Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ReLive Main Story Series 8 - Part 3: The Marquis's Jade

This story continues from Part 2: The General's Ruby. 

Part 3A

As they continue on to where the jade lay, the monarch laments that he has not been an effective ruler. He laments that even though it seems like he did his best, he was unable to maintain his kingdom's stability and through this, he lost his allies and close friends in the ensuing civil war. As they pass through a forest, a cold wind blows. Though it sounds forboding, the monarch knew from there that the Marquis's Jade is close by, and it is down to him to reawaken the Marquis in their time of need. On the revue stage, they see Shiori attacked by another Chorus, and the monarch and his grand chancellor handily defeat them. That's when Akira remembers--Yumeoji Shiori.

The timeline moves back to 4 months ago, and they return to the student council room. Shiori has just finished compiling the documents for Michiru's approval. Shiori also tells Michiru that the documents for the meeting the next day are on Yachiyo's desk. After Shiori exits the room, Akira asks Michiru how Shiori has been handling the duties, to which Michiru replies that Shiori has been handling them very well, which Akira notes is not a comment Michiru gives out lightly. Yet, Akira still senses something off, and presses Michiru to explain what she meant by "general duties". Michiru replies that she has heard from the junior high section that Shiori hasn't been focusing in class these past few days. As Akira mulls over the situation, Michiru continues that even the teachers were starting to become worried about this, and it may be a bit too hasty to pull a junior high student to be part of the Edel team. Akira stands by her decision, as she believes that the role of Frau Jade remains best filled by Shiori, to which Michiru is starting to think that Akira may have set her expectations too high for Shiori to fill. Akira has already considered that the role may seem too heavy for Shiori, what with her not being physically strong to start with, but Michiru brings up another idea, which Akira immediately understood. It definitely has to be something to do with Fumi, Shiori's older sister who transferred out of Siegfeld under unknown circumstances.

At the music room, Shiori had finished playing a piano piece. Akira comes up to Shiori congratuating her on another great performance. Shiori stands up, to which Akira tells her to continue playing the piano. As Akira compliments her on another well played performance, Shiori tries to bring herself down by bringing up her sister, to which Akira reitierates that she was complimenting Shiori's performance, not Fumi's. Shiori then starts to cry, and tries to console herself that Fumi's transfer out of Siegfeld had nothing to do with her. It is obvious that Shiori has not gotten over Fumi's transfer out of Siegfeld. Akira encourages Shiori to talk about it, and so Shiori asks Akira why Fumi transferred out of Siegfeld, especially considering Fumi, like all Siegfeld students, have aspired to be part of Edel. Shiori remembered that day when Fumi transferred out, and she saw that Fumi had a pained look on her face. She wanted to know if it was because of her that Fumi transferred out. She also thinks that the role of Frau Jade might be too heavy on her, and yet she also wants to do her role of Frau Jade as best as she can, for her sister and also her seniors. If only her sister was in Siegfeld... Akira then asks Shiori if she is doubting Akira's judgement. Akira put Shiori up for the role of Frau Jade, not Fumi, and she expected Shiori to discharge her duties accordingly. To deny this role therefore would be to doubt Akira's judgement. Akira reminds Shiori that she is not Fumi, and tells Shiori to not be weighed down by what she thinks of her sister. After a bit of hemming and hawing, Shiori tells Akira that she wanted to be on the stage of Elysion with Fumi, but now Fumi has suddenly left Siegfeld. Shiori wanted to continue with her role of Frau Jade to prove herself to her sister, that she will succeed where her sister failed, and that's why she hasn't let go of the thought of Fumi suddenly leaving Siegfeld. [As Shiori cries, I cry for my ears as they get killed.]

Part 3B

They return to the student council room, where Akira pours Shiori a cup of houjicha (not English tea: they don't have it). Shiori then apologises for the scene which she had subjected Akira [and the translator] to. Akira then apologises for asking such probing questions previously. Akira continues mulling awkwardly over the situation, that Shiori's problems still come back to Fumi. Not a very usual thing for the usually steely-faced Akira, which makes Shiori laugh. Akira then continues and says that even as the student council chairman --Frau Platin-- that there are still some things that she is not the best at, which is why she always had to trouble Michiru. She also sensed this uncertainty when Fumi went to her to request the transfer out of Siegfeld. At the same time, Fumi transferring out meant that Akira lost a friend who was in the production of Elysion--Rebirth. It was definitely a problematic situation. Shiori then asks Akira if she was angry at Fumi leaving Siegfeld. Akira was, a slight bit, confirming Shiori's suspicions, but Akira reminds Shiori that Shiori's appointment to the role of Frau Jade had nothing to do with Fumi. Fumi left Siegfeld on her own accord, and it was Akira's incompetence that she was unable to convince Fumi to not leave. Were she able to watch over the student community more closely, she might have been able to help Fumi, or something, or maybe that was just asking too much of herself. Though, there is a small bit of reassurance. After Fumi left Siegfeld for Rinmeikan, she has gone back to stage acting. Even if Fumi wasn't able to stand on Siegfeld's stage, at least she hasn't given up on stage acting. Shiori then apologises for having troubled Akira with her family issues, to which Akira says that ultimately her goal is to make sure that Shiori doesn't leave her role as Frau Jade. Akira then continues that the calm atmosphere that Shiori brings with her, and showed during her piano performance, was what Edel needed. A calm demeanour, a wide view, yet having an eye for details: only Shiori possesses them all at once. Shiori's words have made Akira aware of how self-righteous and arrogant she was being. How she thought being so harsh on Meifan three months ago was the only way to go about doing things. After Akira finishes, Shiori suddenly stands up and shouts that Fumi was a massive idiot [RIP ears]. Akira, shocked, asks why, to which Shiori continues and asks why Fumi quit Siegfeld by herself, and why she never asked anyone about this. And because of this, everyone was so worried about her, and she never even talked to her own sister. Shiori shouts again, that Fumi was a massive idiot [RIP ears 2]. After all that shouting, Shiori has now lifted that weight off her heart, and tells Akira that she will not quit her duties as Frau Jade. After all, she did join Siegfeld so that she could stand on the stage of Elysion.

『守り包まる　つぼみを開きて
導かれたる　白金の道
涙に濡れたる想い文
秘めて歩み出したる　翡翠の夢路
「フラウ・ヤーデ」　夢大路栞
共に征きます　王の頂！』

"Protecting the buds until their bloom
Guiding the path of platinum
With memories filled with sorrow
To walk down a hidden jade path of dreams
--Frau Jade-- Yumeooji Shiori
To conquer together - The summit of Kings!"

After Shiori assures Akira that she will continue her duties in the student council, Akira expresses surprise that Shiori was capable of shouting this loud, and that has left quite the impression on Akira. And therefore, maybe she should do as Shiori did [oh god]. Akira takes a deep breath, then shouts that Fumi is a massive idiot [whyyyyyy RIP ears 3]. She then shouts and asks why Fumi left Siegfeld on her own, why she left her and Shiori behind. After that, Akira tells Shiori to never tell this to Michiru, for this would be very unbecoming of a monarch [yeah no shit Sherlock].

[I don't remember jade being this green]

Back at the Revue Stage, the monarch has found the jade. He reminiscences about how he learnt to be caring to his subjects from the Marquis. Even if the wind is strong, having a warm and caring heart is necessary to be an effective ruler. With that, they set off for the south, where the Knight's Pearl lies.

Continue on to Part 4: The Knight's Pearl. 

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ReLive Main Story Series 8 - Part 2: The General's Ruby

This story continues from Part 1: The lost ones.

Part 2A

The monarch continues on as he tells the grand chancellor the immense gravity of the situation they are in. They trudge on through the path as they walk towards the first landmark: the volcano where the Goddess of Fire resided. This is also the place where the ruby has flown to.

The ruby is the gemstone that represents military might, and was held by a legendary general. The ruby represents the power the monarch has over the military, and with the ruby in the crown jewels, the monarch can control his armies and achieve victory over his enemies.

They arrive at the volcano, where they find the ruby. On the Revue Stage, they find Liu Meifan being attacked by a Chorus. Michiru and Akira defeat the Chorus handily, and this is when Akira remembers Frau Rubin - Liu Meifan.

The scene goes back to 7 months ago, when the term just started, and Akira has just taken the mantle of Frau Platin.

The silence of the student council room is unceremoniously broken by loud knocking at the door. Shocked, Akira opens the door to see Meifan congratulating her on her new appointment as the new student council chairman. After an enthusiastic exchange of formalities (mostly from Meifan), Meifan tells the both of them about her background in Peking opera, and how she was so impressed by Akira's performance in Elysion--Rebirth the previous year that she learnt Japanese (wtf?) and applied to enter Siegfeld. With her entrance into Siegfeld secured, she wishes to be on the same stage as Akira as an Edel. When asked by Akira about what being on the Monarch of Stages means, Meifan answers that it means bringing the student community together to bring out the best in the Monarch of Stages, and that means serving the school community as the student councillors by supporting the student council chairman in their specific functions. This is immediately followed by Akira flatly rejecting Meifan for the running of the student council and Michiru showing her the door. 


Part 2B

The next day, Akira and Michiru continue on with the search for who will be the next student councillors. They arrive at the student council room to see Meifan cleaning the student council room windows. After another confirmation from Akira that Meifan is still not in consideration to be in the Edel team, Michiru shows Meifan the door.

The day after, Akira and Michiru look through the budget estimates and the to-do list for the student council. As Michiru teaches Akira on the finer aspects of behaving more king-like and enters the room, they see Meifan prostrating at the student council room. Meifan mentions that she has been doing that since 6 in the morning, in the hopes that she can star in the same stage as Akira. She continues that Akira was the reason that she left her hometown and applied to enter Siegfeld. Michiru counters that this was exactly the reason why the both of them rejected Meifan. The role of an Edel is not to single-mindedly serve the monarch, but to serve the student community with equal importance. Meifan's obsession with Akira meant that she lost sight of the need to serve the student community as a member of Edel, and therefore will not be considered for any of the vacant roles.

After Michiru shows Meifan the door (again), Akira thanks her for tanking the role as the bad news bearer, to which Michiru tells her that as the monarch of Edel she didn't need to really use words for that. Michiru looks closer at Meifan's profile and thinks about how out of all the foreign applicants to Siegfeld, Meifan was the only one who actually succeeded in entering Siegfeld. Nevertheless, Akira remains steadfast that regardless of performatory skill, to be accepted as a member of Edel it is important to have a mind to serve the student community as a whole and not just the monarch.

Just as they were about to begin their student council duties, they hear a loud clanging of a gong outside. That is when Akira remembers Meifan as Frau Rubin.

『万里を越えし　覇王の風に
巡り見つけた　己の舞台
胸に秘めたる　龍の紅玉
命をささぐは　貴き白金
「フラウ・ルビン紅玉の君」　リュウ柳・メイファン美帆！
燃ラン燒シャオ吧バー，激ジ情チィン烈レ焰イェン，王ワン道ダゥ擔ダン當ダン
（情熱の炎で、王道を作る！）』

"Crossing a thousand miles, through a warlord's wind
A stage of my own, for which I came across
From the dragon's ruby, to which I have kept hidden
To dedicate my life, to the nobility of the platinum
--Frau Rubin-- Liu Meifan!
The fires of passion burn, to light the royal path!"

[this is what I think Meifan was saying, but her pronunciation is so bad I can't be certain]

As Meifan continues, Michiru tells Akira that Meifan was exactly like how Akira was like back then. Akira reiterates her point that what she is looking for in a member of Edel is not a fan of her, but then she reconsiders. Meifan doesn't want to be a member of Edel because she is Akira's fan, but rather because of Akira's role of Frau Platin, who Meifan wants to support with her ability. With that, Michiru agrees, and asks Akira what kind of role she wants Meifan to fill, to which Akira thinks that since Meifan is good in kanji (wtf that's not how it works) she would fit in as the secretary.

Michiru and Akira return to the Elysion stage. With the ruby secured, the monarch now feels the passion that the ruby exudes, they exit the volcano towards the west, where the Marquis's Jade lies.

Continue on to Part 3: The Marquis's Jade.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ReLive Main Story Series 8 - Part 1: The Lost Ones

Part 1A

The story starts with the background of Siegfeld's play: Elysion. The three acts of Elysion: "Era of the Gods", "Era of the Monarchs", "Era of Rebirth". Each of the three acts are played once a year and cycles back after the end of "Rebirth". This continues on to the explanation of how "Elysion" is the emblematic play of Siegfeld, and the cast of five who, as the main cast of this play, are also the members of the student council.

Turns out the what happened before Akira dreaming of standing on stage as part of the production of "Era of the Gods" introducing the play, even though their upcoming play is "Era of the Monarchs". Michiru wakes her up and they walk to school together, where Michiru points out a particular park that they went to and allegedly Akira made a promise to Michiru there, which Akira doesn't remember. Because Akira forgot whatever promise she made at that park Michiru becomes sad and stomps off. Any attempts by Akira to get Michiru to explain what has happened are rebuffed.

The student council session starts as usual, but the atmosphere remains tense, beginning with Michiru asking Akira to properly recite her starting lines before beginning the session. They start with taking stock of things that need to be done around Siegfeld, since the production of "Elysion--Monarch" means that most, if not the rest of the student population will be supporting them as backstage crew. Things like lesson room renovation budgets (approved), expansion of the library repertoire (in progress), and shower room timings (no answer) and the collation of the practice uniform sizes of the students.

More critically, the roles of Frau Rubin, Frau Jade and Frau Perle have not been selected, and no one appears to be signing up. Without this the next year's production "Elysion--Monarch" would be missing three critical roles.

When Akira accepted the role of Frau Platin, no new members came in, and the scouted students were all rejected, so Akira had to put up "Elysion--Gods" with Michiru only. Akira noted that the previous "Elysion--Gods" production was unprecedented in that they somehow managed to put up that production with only Akira and Michiru.

After realising what happened, Akira started to laugh at the absurdity of what they happened, which justifiably makes Michiru very concerned, but then Akira reminds Michiru that there is no way they could have made "Gods" with only two people.

Part 1B

If everyone's goal in entering Siegfeld was to be part of the five-man cast in Elysion, it would be impossible to not fill the roster for Elysion.

Her promise to Michiru at the park was to make a production of "Elysion--Gods" with all five people.
When Akira recited the lines of "Elysion--Gods" again (near-perfectly filling in the voices of the missing roles), she realised it was impossible to do this play with only two people.

That dream in the first part of the story... wasn't a dream.

It was a memory.

Word had already gotten around of Maya's disappearance from Seisho, and Akira deduced that this was happening to their group as well.

Their realisation of what has happened has caused the curtains to draw, and they find themselves in the Revue Stage.

As they find themselves on the Revue Stage, they meet Eru, who had a bit of a snag trying to summon Andrew.

Eru explains that the Choruses are imprisoning stage productions, and their only way to stop them from straight up destroying them was to put up these "missing role" revues.

Which Andrew wasn't thrilled to explain again after putting up with Kaoruko's verbal abuse in the previous chapter. Andrew then made a critical failure mentioning that to Michiru since Michiru remembered what Kaoruko nicknamed Andrew, which Akira very quickly picked up much to Andrew's chagrin.

RIP Andrew (you will not be missed)

To bring back the lost ones, Akira and Michiru now have to re-produce "Elysion--Monarch" on their own, on the field of honour Revue Stage.

Elysion--Monarch: ReLive

A dying king entrusts his grand chancellor with the task of succeeding him and recovering the lost crown jewels.

They had to escape the palace due to a surprise attack by antiroyalists.

Now the grand chancellor has to assemble the four horsemen, each representing a lost crown jewel, and take back their rightful place on the throne.

Continue on to Part 2: The General's Ruby.

Review: Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie - Over the Rainbow

I'm just going to say this once: if you are going to watch the movie for the story, you are in the wrong cinema. Think of this movie as an animated musical.

Given the expectations I have it's fine. Story is not as well structured as μ's, but this is due to the different direction Aqours is taking.

It is a bit difficult to give all 9 members equal amounts of screen time, so unfortunately some members fell by the wayside. Poor Hanamaru, being relegated into comic relief for the eating scenes. That being said, some others received a tremendous amount of character development. When the series started, I really didn't like Ruby, since she just gave an image of being a timid crybaby who's only there for comic relief, but as the series progressed (and indeed in the movie), while she is still as timid as she always was, she has shown that without the people helping her out all the time her she actually becomes a girl who spits straight fire while keeping Yohane in line and is able to actively contribute to Aqours as not just a performer but also as a support staff. Hats off to her for developing so much throughout the series.

The music was good and fit into the movie very well. A lot can be said about how the music segments were able to transition seamlessly from the classically animated segments into cel-shaded CGI and back smoothly. The songs are thematically linked with the story. Music list will appear below, with a short description on the scene that the songs appear in order of appearance. Spoiler alert since the music does frame some of the plot points in the movie.

1. 僕らの走ってきた道は Bokura no Hashittekita Michi wa: Performed at the start of the movie, canonically just after Wonderful Stories at S2E13.
2. 逃走迷走メビウスループ Tousou-meisou Möbius Loop: The third years performed this song as they escaped from the rest of Aqours to their safe house, after throwing a shirt to distract the Watanabe cousins.
3. Hop? Stop? Nonstop!: Aqours performed this at Piazza di Spagna to prove to Mrs Ohara that school idol activities are not an idle pursuit.
4. Believe Again: Saint Snow song. Watanabe Tsuki prepares a stream for them to make up for Saint Snow's inability to directly go up against Aqours in the finals due to early elimination.
5. Brightest Melody: Companion song to Believe Again. This is song Aqours came up with to compete with the earlier Saint Snow song.
6. キセキヒカル Kiseki Hikaru: Background music for the preparation of the town performance.
7. Next SPARKLING!!: End of movie, as Aqours prepares their performance for the town of Numazu

The main problem with the story that I have is that the entire movie is based on a premise that ignores the world that the Love Live series built.

During the start of Love Live Sunshine we get an exposition by our resident School Idol otakus the Kurosawa sisters that after μ's Love Live has become this sensation that swept not just throughout Japan, but around the world. Even within Japan we are looking at over 500 school idol groups, so Love Live isn't this niche thing that you have to explain to people just what it is so that people will understand, unlike that one time I had to explain the plot of the Love Live Sunshine series to a visiting Japanese university lecturer. So why did the Uranohoshi girls need to prove to others once again that school idol activities aren't some random activity that gets approved willy nilly by the previous school admin?

Another thing of note is that compared to the first movie, the people we are dealing with in the second movie are considerably shittier than the ones in the first movie, mostly because the problems μ's had to face were just in terms of performing and having continuing success even as they were planning to retire from being pop idols for good. In the second movie, the problems Aqours had to face were in terms of integrating with their new school and about the future of the third years.

Major spoilers ahead, so I'll go ahead and hide them.

Mari's mother (who I'll now thereafter call Mrs Ohara) is an interesting character to say the least. At least we now know where Mari gets her eccentric personality from. What's less forgivable is that Mrs Ohara manipulated the rest of Aqours into searching for the third years who were having their graduation trip in Italy so that she can bring Mari home to get her married off, even posting pictures of the third years around Rome to get people to find them. Good thing Mrs Ohara didn't have the presence of mind to write the posters in Italian (they were in Japanese) so to the Italians the posters might as well be "Look at these beautiful women".

It is worth noting that the rest of Aqours only knew of Mrs Ohara's fuckery because they were told so by the third years, who made them go on a detoured route around Firenze in total radio silence because of concerns Mrs Ohara may have tapped their phones. Didn't matter anyway since Mrs Ohara managed to find that random white feather that Yohane dropped from that mansion the third years were staying in.

The justification for Mrs Ohara marrying off Mari was because she felt that Mari was too rebellious starting from when she was a child and kept running away with Kanan and Dia, Mari unilaterally transferring from the high school in Italy back to Uranohoshi and becoming the school director (which Mrs Ohara only allowed because Mr Ohara insisted on letting the case rest), and Mari restarting Aqours. To this end, marrying Mari off was so that Mari has a husband to "control" her, which is a very shitty reason to marry someone off for and a recipe for what would be at best an unhappy marriage, and at worst an abusive marriage, neither of which I'm sure Mrs Ohara is enthusiastic about. Mrs Ohara, marrying your daughter off so that you can impose your will on her is the very definition of /r/JustNoMIL and you will not only be looked down upon by your daughter for your controlling behaviour, your future son-in-law would also hate your for being a nosy controlling bitch.

I shouldn't have to teach the Japanese how to embody Japanese values, but here goes. School mergers aren't anything new: my primary school was the result of the merger of two smaller schools near each other, and just recently there was this mass merger of junior college pairs over in my country. The most important thing to establish with the merger of the schools is to create a new shared identity while also respecting the identities and cultures of the constituent schools. This is even more important in Japan, where the concept of the in-group and out-group is very clearly demarcated.

Therefore, the new school decided to throw the former Uranohoshi students into a random run-down building in the middle of nowhere far away from the main school building. Right off the bat, the new school is sending a strong message to the former Uranohoshi students that they are not welcome in the new school at all, even though they have done their best to avoid the closure of their own school by creating a country- and even world-class school idol group. Apparently to the new school, it is not enough that the name of Uranohoshi should be forgotten from the memory of Numazu and Uchiura's people, the legacy of Uranohoshi has to be destroyed by putting the last students in a poorly maintained satellite to be forgotten as well. Bringing it closer to my home, it would be as if Pioneer Junior College decided to, instead of merging the student population of Jurong Junior College with it in the PJC grounds, kick the JJC students into the random blocks of classrooms just off my old home that are used as temporary classrooms when schools are being renovated. You don't do this without being eaten alive by literally everyone in the JJC community, parents, students and alumni alike. Instead, what really happened was that the junior colleges that were merged got a name that was the result of the combination of the two constituent junior colleges, even if the result would make absolutely no sense (Pioneer-Jurong Junior College is neither in Jurong nor in Pioneer, for example). Also, the student cultures of both junior colleges were fully combined and integrated with each other so as to ensure that a new shared identity can be created and it wasn't an annexation.

When it came to light that the segregation is because the parent support group of the new school decided that the Uranohoshi girls would not be able to participate in the club activities to the level that the existing club members are at, this really got me absolutely pissed. Club activities are extra-curricular activities. These should remain secondary to the main objective of the students, which is to study. And besides, every year the new school has to receive new students as the seniors graduate. That shouldn't be a problem they should be worrying about since they should have some sort of succession/acceptance system already in place. We are talking about increasing your student population by around 48 (since there were around 72 students before the seniors graduated), or 1 class per year equivalent if based on my high school class size. This should be a solved problem by now. My high school has a mid-term intake of around 2 classes and I don't see the club activities in my school crumbling either.

Given that this decision was opposed by the student community as a whole and was a decision undertaken only with the approval of the parents support group and the school administration, it is clear that the students understood that this decision is a completely boneheaded decision that would likely result in animosity towards the new students, especially considering that the students understood very well that the Uranohoshi girls have put in a lot of effort in helping to support a school idol group that, after all the competition that it had to go through, became the winner of the finals. And the administration, instead of being supportive towards the continuation of this spark of glory that Uranohoshi brought with them, cast them out into some forgotten corner, a "subsidiary school" to be left to wither to nothing. That's not how you treat the legacy of a school that has existed for decades (which we know it did because Chika's mother and sisters are Uranohoshi alumni). The school administration should consider themselves lucky that Aqours was willing to speak for Uranohoshi by holding performances with what's left of Aqours and the other former Uranohoshi students have not decided to turn this affair into a media showdown.

Final verdict: worse than the 1st Love Live movie, still pretty decent for the fluff. 5/10.

I'm running out of wall space though.

Questions students ask me about Singapore: Languages

On a lighter note, here's some more common questions I have been asked. 

How did you learn four languages?

Background: I speak English, Mandarin, German and Japanese. 

As a base line, most Singaporeans learn two languages. All would have learnt English, to varying, but high, levels of proficiency. Singapore ranked as 5th in English proficiency as a non-native language in the world, and 1st in Asia as of 2017. All lessons (except for non-English language lessons) are held in English, and English is taught as a subject of its own from kindergarten until the A-levels (grade 12). 

The second language would be the so-called Mother Tongue (MT). This can be Chinese, Malay, Tamil or a Non-Tamil Indian Language (NTIL, includes Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu). The Mother Tongue is not necessarily limited by ethnicity: parents of Malay and Indian children have been known to enroll them into Chinese as Mother Tongue classes and only requires a letter from the kindergarten that the children were in. 

Chinese taught as a Mother Tongue is of the Mandarin dialect, with writing being Simplified Chinese. The teaching of Chinese in Singapore is a well-debated topic among educators and students alike, with many students loathing the lessons while they were studying Chinese. 

The length of instruction for MT varies based on the course that is selected. There are three courses: the Higher MT (HMT), normal (officially written as just MT) and Basic (MT-B). HMT (officially termed 高级华文 for Chinese) has the shortest length of instruction and only up to O-levels (grade 10). MT (unofficially termed 普通华文 to differentiate from Higher Chinese) requires one more year of instruction and is counted as a H1 subject in the A-levels. The exam for H1 MT is held at the first year of junior college (grade 11) and is unofficially called the AO水准考试 in Chinese since it is held between the typical O- and A-level exams. MT-B is the easiest course, but takes the longest to complete, with the final exam at the same time as the main A-level exams (grade 12). Nevertheless, the standard for MT-B is very easy, with only the standard of Secondary 3 (grade 9) normal Mother Tongue. 

Students who have shown good performance in their Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE, held at Primary 6 or grade 6) will be given an opportunity to learn a Third Language. These Third Languages include the classic three, French, German and Japanese, with other choices added later being Malay (for non-Malay as MT students), Chinese (for non-Chinese as MT students), Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish and Arabic. The criteria for Third Language eligibility is set at top 10% of students (ie aggregate over 251[1]). 

I was offered a choice between the three classic Third Languages after my PSLE, after narrowly crossing the aggregate line at 253. I initially wanted not to learn any third language since I was not offered Malay, but I was strongly urged to reconsider it by my mother, who basically said that these kind of offers don't just happen every day. 

I studied German based on notes from people around me who have studied the other languages before. My father learnt French as part of his scholarship to Singapore and he basically did not recommend it since it was unlikely to be of much use to me (France excelled in high-voltage electrical generation and transmission technology, not so much in engineering). My tuition teacher learnt Japanese and did not recommend that to me either, citing that it's very difficult to learn (specifics not given, but based on my less than stellar Chinese performance in school it would have been good advice to avoid it). 

Third Languages can be studied up either O-level, H1 or H2 level, taking 4, 5 or 6 years respectively. Based on my consistent high performance in German (my German grade was even better than my Chinese grade), I took the H2 course. The final exam required a grueling gauntlet of examinations (listening, composition, comprehension and oral skills) complete with a coursework that needed to be done throughout the final year. I completed the H2 course with a B, which probably amounted to nothing considering by the time I took the TestDaF (qualifying test for German that is recognised by companies), I failed it. 

Apparently because I'm a sucker for punishment, I then proceeded to take up Japanese. Influenced by my sister's interest in anime, and after reading the millionth poorly translated Japanese package instruction, I took up Japanese as well. I started in my second year of my military service, which was easy for me since I was relegated to desk work [2], basically self-studying. Self-studying wasn't perfect, and I picked up some mistakes which I had to rectify later on when I took some lessons at Orchard. 

After finishing my lessons at Orchard, I felt that there is still more to learn in Japanese [3], and with my imminent enrollment into NUS, I was given a chance to continue learning Japanese to a higher level than before. Due to the modular system in NUS, which gave even more freedom to structure classes than even NUS High, I took Japanese lessons to turbocharge my knowledge, and turbocharge it did. NUS Japanese is among the most difficult language courses that exists, arguably among the most difficult Japanese language course that exists in the world. But still, I rode the train as far as I could and hit Business Japanese I (the 2nd highest level possible in NUS, same level as Japanese V) before I had to stop taking Japanese in the interest of my graduation schedule. At the same time, I also managed to pass my JLPT N2 (2nd highest level of JLPT), leaving a mark in my record that can be used to boost my resume when the time comes. 

In terms of language utilisation, they are (in order from most to least used) English, Japanese, Chinese and German. Surprising to note that I use Japanese more than my Chinese, but most of my reading material online that is not in English is mostly Japanese. Most Chinese websites are worse formatted than Japanese websites and I never felt the need to use Chinese websites, but nevertheless I do read local newspapers in Chinese and watch TV in Mandarin or Cantonese, so it's not like there is a huge usage gap between Japanese and Chinese. German is basically rotting since I don't exactly see German in my Internet anyway. 

[1] This is a calculatable score, since the aggregate is the sum of four subject T-scores based on a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. This gives an average aggregate at 200. 

[2] I was excused from firearms and explosives. Unless throwing office chairs or CQB-ing like John Wick (killing people with a fookin' peencil) become a viable battlefield combat skill, desk work is all that I would be fit to do. 

[3] Pretty much my whole mentality of "riding this train as far as I can go".

Questions students ask me in Singapore: Crime and punishment

In my time as a student guide for Japanese high-schoolers visiting Singapore as part of their school activities, I get asked some questions about Singapore. Now granted, they have done their homework somewhat and so they won't ask obvious questions. This series is not about these obvious questions, what with the eleventy billion other sites that have answered those questions.

This series is about those really thought provoking questions where maybe my command of Japanese might not be enough to tell them quickly while inside an MRT waiting for the train to reach the destination.

The answers may not be well-sourced, but these will give a rough background on the subject at hand. I might add Japanese translations when I have the time.

How is caning done in Singapore?

Caning, in the judicial use of this word, is typically reserved for very severe crimes, like rape, molest, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rioting and vandalism. The reason this sentence is reserved for such serious crimes is that caning as a judicial punishment is a very unpleasant experience. The cane is 120cm long, 13mm thick (Singapore 10-cent coin).

To get the speed up to 160km/h, each strike needs winding up. The caner waves the stick in the air until it makes a whooshing sound before landing the strike. This needs a lot of physical strength, and indeed, caners are selected among the most physically able prison officers. 

You can read about caning as a punishment from here, but bear in mind: these people who were caned broke into critical transport infrastructure to vandalise trains. 

What about death penalty?

Bizarre that students from the same group would have asked me about death penalty and caning (especially when they are girls!), but death penalty is a sentence done in Singapore, reserved only for the most severe of severe crimes, like murder (not manslaughter!), kidnapping, unlawful discharge of firearms, and excessive drug trafficking. Just like in Japan, the method used is the long drop, which results in death by neck fracture. 

I went to 313@somerset since the NFC reader in my cellphone has stopped working.

After sending the phone off for repair, I went down to get a drink. On the way down the escalator I saw a loving couple kissing near me. We aren't talking just kissing each other in the cheek or the forehead, oh no. Just flat out face-sucking, full-on French kissing.

Of course I had no words for that and I was just looking at them with a "get a room" WTF face.

That wasn't the worst (best) part. There was another loving couple just behind me and they were going "ooooooh!" at them. So I looked at them, my face still frozen at the "get a room" WTF face from earlier. They laughed when they saw me look back at them.

A few hours later I had driving lesson and my instructor was asking me why my face was so red. I'd like to think it was because I was in a rush and the weather was hot (that was what I told the instructor), but I can't deny it was partly also because I saw something really shameless a few hours ago.

I guess deep down inside I'm really like this character:

Epilogue

In the end sending the phone was kind of an unnecessary action since I could have just gone through my service provider and gotten a full replacement, so I immediately requested the phone to be returned to me (forfeiting the evaluation charge) and got the entire phone replaced.