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.