Meiji University

For the last couple of months I've been working in Meiji University in the centre of Tokyo. It's been a great experience, but unfortunately it's just a temp job so I'll be finishing up there in a few days.
My main duties there have been to check outsourced translation work to see that it was up to scratch (it very often wasn't...) and to translate news and events and so on happening at the university. You can see some of my work here Naturally anything that's rubbish isn't mine though!







Anyway, as well as the translation experience it's been good to get used to working in a Japanese office environment. I was expecting everyone to be over polite and jumpy as hell, but they're fairly relaxed and enjoy a laugh at work. One Japanese stereotype that does ring true though is the amount of overtime people do. February and March tend to be very busy anyway as it's the end of the fiscal and academic year, so I suppose it's not always like this, but it hasn't been unusual to receive an email from a colleague with a 10pm time stamp. Luckily for me, since I've just been temping, there's been no need or expectation of me to do overtime, so the latest I've ever needed to stay was until 6pm.


Anyway, Meiji University is pretty damn big, compared to any of the universities in Ireland anyway. It has about 30,000 students spread over three campuses. The campus where I've been based couldn't be more urban, and because of that it lacks that college vibe. Although the students have been on holidays during the duration of my stay there so that's a big factor!

The campus is based in Ochanomizu, an area of Tokyo I've always liked. There's loads of colleges and universities located there so it's a fairly lively place with a plethora of music shops, a profusion of book shops and piles of great little restaurants. There's some great Thai and Indian places, as well as Japanese, so I've really enjoyed my lunch hours. Also, when the weather has been nice, I've enjoyed going for a walk around the area and taking some photos after my usual curry. The camera on the iPhone isn't up to much so they're not great.



Not that I'm a petrol head but one thing I've noticed about the area is some of the fancy cars you can see. No, not that boxy looking thing in the above picture! I've seen an Aston Martin, an Audi R8 and, almost every morning there's been this little Lambo parked outside the university.
One day instead of the silver Lamborghini (Gallardo?) there was an orange one instead. I wonder if the owner has a collection, or if Lamborghini will loan you one of theirs while you're having the oil changed in yours!