaching jobs all the time, so starting in
Sept or Jan or anytime is possible.

www.jobsinjapan.com is pretty good, but there are other job posting websites so
google around. Tokyo Craigslist normally has lots too.

Every single message you send to someone if you start applying online,
by fax or by snail mail has to be properly worded if you're looking for
English conversation jobs. One's skill as a perfect 'native-level speaker' is the main selling point so it's important to make no English mistakes in your daily communication.

So, the best advice is,
-Save money for 3 to 6 months prior to coming, or even 12 months.
Don't buy unnecessary things as there are more than enough things to spend money on in Japan.

-While you're saving money, google all the time to find interesting
websites so you can read a lot about working and living in Japan.
The Gaijin Pot forum has lots of threads on working and living here - some
threads are not so handy, but some have good info on whatever you're interested in.

-Then pick your time, apply to lots of jobs, aim for a few gaijin
houses to rent a room, get your working holiday visa and just come
over.

The other option is get a 4-year degree in whatever in English from an English university and then get a company to sponsor you to come to Japan. Or get a degree in IT or something many Japanese companies will want to hire for.

Interac Japan is an English job agency for putting native speakers in
schools to help English teachers teach English. Native speakers in these positions are called Assistant Language Teachers, ALT's, so no teaching license is needed.

To be hired as an ALT, you just need a 4-year degree in anything from an English university.

The JET program can also bring you over after you have a degree as an ALT.

Interac  get the work visa for you, and help find an apartment, but you pay your own way over. Sometimes jobs open up during the year when people suddenly quit, like to go traveling to Thailand, which is unprofessional by not finishing the contract, but it opens up positions for other people.

With JET, they pay your way over and find your apartment, but you
can't choose your city so many people end up not where they want to be.

It's a great idea to travel around Asia during time off periods, especially since traveling there and spending time there is so inexpensive, but it's very important to finish whatever contracts one has signed on to complete.
Best to aim for being near a big city. The biggest city in Saitama is Omiya.

There are karate dojos absolutely everywhere, but Shiramizu is
probably the best in terms how positive and supportive they are for
foreigners. There are lots of Japanese dojos that just ignore an foreigner in the dojo for a
long time before maybe accepting them.

So you might want to look for a job in Saitama.

Make sure to use Google Maps so you can see where things are.

Jorudan is a good train trip planning website, so if you try to live
near the dojo in Sugito City, and for example you see a job in
Kawaguchi City, you can check what the local train stations are and
see how long the trip would be.

Traveling an 30-60mins by train to work is common here. All companies
always pay for all your train fare at the end of the month which is
nice, or they add a little extra to the hourly wage to cover it.

Lots of people on the working holiday visa tend to have 2 to 3
part-time jobs to cover their monthly expenses.

A good goal to aim for is to try to make 150,000yen per month, and spend 1/3 on
rent, leaving you with the rest for to live on.
Everything over that you should save.
Lots and lots of people can do this as long as they are able to accept
living in a small shared spaces.

I know people who have survived here on much less, but they get
creative on how to live cheap, plus they focus their energies on only
a few things.

The goal for being here is to be outside doing things, going to the
dojo, learning Japanese, meeting people, etc, so having a small, but
convenient place to stay is a good idea.

A budget of 1000yen is good for daily expenses,
lunch, etc. Then if you don't spend 1000yen in one day, you save the
extra for the weekend. This way you never go broke, as long as you don't spend too much.

Teaching eikaiwa (Eignlish conversation classes) is the normal way to earn money by teaching English. Normal wages are 2000-3000yen an hour for normally a 3 to 7
hour shift.
Trying to earn 8000-10,000yen a day is a good idea.


ALT jobs pay from 210,000 to 300,000yen per month, but again, you need the
4-year university degree and the company in Japan has to sponsor you.

Teaching private English lessons is another good way to earn extra cash.
Normally for 3000yen an hour, you meet the person at a coffee
shop and just chat, or check their English homework. If you are good
at asking people if they want a private lesson without coming on too
strong, you can actually get quite a few clients very fast. I know a few guys
who were doing one or two a day for many years, so they had lots of
extra cash on hand.

Working in a store or restaurant is normally 800-1000yen an hour.

There is no culture of tipping restaurant or hotel staff at all in Japan.
You pay what you see.

Tipping is done by basically people continuing to use the service they
like. If someone likes your private lessons, they will never cancel
each week and they'll tell their friends about you, plus invite you
out for dinner and day trips.

In terms of karate training, I think the Shiramizu adults classes are
Tue/Thu/Sat 7:30-9:30 right now, plus Wed morning.

They have 2 full-time dojo with dozens of kids and high school
classes, plus lots of high performance. The high school kids are normally
better than most adults so training with them is good too.

Probably 450 kids and 50 adults total.
If there is no class scheduled at different times during the day, you can use the dojo space for personal training.

Arakawa Sensei is the nicest guy in the world, one of the best instructors to study
from, very professional and everyday he is doing dojo classes and
karate business, like organising many, many events.

The intern website has years and years of information that if you read through you'll learn
quite a lot.

And, if someone does end up coming to Japan and wanting to come to
Shiramizu, let me know, I or someone from the dojo will meet you at
Narita airport and guide you into the city.

And google lots, take notes, bookmark good sites, as lots of ALT's and
JETs have blogs about Japan, plus other non-Japanese in IT or finance or house building or whatever. Some are recent, and some old inactive sites.

On some blogs about Japan people just complain that Japan is not like 'back home' (so they should have stayed home), but lots of people write about living and working
here successfully.

Japan has lots of problems, but for someone who wants to come over for a year to work hard and train hard, you can really get a lot out of it.

Japan matures people and sharpens them up because this is a
very active country where most people are overall driven to do things well.

So, if you really want to get over here, you will.

If anyone has any specific questions you can't find answers for, just email me at the intern gmail account.

Richard

New Year's card: nenkajo!

Here the Shiramizu New Year's card, listing the main events of 2011 on the right and the contact information on the left.

Around January 20th we'll announce who will be the next selected intern for the 2012 position.

Year end practice! And Happy New Year!

Photo from Arakawa Sensei's blog

On Friday, December 23 (a national holiday), over 300 Shiramizu students assembled at a local recreation center gym to participate in the last practice of the year. At the end of the practice was the annual '1000-punches' (zenbontsuki). Not only was it a great practice for everyone, but those students who did well in competitions, from local to the national championships to the Asian championships, received special gifts of recognition.

Sensei's blog

Afterwards many of the core adults had some good fun at the year-end party (bonenkai), a very important event for all companies, schools and of course karate clubs in Japan. I'm sure everyone have many bonenkai to attend due to different commitments. (This is different from the shinenkai, the beginning of year party in just a few weeks - sweet!)

It's truly been a unique year, very topsy-turvy from the triple disaster on March 13, to the 2nd full-time dojo opening in Satte City, to multiple interns coming and going, to the internship being reset again for 2012.

As things have gotten back to normal, I think it's amazing how Shiramizu has continued to grow and be vibrant, both in getting new members, in current members deepening their traditional knowledge of Wadoryu karate plus in members now growing up to be adults who are achieving great things in different competitive leagues (high school, university and adult) plus moving up the dan ranks.

For visitors coming to sleepy Sugito City where the head dojo is, about one hour north of Tokyo, probably no one would ever think such a small place could produce so many members creating a vibrant, active club run by professional karate instructors. As I think about all the professional instructors I have known over the past 25 years, while many have had one or two very good strengths as an instructor, no one has been as well rounded as Arakawa Sensei, nor as consistent day after day, year after year, at teaching and promoting, not to mention event hosting, in such a positive manner. I myself as a pro coach concede this fact, but that's why I still learn from Arakawa Sensei, and that's why so many people come to visit the dojo. No one is perfect, but the infectious energy for karate here at Shiramizu is great to experience.

Happy New Year to our many, many readers. We wish you all a great 2012. Look for the intern blog to again be very active over the new few months. Plus we also look forward to all our visitors again showing up, which I think starts with quite a few people coming from Canada in just a few weeks.

Sincerely,

Richard

2012 Intern application deadline extended to January 31

While we've had some interest in the 2012 Internship starting in April, no one qualified has yet to step forward. Therefore, we'll extend the application deadline to January 31, 2012!

Some questions I have received recently;

1. Is Tokyo safe? (some worries over the Fukushima reactor problem slowly being fixed).

Yes, it's safe, life is carrying on, monitoring by the government and non-government agencies at all levels happens everyday and the 'fear of the unknown' has subsided quite a bit.

It's good to look at the other programs accepting foreigners, like the universities, as they all saw a drop right after the triple March 11 disaster, but by September, most foreign student levels were back to normal in Tokyo. At my university which is extremely popular with foreign university students, hundreds of students from around the world are on campus.

While there is quite a bit of good/so-so/bad/incorrect news floating around, the Fukushima problem is getting closer to being resolved.

I must say this is a very good time to be in Japan because the triple disaster has finally awoken Japanese people to be much more proactive in politics and social issues, to the point civil society (charities, non-profits, volunteer groups) for all kinds of issues have starting popping up.

2. Is airfare included?

No, it's not included, but if the selected applicant has the right karate background, they can earn extra money assisting some of the karate classes and at the end of the year receive a substantial payment from the dojo that will most likely equal their return airfare.

3. Can I do other things not karate related?

Sure! We expect the intern to act as a professional taking care of the English classes and to attend the required karate lessons/events etc, but other than that, the intern can do whatever they want.

Again, for those interested, please read over the application information and send us an application by email.

Thank you,
Richard

UPDATE! Working holiday visa & high school diploma ok for internship

Richard here,

UPDATE: Application deadline extended to January 31, 2012!

Internship application update.

1) Working holiday visa only ok
2) High school diploma or equivalent ok, no college/university degree needed
3) Dates are slightly changed to April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013

The dojo informs me that they will accept a new intern from next April 2012 on only a 'working holiday visa' & the intern also only needs a high school diploma, not a university degree.

This is very good news as it is much easier to acquire this visa from a Japanese embassy or consulate if you are from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland or Hong Kong, aka 'the English-speaking' countries in the program.

(As an aside just to head off all the questions I know I will get like previous years as to why Americans are not allowed to participate, it was explained to me that while Japan would be ok with the US joining, there is no political interest in the US for making the program reciprocal to Japanese, hence the two countries have not made an agreement.)

Official information for each country can be found here on the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Working holiday visa applications are received by the selected applicant directly going to their local Japanese embassy or consulate within 3 months of planning to arrive in Japan.
The dojo is not involved in visa applications.

A 'working visa' is different from a 'working holiday visa' in that the work visa applicant needs a university degree and they must be sponsored by the host company in Japan.

The purpose of the working holiday visa is for the applicant to focus on cultural activities and travel in Japan, with working part-time being a secondary purpose. This matches the internship perfectly.

If an applicant is from a country not in the working holiday visa program, they will have to prove they either already have an acceptable visa or they can get a visa on their own as the dojo can not sponsor any visas this time.

Internship applications will be accepted until November 30th.
UPDATE: Application deadline extended to January 31, 2012!

For all the details about applying, click here!

Richard

Slow but steady

Hi, Jonas here.

My cold has finally gone away, and I am back in the dojo!

I was really worried that I would have forgotten the katas after almost a week and half of absence from training, but after a couple of minutes of guidance from the teachers I was back in the game.

I find that remembering movements and such is quite different from just remembering something mentally. Physical movements seem to stay with you much deeper. Even though you feel like you have forgotten, if you just start doing it (moving your body) somehow it just naturally comes back to you. Quite an interesting sensation.

But giving your brain a little help on the way is never a bad idea. During my cold I took my time to finally read and watch some of the karate learning material that is in the intern apartment. The Shiramizu DVD and, "Introduction to karate" by Shingo Ohgami.

I have finally been able to remember both Pinan Shodan and Nidan, and the Shiramizu DVD has has been a great help with in memorizing all the movements.

I am still very insecure about all the stances, especially neko ashi dachi, but I guess stuff like that only comes with time so I will just have to hang in there.

ファイト Fight!

Book I was recomended, actually written by a Sensei living in Sweden of all places!

The Shirmizu DVD, great for studying at home!

Autumn has arrived with Sport's Day!

Hi, Jonas here.

Saitama has finally started to cool down some. This is actually quite good news, since September's Saitama was way too warm for me. And on top of that the humidity here in the summer is just crazy!

Unfortunately though, in the beginning of this week I managed to catch quite a nasty cold, so I have not been able to practice any karate the last couple of days. All my energy has been focused on teaching English.

体育の日( Health and Sports Day) in Japan was on Monday , so all of the schools seem to be busy with sport activities right now.

One of the kindergartens I teach at had a sport's festival on Saturday that I took part of.

I was really surprised at how well prepared everything was. They even had a school orchestra playing a Disney medley.

絆　"bonds", the theme of this years sport festival

The outfit of the day.

2012 Intern application schedule! UPDATED!

Richard here,

UPDATED DEC 3/2011: Application deadline extended to January 31, 2012!

* The dojo will again accept new interns on only a 'working holiday visa' *.

See visa details below.

For those interested in applying for the 2012 Shiramizu Japan Karate Internship position, please read carefully the requirements below.

UPDATED Internship dates: April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013

The Shiramizu Japan Karate Internship was created in 2005 as an ideal way for a non-Japanese to visit Japan to learn karate and Japanese culture while earning subsistence money by working as a part-time English teacher.

The benefit to the intern is the supportive environment of a professional Japanese karate dojo teaching one the 4 main styles of Karate, Wado, which is recognized worldwide. Shiramizu is a member of the JKF Wadokai federation, one of the 6 mainstream karate groups in Japan.

By immersing into a busy schedule of weekly practices, seminars, training camps, tournaments, dojo parties and special events, the intern truly raises their martial arts ability and understanding to a high-level.

In addition to living the dream of learning karate in Japan, the intern earns enough money to to cover basic expenses by teaching English at kindergartens, private language schools, the dojo itself and sometimes through private lessons. For someone who loves teaching and interacting with mainly children, the position is ideal.

It is important for applicants to understand the core of the internship program is interacting in the karate world, while earning money is secondary once day to day costs are covered.

During their free time, interns are encouraged to learn Japanese at volunteer language classes, sight-see around Tokyo & Japan and try numerous cultural activities all while making new friends, some of whom will last a lifetime.

This intern blog has many years worth of posts describing the internship in detail so please look it over to better grasp how the internship works.

The main intern duties include;

- participate in karate lessons (most interns attend 3 to 5 practices a week aside from personal training)

- prepare lessons and then teach English classes (1 to 4 a day, Monday to Friday)

- update the intern blog once a week

-keep the Google Calendar account of intern related activities up-to-date

- represent the internship in a positive manner at all times

- help with Shiramizu foreign guests (normally 1 person or 1 group per month)

- attend events either as a competitor, participant or spectator on the official Shiramizu schedule (tournaments, seminars, summer camps, all depending on the intern's karate level and available free time)

While most interns to date have participated in this program because they wanted to become professional instructors upon returning to their home countries or they wanted to try to pass their shodan (1st degree black belt) in Japan, the internship is open to a wide range of people.

The 2 important factors that the selected intern must attempt in the internship;

a) Make the most of their time in Japan!

b) Improve the internship for the next person!

UPDATE on accommodation: While there was a small furnished one-room apartment near the dojo included which the previous interns paid the monthly rent and expenses using some of their part-time English teaching earnings, from April 2012 the accommodation location might be moved. For sure accommodation be it an apartment/shared apartment/dorm/home stay will be organized.

Depending on the month, earnings can range from 120,000-220,000yen, as it varies due to regular vacation times with about 160,000yen being a monthly standard amount.

If an intern is careful, total monthly expenses don't run over 100,000-120,000yen.

UPDATED: Working holiday visa ok!
The dojo will accept a new intern from next April 2012 on only a working holiday visa!

This is very good news as it is much easier to acquire this visa from a Japanese embassy or consulate if you are from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland or Hong Kong 'the English-speaking countries in the program).

(As an aside just to head off all the questions I know I will get like previous years as to why Americans are not allowed to participate, it was explained to me that while Japan would be ok with the US joining, there is no political interest in the US for making the program reciprocal to Japanese, hence the two countries have not made an agreement.)

Official information for each country can be found here on the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

*Applicants from countries outside the working holiday visa program will have to prove their already have or they can successfully acquire on their own a proper visa as the dojo can not sponsor a visa from 2012.

Candidate requirements
1. Age: 20-30
The working holiday visa program's age range is 18-30, but since the interns teach adults and children, and they interact in important adult events (meetings, dinners, etc) the dojo has the set the minimum participation age at 20 to match the Japanese legal adult age of 20 years old.

***UPDATED 2. A high school diploma completed in the English language required. Some university/college studies or degree in any field an asset, but not required.

3a. Experience working with children
3b. Experience teaching or tutoring English is an asset

4. Some experience with martial arts, preferably karate.

5. Positive, up-beat, take charge attitude (describe in cover letter)

6. No criminal record in any country - the selection committee reserves the right to potentially ask for a criminal record report if a concern arises

7. Ability to be in Japan for 52 weeks with no interruptions. April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013.

The required documents for the application are:
a) 1-page cover letter - describe yourself and why you would be a good candidate for this internship

b) 1-page resume - short list of only related information, including personal bio details

c) 2 references - list contact information and relationship to applicant

d) head/shoulders photograph (passport style, can be taken with own camera)
e) copy of high school diploma or copy of official transcript (scan or picture)

All documents can be sent as email attachments. Only small file sizes please.

Application Process:

1) October 1 to November 30: Applications are accepted.

UPDATE: Application deadline extended to January 31, 2012!

Email to: karateintern at gmail dot com

We thank all applicants who apply. Only those applicants short-listed will be replied to.

We do accept questions if anyone has them once they have clearly read this explanation page.

2) January 15-20: Skype interviews with the short-listed candidates.

3) January 20-25: Short-listed candidates ranked in order of acceptance and then this list is reviewed with Arakawa Sensei.

Final candidate and runner-up are selected and informed.

***The role of the runner-up is to have the option to become the intern if the first person selected is rejected by Japanese immigration when applying for their visa.

4) February to March: The selected candidate completes any local ESL weekend course (1 or 2 days) in their town prior to coming to Japan. Any inexpensive, short course is fine.

5) February: Selected applicant applies for the working holiday visa at the Japanese embassy or consulate in their home country as the application can be done within 3 months to arriving in Japan.

6) April 1: The selected intern arrives and is introduced to the dojo and the different English part-time teaching locations. The new intern receives an extensive explanation package on all the part-time lessons and begins teaching the English classes while going to karate practices.

April to March is the official Japanese school & university calendar, also followed by private English classes and the Shiramizu dojo classes so having the new intern start in April perfectly matches the 'back to school, meet the new teachers' atmosphere in Japan.

Again, there is much, much more information in this blog which interested applicants should read thoroughly.

If anyone has any questions, they can email us anytime.
karateintern at gmail dot com

Jonas in September

見ざる、聞かざる、言わざる

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

Hello, Jonas here.

First of all, sorry for the delay of my first blog post!

It has been almost a month since I came to Saitama now, and it's been really busy ever since I arrived. Not having trained karate for around 14 years, you can pretty much say I am a total beginner. Right now I have just barely memorized Pinan Nidan and Shodan. So trying to catch up with all the black belts in the dojo is quite tough.

On top of that teaching English to small kids in Japan for the first time in my life is not the easiest task I have undertaken I must say. Definitely a learning experience!

Just the other week Shiramizu dojo had a visit from Paul who lives in Thailand. It was a lot of fun to meet him, and learn about what living in Thailand is like. A great guy!

Before leaving for Thailand Arakawa Sensei took Paul to Nikko, and I was lucky enough to be able to go with them.

Nikko is a really beautiful place and I hope I can go there again sometime.

Unfortunately we were not very lucky with the weather there though. It was pouring down to say the least! But in my opinion this actually added to the atmosphere of the place. Arakawa Sensei said that normally Nikko is crowded with tourists, but because of the weather, we were pretty much alone there, which was very cool.

Interview with Jonas!

Jonas after his Shiramizu welcome party!
(From Arakawa Sensei's blog)

Richard here,

Here's a short interview with the current intern, Jonas.

Where are you from exactly?

I'm from a small town called Krylbo in Dalarna county of Sweden. Dalarna is a quiet place with lots of forests and lakes, and with very few big cities.

When and how did you first get interested in Japan?

I got interested in Japan when I was still very young, maybe around 6 or 7 years old? I remember seeing stuff like Starzinger and Tottoro on kids TV in Sweden. Even though the dialogue was dubbed to Swedish, the theme songs were still kept in original Japanese, and I found the sound of the language very beautiful. Some time later I saw The Karate Kid and decided that I wanted to start learning karate. Also I must admit that Nintendo was also a big influence, as 10-something years old I remember thinking that working at Nintendo in Japan must be like the best job ever.

What was your first impression of Japan?

Before coming here I always thought of Japan as a very spiritual and mystical country.

When did you first come to Japan?

I think it was around 2009.

So after your first visit, how has your impression of Japan changed?

It's more noisy and busy than I expected. (both in bad and good ways). Also, after staying here for some time now, things that I used to think of as very strange and foreign has become normal to me and this has made me realize that wherever you go in the world people are still people. "Sekai wa hitotsu"

How many times have you been to Japan now? What have you done each time?

Counting this time, I've been here 4 times already! The first time I came to travel, I bought a 2 week JR Rail Pass and visited lots of different parts of Japan. Second time I stayed at a guesthouse in Ikebukuro and studied Japanese. Third time I went to Sapporo Tokai University as an exchange student through my university in Sweden. And now I'm in Saitama as a karate intern!

After you graduate from your university, what do you hope to do?

I want to live and work in Japan. If possible I hope to get a job working with music, since it is my biggest interest.

How is learning karate again?

It's hard! My body aches and my head hurts from trying to remember everything. But it is really interesting to see how karate is taught in its motherland.

Is there anything similar or different to how you did karate before?

Yes, when I was young I practiced Shotokan karate and I can definitely notice some stylistic differences. Also in Japanese there seems to be more weight on small details when training than I remember in Sweden.

While being an intern, do you have any challenges for yourself?

I was told that if I do my best I might be able to get a to the level of green belt. That would be really sweet!

Every intern so far has tried to add something new or improve on something for the internship position? Do you have anything you would like to do to enhance it?

Hard to say now, since it's only been 2 weeks since I arrived here... but I will do my best!

How are the people at Shiramizu?

Very friendly and helping. I was quiet nervous when I first came here, but as soon as I had met everybody I felt like I was in a very good community.

Any advice you have for other people in the future planning to apply for the internship or just come to Japan on their own?

Be prepared for cultural differences and be open to changes and I think you will have a great time.


Jonas

New Intern! Welcome Jonas!

From today Shiramizu warmly welcomes Jonas Holm as our 10th Shiramizu Karate Intern to date! Jonas is from Sweden and he is a Japanese studies specialist now on his 4th long-term visit to Japan.

He initially become interested in Nippon when he began learning Shotokan karate as an elementary student and since then, his Japanophile passion as grown to the point he has now passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2, which is quite an achievement. Probably his Japanese ability can surpass some of the high school and university students in the club!

Jonas speaks fluent, native level English, and he has worked with children leading language and music classes as he is also a musician who plays the guitar. I'm sure the English classes will look forward to having some guitar fun.

Later on this week we will interview Jonas to find out what makes him tick, and if he is a lover or a hater of umeboshi and natto.

Jonas will be completing the remaining months on the 2011-2012 internship position that runs until March 2012.

We will be accepting applications for the next internship position 2012 to 2013 from next month.

Every time each intern comes to Shiramizu, a new atmosphere is always created. Since Peter is still kicking around here too, and he's a silky piano playing jazz singer in his spare time, perhaps the two will form a band specifically for Shiramizu party performances...

Richard