Internet Cafe

Forgot to mention in my last blog, I'm in an internet cafe! My apartment doesn't have internet yet, will soon though. So again, my landlord told me how to get to the nearest internet cafe and says that if I give him my receipt, he'll reimburse me! He's so nice. I ask him anything and his answer is always, "Ah, ok. I'll bring it." We forgot pillows. oops. Easy to overlook. I told him and he said, "Ah, ok. I'll bring them." He is so nice.

So the internet cafe was a little daunting. I had no idea how one works so I just walked up to the guy at the counter and said, "Hello, I'm a big fat gaijin (Japanese word for "foreigner." think I mentioned it earlier) and have no idea what's going on." Ok, I didn't really say that, but I felt it. I just walked up to him and said I had never been to an internet cafe before, can you tell me how it works?" and he took it from there. I started an account, became a member, and got a little plastic card that I signed in Kanji. The keyboard is a little difficult to get used to, but I think I got it now. It's set up for writing in kana and not so much romanji, or the roman alphabet.

My time is almost up though. I paid for three hours because I hadn't been online for a few days and for this generation, the internet is pot. I'm personally all for the age of free internet service. That appeals to me way more than free love. Just proves people are losing their humanity and animal desires and becoming machines. I think this is going to set me back about $15. It'll be cheaper next time though, because there's a start-up fee. Also, note to all new internet cafe users, bring your ID or you can't get in, and eat before you come or you'll be crazy tempted by all the yummy food pictures plastered to the walls of your little cubicle.

Just took a picture. I'll post it when I get internet in my apartment.

Rain and Rip-offs

So as many of you will know and/or remember not so fondly, Japan has a rainy season. And I'm right in the middle of it. It has been rain straight across my igoogle weather board. I thought we finally got a break today, so I wondered out without an umbrella blissfully ignorant of my imminent downpour downfall. (haha. see what I did there? Let's play a game called find the alliteration and polyptoton! yay word play!)

So Sam and I just moved into our apartment in Nakano yesterday. We have a ton of crap. Way more than our friend Jonathan from the Koenji guesthouse said he had for the last 4 months. We're only here for half that. But, the guy we're renting the apartment from made the whole thing so easy! He drove up in a tiny blue van, helped us load everything in it, navigated the tiny streets of Japan like a pro, gave me a ride there, helped me unload, brought us a futon (we already had 1), curtains, toiletries, and a blanket, and will deliver a small TV and couch tomorrow. All for free. And he offered, we didn't ask, just kind of nodded our heads in dumbfounded agreement. Keep in mind we had just been swindled out of $1048 by the last landlord and here is this guy bending over backwards trying to give us free stuff. He's amazing. If anyone ever wants an apartment in Tokyo, contact me and I'll put you in touch with him.

So since we are getting settled in Nakano, today we decided to do a little exploring.　Nakano is really a great area. There is a ton of shopping streets and cool places, but only in certain central areas. The rest is all residential so it’s very quiet here. No bad karaoke or head pounding base beat at night like in the Koenji guesthouse. We’re only about a 10-15 min walk to the station only about a 5 min walk to all the brouhaha.

So, we’re walking around, painting a mental map of the place and wandering in and out of stores when suddenly, crack! Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! That’s my onomatopoeia for sudden rainfall. Luckily we were in the Japanese version of Walmart called “Life” when it started. But as we were walking out the door, dududududu singing a little happy son, we almost walked out in it before we realized it was raining. The only umbrellas in the whole store were about $10!! All the convenience stores sell their most expensive ones for half that! Therefore I’m convinced that the owner of “Life” also owns “Rain” and decided to turn Nakano into Waterworld and hick up the price of umbrellas. Apparently the owner of life and rain is a capitalist.

But I wasn’t about to be one of the little people that big businesses take advantage of. No! I was going to stand up to the powers that be and the Man in one fell swoop by running out into the rain, which upon inspection at closer proximity was actually a little more of a solid sheet of water than it had appeared, and booked it to the nearest convenience store in all my full-length dress and flip-flop glory. The staff at the store where I bought my $5 umbrella were quite amused. Especially after I dramatically ran in, soaking wet, and then proceeded to peruse the aisles with sqeaky plastic flip-flop steps in search of the umbrellas sold right at the door.

So now I have learned a valuable lesson about living in Japan in late May and early June. I no longer question why every store I’ve been in, from shoes to electronics, sells umbrellas.

Swollen Feet

Last night I went to a club called O-nest in Shibuya to see some live bands playing. Sam and I went, but we also met up with Joe, another friend from UVM who's studying abroad at Aoyama Gakuin right now. There was no cover charge, but you had to buy two drinks, and you had to buy two drinks from a special place, which we didn't know, so we ended up buying three drinks. Oh well. It would have only been $10 but instead it was $15. Still, that's pretty cheap for three live bands.

The first band was Soulkids and is the reason we went at all. I saw their myspace page and really liked their music, but they weren't that wonderful live. They were good, but not nearly as good as they are on their albums and music vids. They were the openers though, so it only got better.

Next was this really cute group called Aloha. They were really happy and whimsical in they're music. I really liked them. The lead guitarist was really good too. Kept thinking my dad would like him because he was obviously a blues guitarist. The whole band was rock, but had a lot of blues influences and also some Hawaiian island music themes, hence the name Aloha I'm guessing. I also really liked them because they all wore funky hats. ^^

They were also really good performers, not just good musicians. They got the crowd singing along too (me) "yume no naka made!" I guess they had just moved up to Tokyo recently from Fukuoka. I'm telling you this because they were telling the crowd IN JAPANESE and I understood it!!! Yay Japanese!!

For the last band, everyone suddenly moved up to the front so it was pretty clear that everyone was there to see them. They were called 24, pronounced two four, not twenty four, to my dismay. oops. way to not be in with the cool kids Hiroko. They were by far the best. They were pretty much strictly rock, but they had this huge 15 min or so jam session in the middle of the show. It was so cool! They gave the drummer, lead guitarist, and bassist solos, had the strobe lights on, it was pretty cool. They are all really good musicians too. Soulkids music was nice to listen too, I like the lyrics and melodies of their songs, but 24 are just really talented musicians. The drummer was my fave. He was pretty funny. Kinda crazy. haha. Would have taken pictures, but they wouldn't let us. poo. You'll just have to be satisfied with the wonderful image I have painted with my word-skills.

But! I had walked all around Nakano and Shibuya before we went to O-nest and the club was standing only, and I had decided that wearing heels was a good idea. So now my feet are swollen. Literally. Kinda puffy-like. Not cool. Worth it.

Guess what we were doing in Nakano? Getting an apartment! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally managed to secure and apartment. It's getting refurbished right now, but we're moving in Saturday!!! And the land lord is really nice. He's a really sweet older man originally from Ghana, so no swindling going on this time, I'm pretty sure.

English Lesson

I forgot to brag in my last blog, my English lesson went so well that I got this email yesterday:

Today, I talked to a colleague of mine about you.
She said she likes to meet you.
She looks for English teacher, too.

May I bring her to our lesson someday?

She was talking about me!!! And I might get another student!!! YAY!

My Woes

So It's 8:15 in the morning for me and Sam's still asleep. So to amuse myself quietly I thought I'd explain why I'm still looking for an apartment.

I did have an apartment in Hamamatsu-chou, as earlier posted, but apparently that was just a big scam. The day before I was supposed to get on a plane to Japan, so last Friday, I found myself yelling choice words as some guy in London for something like 20 min straight, and then scrambling to find a place to stay last minute in Japan for Sam and I. That was a fun day.

What happened was that we signed the contract, I sent him the deposit and first month's rent, and two days later he was supposed to get me the keys. That was what was written in the contract. Then he tells me that he's not going to give me the keys until I pay him more money. When I said, hell no not until I get the keys, he just kept arguing with me. We did that for almost a week until Friday came along and I finally said there is no way I'm sending you more money before I get the keys and try them in the lock of the apartment so you can either get me the keys by today, give me back my money, or I can report you to the FTC and IC3 run by the FBI. Then he abruptly stopped answering my calls, emails, or IMs.

I ended up finding a temporary room in Koenji for only $20 a night each. Sam and I have bunk beds in a tiny room about the size of my single dorm room at UVM and we share the kitchen, bathroom, shower, and living area with three other guys right now, all of whom are really nice.

I actually went out to dinner with the guy from San Francisco, John, and his girlfriend (?) Yuri last night. We spoke Japanese pretty much the whole dinner because Yuri doesn't really speak English. So hard, so fun! Actually, I was kinda surprised how easy it was. It wasn't easy, but it was a lot easier to communicate than I thought it would be. We went to an outdoor cheapo cheapo yakitori place. It was so cool! It was nice and breezy and just seedy enough to make me feel kinda bohemian or something. haha. I don't know. Yuri was saying how many Japanese people don't like liver yakitori so of course that meant I had to try it. Looks like normal yakitori, right?

But it tasted kinda dry. It had a very funky texture. Kinda chalky. I liked it, probably because it was smothered in sauce, but I liked the other stuff we got better. We also ordered quail eggs and regular yakitori. The liver actually went really well with my drink. It was calpis and gin. The chalky with the sweet and wet was pretty nice. I plan to tell people it was premeditated.

Then we met up with the two other guys living with us. They are both from Sweden and go to grad school together. They're here doing architecture internships for a year. We tried to go to this bar with penguins everywhere to hear some live music, but when we got there the musicians were packing up so instead we found this new place that had just opened where we could sit outside and talk. I don't drink ever, so I asked the waiter for a recommendation IN JAPANESE (you guys annoyed by my random burst of "IN JAPANESE" yet?)

Ended up ordering this:



Pretty right? Look at the cool little thing they did with the orange! I believe it is a mix of some sort of peach juice and gin. 'Twas tasty. The best part of the bar though was that you could sit outside. That's the one thing I hate about Tokyo, you can never sit outside! So yesterday was a good day. I got to sit outside and eat twice. (*^-^*) me happs.

So to sum up, my woes are: got cheated out of some money, almost got stuck in Japan with no place to stay, living in a seedy area (but loving it!), and Tokyo doesn't let you eat outside. The last one is by far the worst.

First Few Days of Food!!

So here are my photos thus far. Mostly food. haha. you can see where my interest lies.

First, I went to Harajuku and just kinda walked around. Scopin' the area out. haha. There are vending machines everywhere, which is nice, because it's hot and humid and people get thirsty, and what beter to drink, but what you are losing in buckets: sweat. That's right, I drank the famous Pocari Sweat. It was actually pretty tasty. Better than Gatorade. Gotta get my ions.

Then I was walking around and saw this in a doorway. I took a picture mostly for my dad's benefit. I feel like it's his kind of humor. and mine. ^^

I mean, where else would anything be made? Anywho, I really wish I had taken a picture of the whole street that we walked because it was crazy busy and stuffed full of more stores than there was room for. Forgot though. oops. Too busy with the actual shopping.

When Sam and I got exhausted, we sat down in this cute little cafe type place and I had a "mixed berry vinegar iced tea." vinegar. weirdness. It was so weird that I had to try it, and it was super tasty!! You have no idea. And there were little berries at the bottom!! Cute! Sam got a macha thingy.

Side note: this was the best spot for people watching. Harajuku style is so funny. but in a cool way. It's cool on other people, not so much me. Not that I didn't try. All the girls, not just in Harajuku, wear their hair right on the very top of their heads with little scrunchies....I may have bought a scrunchie.

Then I saw this shirt on a stand in the middle of Harajuku. It says, in bright neon pink I might add, "ore ha homo jyanai" or "I am not a homo." Then I asked the guy if it was ok for me to take a picture of it....IN JAPANESE!! Woohooo!! Look at me and my Japanese skills!! So I did and there's the picture. good story.

Next we went to Shinjuku, which is the largest JR (Japan Railways) station. 'Twas crazy busy. Looks like this from the station:

It was way cooler at night, but I was too busy being hit on by hosts to take pictures. True story. I'm gorgeous. They can't help themselves.

Then I went here:

and ate this:

Tasty looking, no? Less than 5 bucks! And it has a little croquet in it! I love those!! It was a really weird set up, the restaurant. It was kind of like how Japanese high school cafeterias work. You walk in and there are these little vending machine type things where to put in money and get a ticket for what meal you want. Then you bring the ticket to the cook guy at in the back, sit down and eat your delicious food. efficient.

The next day we had breakfast around the corner from where we're staying in Koenji at a place called Mister Donut. Look what I got!

Aren't they cute! They're little donuts that look like hamburgers!! Here look again:

Bam! Cute little donut hamburgers close up. And here's a little chart they had up on the wall telling you what's in them. The pink one that I think is supposed to look like tomatoes is strawberry jelly and strawberry whipped something or other, and the green one is macha (green tea) jelly and whipped stuff. And there is a chocolate bar for the hamburger meat and donut buns!! So cute! And only $1.68 for two! Only in Japan, land of the cute people.

Right after, for real food, I got a tekka maki (tuna roll) for about $1.30 literally 10ft away at this place:

The lady was so cute and old and nice! And this is what I stuffed in my mouth:

Then Sam and I went to Takadanobaba, which for the record, officially has the best name in all of Japan, to check out an apartment. It's in a really cute residential area, but it's really expensive. We're going to look at two others and then decide. This little escapade (and I call it that because it was really hard to find, but I got to ask a nice old man running a convenience store for directions IN KEIGO and felt super proud and happy afterwards) was followed by delicious curry with calamari on top. I love Japanese food. No, I love cheap Japanese food. I could seriously spend my whole life in Tokyo I think.

Then we went to Oimachi station to meet someone who was taking an English lesson from me. We got there like 1 hour and a half, 2 hours early, but we were both pretty tired, so we just chilled out in this cute little garden type place by the central exit to the station. It was really nice weather, and then these guys started playing really relaxing music. One guy was on the semi-acoustic guitar and the other sang and played the piano. I liked them so much that I bought a CD and had them sign it for me! You can hear it here. The first one is our favorite. It's the one that got us to each buy the album. They were so nice and I spoke some Japanese to them! I love speaking Japanese. I wish I could do it better. haha.

Then this cute little Japanese lady walked up to me and said she was my student! Yay! She is a newlywed and so sweet. We hit it off really well and had a really wonderful English lesson. We were at a little cafe inside the station and at the end of the 50min, she hadn't finished her tea yet. She was really surprised that the 50min had gone by so quickly too. So, we just continued talking until she finished her tea, in English and Japanese, and then left really pleasantly. I think this is going to be really good. We're going to meet every Tuesday evening at $15 each. Pretty good for my first experience teaching English in Japan, no?

So I was on such a high after that. That's my dream you know? To teach English all over the world and I'm doing it already at age 19!! The day was just topped off perfectly with an oyakodon in Koenji by my room.

Also, we've made friends with one of the guys we're sharing the house with. His name is Jonathan and he's from San Francisco oddly enough. He's a little older than us, but really cool and speaks Japanese much better than I do. He's been her 4 months already too, so he's pretty cool to talk to.

There are two other guys in the house. They are both from Sweden, but I've only met one of them and only once. I really only see Jonathan. I really like it here and it will be kinda sad to leave Koenji I think. Maybe not. Depends on how much in love with my apartment I am. ^^

All my blogs are not going to be this long, but Sam and I decided that today was going to be a lazy day of recuperation so I have time to update. I'll try to keep updating, but hopefully I'll be too busy! Ok, bye then!

Crazy Problems that will Magically Work Out

So I’m in the air off the coast of Vancouver without a phone, no internet (despite the cool article I read in Sky Magazine saying that internet was now available in flight) and big blanks on my health questionnaire under “returning flight number” and “contact address and number in Japan.” I know neither.

I don’t have the flight number of my returning plane because I didn’t think I would need it before I landed and left it safely in my email. I don’t have a phone because before I left my house I decided that it would be a good idea to charge it in the corner. I plan to get a Japanese cell phone as soon as I land, but I need the blank filled by then. I don’t have an address in Japan because the apartment I was supposed to move into was probably part of a scam. No keys and probably not getting my deposit or 1st month rent back. At least not very easily. It’s alright. It just means I have to report him to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), file a claim with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which is run in part by the FBI, and get the U.S. and Japanese Embassies involved. Revenge is fun so we’ll see how it all goes. In the mean time, I managed yesterday to find a place for my friend Sam and I to stay for the next 4 days (longer if need be) for only 1750￥a night each, but that is only temporary and I don’t know the address. I only know that it is in Koenji because one of the staff member is going to meet Sam and I at Koenji Station.

A big happy looking blue television monitor is telling me that “congratulations, your flight is scheduled to come in at 4:13 local time instead of at 4:55 as we had predicted earlier. Yay! Your 11 hour and 50 min flight has been shortened by 35 min due to unexpected tailwinds!” which is nice, until you realize that this is going to make meeting up with also cell phone-less Sam that much more difficult.

I’m actually not all that worried though. I found out yesterday that my apartment had fallen through, spent hours yelling carefully chosen and appropriately harsh words to my ex-potential landlord in London, and then got right online and found a place to stay immediately for the first 4 days for cheap, and 3 new potential apartments. I dealt with that pretty well, I can handle the rest. Dare I ask what else could go wrong?
_________________________________________________

Now I'm in Koenji which is really cool little area of Western Tokyo. I'm in a tiny little hole in the wall kinda place, but it's really cute! And the beds are the most comfortable things in the world! It's kinda like a futon bed hybrid.

I had ramen for the first time in an authentic Japanese ramen ya. It was sooooo tasty! And the guy who ran the place was really nice. There was another customer there too who understood English really well, but the owner only knew a few words. So they decided to give is "training" as they said in Japanese. Sam and I were actually able to hold a decent conversation for most of it. Except, I was really tired and mixed up right and left. haha. oops. But it was really cheap and tasty, which is why I'm really upset that I can't go back. I'm pretty sure the owner started hitting on me and getting creepy. Offered to show me around and I said something along the lines of "ummndnfidnfosndgosiuhguo" and politely excused myself.

The area is really cool (to me) because it's kinda seedy. I mean, I feel perfectly safe, but the place is legit seedy. haha. It's the Japan that most tourist don't get to see. But it's filled with cute little shops and restaurants and stuff. It was a good first night.
Pictures to come when I stop feeling lazy.

Oh! and there was this CRAZY thunder and lightning storm last night while we were traveling to the guest house we're staying in! It was super insane! Sam got on a train and I didn't make it so we got separated but we both knew to get off at Koenji Station so it was ok. But I called her when I got to the station to find out where on the platform she was and we couldn't hear each other on the phone because it was raining so hard!! So cool.

Wonderful Realization!!

So I just realized the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world. Ok, that's a bit exaggerated, but it's still really cool.

So my university gives me a little more than $40,000 a year in scholarships and grants, but I don't use all that money to pay for tuition, room, and board. So, I get a check every semester for $625. I've just been shoving this money in my bank account and forgeting about it, but I just realized, that this past year I've received $1260 from the school.

My plane ticket to Japan and back cost $725 and rent for my apartment is going to cost me $500 for the whole two months. That means that minus food costs and buying-random-stuff costs, my Japan trip is $1225. Therefore, my school is paying me $35 to go to Japan.

I like my logic there. :]

You can virtually walk around my neignborhood in Tokyo!!

I received the contract today!! I sent it to my parents for them to check it, but I checked it myself and everything looks ok to me!

On Google Maps, you can virtually walk around the neighborhood where my apartment in Hamamatsu-chou in Tokyo is going to be!! Just click here. Ahh~ I just keep getting more and more excited!!

Schedule Update

So all tickets are bought! No turning back now! woohoo!!

May 23 (PST): leave San Francisco at 1:20 pm

May 24 (Tokyo time): arrive at Narita Airport, Tokyo,

Japan at 4:50 pm

(lose a day, gain TOKYO!)

June 3 (Tokyo time): leave Narita at 7:45 pm

June 3 (Honolulu time): arrive at Honolulu Airport at

8:00 am

WE INTERUPT THIS SCHEDULE FOR AN IMERGENCY RANT. THIS IS NOT A TEST. IT MIGHT BE A REALLY BAD JOKE THOUGH. STANDBY.

Can someone explain how that's even possible?!!!! just think about that for a moment. I leave at night and arrive the previous morning after spending hours on a stinky, icky, swine flu infested plane. insanity.

June 9 (Honolulu time): leave Honolulu at 9:45 am

June 10 (Tokyo time): arrive at Narita at 12:55 pm

(ewww. that means I have to be up before noon)

July 28 (tokyo time): leave Narita at 12:55 pm

July 28 (i don't even know what time): arrive at

Incheon Airport, Seoul, South Korea at 3:20

July 28 (same time): leave Incheon at 4:45 pm

July 28 (PST): arrive at San Fransico at 11:35 am

(That's almost a whole day. poo. But I suppose i have to come home.)

And I am no longer going to Indiana. Mom's gonna do it with her new found sisters (don't ask. my family is odd. you knew this.) in June, so I have all of August to just relax!!! and get on PST.

I found an apartment!!

I found an apartment in Hamamatsu-chou, Tokyo!! It's only a 3min walk to the Yamanote line!! (That's the main subway line that circles the main part of Tokyo) It's so pretty!!!!!! And super cheap. Only ￥50000 (about $500) a month!! (plus, I'm splitting with my friend, Sam, so it's only $250 a month for me!!!)

I can be happy here...

My summer adventure to Japan!

I'm going to Japan soon!! Ahhh!! I'm so excited!! Somehow, I still can't believe i'm really going to be able to do it. I can't believe a lot of things. I can't believe I'm going to Japan, I can't believe I'm already 19.... Anywho, this is my summer adventure plan. I think. ^^

May 24: leave for Japan
July 28: return to California

It's so long! I still don't know where I'm going to live though. It's between Tokyo and Osaka. I'm looking at so many apartments though!! I gotta find the perfect one! haha.

However, my dad and sister are also planning on going to Hawaii so my dad can meet his relatives for the first time. My dad has never really had any relatives because during WWII, his whole family had to go in the internment camps, and they lost track of each other. When they got out, they had no idea where each other were. But then, 5 years ago, one of his cousins found my dad through the internet somehow. My dad wants me to also go to Hawaii and meet everybody, so I'm also planning to go to Hawaii now. But, I'll already be living in Japan, so, in the middle of my great Japan Adventure, I'm gonna go to Hawaii for my dad. I kinda want to go to, plus, hey, Hawaii's a nice place, no? (^-^) Therefore, my new summer adventure schedule looks like this:

May 24: leave for Japan
June 3: go from Japan to Hawaii
June 8: return to Japan
July 28: return to California

But then, to make matters even more complicated, I have yet another thing to do. I have to go to Indiana to help my mom clean out my grandparents' old house. Since they have both already passed away, we have to go and clean out their house so we can sell it. Therefore, my lose, carefree (because it's for 2 months), adventure to Japan has become this:

May 24: leave for Japan
June 3: go from Japan to Hawaii
June 8: return to Japan
July 28: return to California
July 30: go to Indiana
August 10: return to California
August 27: return to school in Vermont

Ahhhh~ This is so crazy.