This is Chiba from the Narita Express train



This is Taka, my guide
Dan and Jack, friends from my dorm
These are the last photos I will post here, because the system for picture posting is way to complicated. I'm going to start a Flikr photostream and just link to it.

Second week in Japan

So I am really trying to update the blog regularly, but I'm leaning towards once a week, as I like both going out and sleeping too much to sacrifice either. Since my last major post, I have had quite a bit of fun here.

So once I arrived, the orientation began. Orientation here is a long and boring process, but was made a bit more interesting by an interpreter with a very snarky disposition, who constantly made fun of the monotony of the forms and repetitive discourse. She really rubbed some people the wrong way, but I liked her. Also on the first day, the WIC kids came to lunch with us and we played the most interesting ice breaking games.

The orientation days consisted of learn, break, eat, learn, dinner, walk.

On Friday, we were taken by volunteers to the Shinjuku Ward offices to regester for our Alien Regestration cards and NHS. The volunteers consisted of the Niji (rainbow) Club and WIC. Despite the horor stories I have heard about the Japanese bureacray, the office was suprisingly quick and efficient. ALong the way I got to know Naoya, who is a big Guns'n'Roses fan, and we talked music for a bit. After acquiring our cards, we decided to get Japanese cell phones (finally) and grabbed Dan and Jenny to translate (Jenny, whom I may not have mentioned before, is Nikkei Japanese from Hawaii.) After getting the phones, Dan took us to an Izakaya, and we proceeded to eat and drink! I tried Shochu for the first time, and I think I may prefer it to sake.

On saturday, we were taken on tours by the WIC kids. My friends and I chose Odaiba, if for nothing else then Ikkun, one of the WIC kids we like, was giving the tour and no one was going there. So we decided to keep him company. Odaiba is interesting; a man made island reclamed from Tokyo Bay, Odaiba is pretty much a commercial district with some neat archetecture (Fuji TV building). After a trip to the Seaside Mall in Odaiba and the Fuji TV building, we went back to Takadanobaba and had a Nomihodai (all you can drink) drinking party. I will say this about Waseda students; they know how to drink. The way Nomihodai works, you pay a fee (it was 2500 yen for us) and get some basic, limited food, and all the booze you can drink for two hours. There was beer, sake, sake mixed drinks, whiskey, schnapps, etc. We played drinking games, got loud and crazy, and completely blitzed beyond words by 9 p.m. After stumbling around for a bit, we followed Takumi to an after party, but quickly departed after watching a young Japanese guy retching his guts out on the urinals (not a fun place; apparently it is famous in Waseda for being vomited in).

Sunday was lazy, and on Monday we had our course registration. I signed up for some really interesting advanced cultural and media studies classes, and like the nerd I am, am very excited about them. Monday night, Andrew, Toby and I joined Takumi for some outdoor drinking after he got off work (Takumi has an arubaito, or part-time job, at a bookstore near the school). For those who don't know, drinking in public is legal in Japan, and if a police officer comes by, it's usually to tell you to keep it down. So we got good and drunk in the park, and stumbled home.

Yesterday, we had Nomihodai again with the WIC kids, this time on a boat! For another 2500 yen, we took a boat from Shinagawa out into Tokyo Bay past Odaiba, then back in (over the course of two hours) again all you can drink. The boat was packed with people, as Tuesday was the Autumnal Equinox and a national holiday in Japan. We drank, chatted, and eventually ended up carrying Jenny home as she got too drunk to walk.

Today we went back to Shinagawa to begin the arduous process of changing my visa status at the Immigration Bureau. It went by quickly, and hopefully it will all resovle quickly, or else I will need to take an impromptu vacation in Decemeber to Korea, then re-enter the country.

The weather had been disgusting last week, but after a brief typhun, the humidty seems to have broken, and a slight autumnal chill can be felt in the air. Today was balmy and lovely, and I hope it continues to be so.

Thats all for now.

Yuuppara iru

Japanese daigakusei know how to drink.

That is all.

More later, after I have slept it off...

This is the view of Shinjuku from my dorm balcony. It's a pretty sweet view.

First day

I had originally intended to make multiple posts, each detailing an aspect of my trip over; a description of the time I spent in LA, a description of the phenomenal service I received from ANA and the hotel I stayed in, and a play by play of my trip from Narita intl. Airport to Waseda Daigaku. Alas, my plans have been derailed. Still reeling from the time difference, I have been unable to think straight at night, let alone write, while my das are filled with orientation goodness and makeing friends. So a condensed version will follow:

L.A.- L.A. is gross. Still four hours outside of the city, you can see the smog, and it only seems to break once you hit the coast. Ick. Venice Beach is amazing though, and I could live there and love it. It was amazing to see the ocean again (despite it not being my ocean).

ANA- What a service! I am so glad I chose this airline to make my twelve hour trip. The food, for one, was amazing. Everything had great flavour. They gave us two meals, and left a snack tray in the galley so we could help ourselves. Each seat in coach had a tv moniter in the seat back in front of it, with about twenty movies to choose from, some tv programs, and inflight and airport information. The Flight Attendants were also incredibly nice. At one point, one spilled coffee on my pants, and proceeded t bring me towel after towel to clean it, and even went so far as to try cleaning it herslef, which made me a bit uncomfrotable but hey, thats service, right?

Hotel- The ANA Crown Plaza Hotel was nice. Not amazing, but nice. Ordered a club sandwhich from room service, which was at once bost the oddest and tastiest club I have ever had.

Narit- Narita is freaking green. It's beautiful there; despite being so close to Tokyo, it's slightly rural. Trees and bamboo every!

Tokyo- I met my pick-up group at the airport with no problem. They put us on the Narita Express train to Shinjuku station, and the few of use gaijin bonded on our hour-long ride. But alas, none of us were int he same dorm. Such is life I suppose.

Upon arriving at Shinjuku station, we were greated by Takumi who ran at us, hooting and jumping and screaming "YEAH WASEDA WOOOO YEAH" which was indeed quoite a welcome. It turns out the pick-up students are all part of the Waseda International Club, and very happy to see us. My personal guide, Taka, is a Red Sox fan, so we had a bit to talk about (in broken Japanese and halting English) on the subway ride from Shinjuku station to Tadakanobaba station, the closest to the school.

I was taken to my dorm, Waseda Hoshien Internationl, which is I am told, the nicest of the dorms. It's very clean and well maintained. After about twenty minutes, I made my first aquaintance, Dan. Dan is a grad student who lives on my floor, and togethr with his friends Eric and Jack, we went exploring the town, picked up essentials at the hyaku-en (100-yen) store, and had some fats food beef bowl, which was in a word, amazing. On my floor also resides Ward, the geeky tall Dutch kid who keeps to himself, Steean the Norwegian who is odd, and Toby, the tall, partying Asian kid from Canada, who is a hoot but waaay too over eager.

At about six, we had a welcoming party with we foreighn residents and the International Club, and mingled a bit. The dorm is one giant United Nations, with students from all over the world. My little crew has expanded to include Andrew from Virginia, Anna, Sabrina and Lucille from Paris, Kathy from Korea, and Katie from Toronto.

Post-party, we wandered around the town, finding the building I need to be at in three hours (the location of which is now a blur, thank you jet lag).

I have a few pics which will hopefully go up tonight, but no promises (sorry folks).

Signing off for now.

BTW my room is on the tenth floor, and the view is nothing short of amazing.

The past week

Well apparently the hotel has adapters to loan out, and macs can take 100-240 v of current, so I can charge the laptop and blog blog blog!

My last week has been defined by stress. To open, I am a moron. Now granted, I'm a moron with a 3.6 and a mind like a steel trap and a computer disk for a memory and the ability to type and pat myself on the back and I'm modest to boot. But that aside, I did a moronic thing. I lost my passport.

You heard (read) me. I lost. My passport. I discovered this on Monday. That's less then a week until I was supposed to leave, for those of you keeping score. Needless to say, I tore apart my house looking for the thing, and when it did not turn up, I immediately called my adviser to be advised on what to do next. After speaking to Waseda, I was told to get a new passport. Now in order to acquire a last minute passport, on needs to appear, in person, at a passport issuing agency, with the nearest two to Arizona being Denver and Los Angeles. After weighing the options, I decided Denver it was, best to avoid the LA smog and traffic, and alos, a good friend of mine happens to live in Denver, so it was nice to catch up while running all over the city trying to get my affairs in order.

So new passport achieved but alas, there was the problem of the Visa. I had my student Visa, all taken care of and screen printed in my passport. But of course, it's gone baby gone. So I had to heap a load more stress on and enter the country on a 90 day tourist Visa with the promise that Waseda will assist in changing my immigration status.

So far, everything has gone off without a hitch, save for my inability to communicate with the locals, as my Japanese, though conversational, is quite rudamentary. Lets hope I catch a tailwind soon!

I am waaay to tired to be typing, so I will pick this up manana!

Chao

Arrived!

I have arrived! GOOD EVENING NIHON! Yes indeed, I have arrived in Japan. But alas, I am not yet posting the details of my last week, wonderful trip over, and brain-damaging headlong run into the brick wall that is the language barrier, as I have left my voltage converter in my suitcases that have been shipped from the airport to the dorm, and as I am currently (tired) and at the airport hotel where I must spend my first night, I have only the battery charge on my mac and want to conserve it.

So more to come as soon as I get my voltage converter. Maybe even pictures:D!

Not in Japan yet, but sticking to an update scheduale

Time, I suppose, for an update. I'm actually surprised I am managing to do this in a timely fashion. I once, long ago and far away (read: fours years and Connecticut) had a web comic, and though it garnered a degree of popularity in some small circles of New England geekdom, I never did manage to write my scripts on time. So indeed this proves that one can change, given enough time, boredom, and ambition.

So I'm not actually IN Japan yet. Granted, in some ways, my mind has already left me, taking a direct flight from Tucson to Tokyo and is already enjoying takoyaki under the brilliant leaves of Autumn, but physically in the desert I remain. I leave in approximately nine days. It chills a bit, saying it out loud (or typing it as the case may be); as stated many times in my previous posts, I never imagined this day would come. I have gone years with a burning desire to go to Japan, and it's fast approaching (fast as say, a shinkansen). It's an unreal feeling, knowing that in nine days I will board a plane for the other side of the world, leaving all I know behind for a year. At once both frightening and exhilirating. So to beat that dead horse once more, I am freaked out about my trip (lol).

On a pleasent note, I am greatly looking forward to finally having seasons again. Arizona has it's moments, but being a New Englander born, raised, and forever at heart, I will simply never get used to the omnipresent desert sun and opressive heat. I long for snow, rain that last for three or more chilly days, changing leaves, frigid winter wind off of the ocean, fog, and the kind of damp that sinks into your bones. I love cold, and Japan, being about the same longitudal and latitudal placement as the Eastern seaboard, has cold. It's a temperate climate, with Tokyo being comparable to Baltimore. So I look forward to rain, cold, fog, and real weather. Not to mention my obsession with layered dressing, especially sweaters.