Carly's Year in China and Japan

Yay -- now I can start writing about my life in my real homeland, Japan!

After the family left on Friday, Aug. 27, I started to settle into my life in Japan. I spent the whole week with Garrett at his cool apartment in Kyoto.  It’s in Matsugasaki, a suburb-like area that’s the second-to-last stop on the northern end of one of Kyoto’s two main subway lines.  Since the walk from his place to the subway station is only around 15 minutes, it’s a relatively convenient place to live.

On Friday night, Garrett and I took the money Mom, O, and Chris had given us for “Hotel Garrett” and went to a really fancy restaurant called “Organic Kitchen” which is within walking distance from his house.  We had a delish dinner including my first glass of red wine since I left Chicago.

On Saturday, Garrett gave me his belated anniversary gift--paper for the first year of marriage.  I can’t imagine a piece of paper I could have been more excited about: TICKETS TO WICKED--IN JAPANESE!  So, we took the JR train to Osaka (only about 45 minutes away) and had a lovely evening watching Wicked and then having tea, champagne, and sweets in a fancy, high-rise restaurant.  It was great!

On Sunday, Garrett and I did the “Philosophers’ Walk” in Kyoto.  You can read all about it on his blog.  I forgot my camera.  http://garrettbuxton.blogspot.com/

I spent the rest of the week killing time during the day while Garrett was at work (reviewing Japanese for the IUC placement test, exploring Kyoto, going on runs by the Takano river...), and in the evenings Garrett and I did fun stuff like grocery shopping, watching Mad Men episodes and movies, and going on evening walks.  On Thursday night, we went to Garrett’s fellow JET Jessie’s house for a group dinner, and I got to meet a bunch of Garrett’s JET friends.  We contributed a cocktail of Calpis Zero and Gin, which turned out to be pretty darn good.

Reunited and it feels so gooooood

I had considered taking the night bus to Tokyo the next day, but I had so much stuff to carry and was worried about meeting my landlord on time, so I decided to take the Shinkansen.  Garrett took me to Kyoto Station on Saturday morning, and I was on the 8:16 Nozomi in plenty of time.

I arrived in Shin-Yokohama and then changed trains twice to get to my station, Ishikawa-cho.  Mercifully, the landlord had sent very specific directions so that I would be able to find the place (because Mom and I couldn’t when we tried a few weeks ago).  It’s only about 5 minutes from the station, and it’s right near Yokohama’s Chinatown (the biggest Chinatown in Japan, I think).

I got in and immediately unpacked all of my stuff.  I’ve been living out of a suitcase for so long, it seems, so it was great to be able to have a place of my own to fix up just the way I like.

MY ADDRESS IS:

Anne Buxton

〒 231-0026

Yokohama-shi, Naka-ku

Kotobuki-cho 2-6-4

Toriumi Haimu 501

JAPAN

HERE’S MY PLACE!

It’s really spacious and totes Japanese!!  Even though the appliances are old and people complain about the building from time to time, I really like it here!

Kitchen area

Living room

Bedroom (and my futon)

Entryway -- no shoes allowed past this point!

Skinny tub

We had our first IUC meeting on Monday: orientation, placement oral test, and group photo.  The group has 56 students, and they range from recent college graduates to upper-level Ph.D.’s.  It’s a little hard to make friends, because we are required to speak only in Japanese at the center, and people are for the most part more reserved than they’d normally be (for me, at least, that’s true).

Life here has been going pretty well, especially now that I have my phone and have been able to talk to Garrett.  I’ll get internet (supposedly) this Sunday, and then I’ll be set.  On the first few days, I went to the store and bought a few random items that looked familiar in the aisles... but I quickly realized that I won’t be able to last a year on a nightly goulash of tofu, eggs, and veggies.  SOOO, I’m very excited to say that I found at the bookstore a cookbook called _Basic Dishes for Single Life_ --it’s perfect!  This way I’ll be able to navigate the grocery store, taste legitimate Japanese dishes, and learn a bunch of random grocery vocab.  I had my first attempt last night, and it was a success~!

The cookbook ^ 

I fixed the one in the top photo.  Looks pretty darn close to me!!  Review of taste: ummmm decent.

I received an e-mail response from an IUC alum who lived in my building a few years ago.  He gave me some great advice which I’ll paste at the bottom of this entry in case someone else in the future is frantically searching for information on Toriumi Haimu or IUC’s opening days. But first, advice from me:

ADVICE FOR PEOPLE WHO COME TO IUC (ESPECIALLY TORIUMI HAIMU KOTOBUKI-CHO)

Don’t waste your money on a map, because

If you need any household stuff, go to the 100-yen shop on the second floor of the big Certa department store behind Kannai station OR (even better) the Daisou on the top three floors of the Uniqlo building on the big shopping street, Isezaki mall (just south of Kannai station)

Go to the Naka ward office as soon as possible (it’s behind the baseball stadium) to get your foreigner registration card.  Go to the second floor and take a ticket from machine number 22. Be sure to get the 300-yen proof of registration so that you can get a phone

To get a phone: there’s a SoftBank by the McDonald’s on the walk to Kannai station (on the left).  Everyone I’ve talked to so far has gotten SoftBank, and most of us got the pre-paid plan, which is around 13900 for a phone, charger, and first 60 days.

To fix up the internet, call the English-speaking line at NTT at 0120-565-950.  They’ll help you figure out the set-up and such.  Apparently, in Japan, you pay NTT for the internet AND a provider for the connection.  Ocn was their recommended provider, because they have the option of English customer support.  To register for someone from NTT to come to my house, I called 0120-565-950 and then faxed the stuff they requested (copy of passport, visa, foreigner registration proof) at a nearby convenience store.

Be sure to send in the Electricity and Water registration stuff that is hanging in the entryway when you move in.  I still am not sure completely what the whole thing says, but my landlord seemed alarmed that I had not yet sent it in.

Ok, now the advice from Jeff-san:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=35.439764%2C139.639693&spn=0%2C0.002411&z=19&layer=c&cbll=35.439833%2C139.639747&panoid=5C3sRUXk0aPOhOYuVEuJ9Q&cbp=12%2C324.67%2C%2C0%2C0.29

- The taxi drivers in Yokohama are quite bad. If you can handle your luggage I'd say just take the train to Ishikawacho eki and walk from there.

- The Haimu itself is quite spacious by Japanese standards, if run down and dirty. You might have to clean and dust a bit when you move in.

- You might have to hook up the internet, or it may have already been hooked up by a previous occupant. If you have to do it yourself, it will probably take 2 weeks to a month

- There are a few internet cafes around the Yokohama station area, and the Center of course has a lot of computers with internet access.

- On the plus side, Chinatown is also quite close (too expensive to eat there really - it's more of a tourist trap), and is just north of the train tracks.

- The baseball park is literally within earshot, so definitely go see a game or two.

- The Center is a 15min. bike ride, so I highly recommend getting a bicycle. You can also take the train but it's still a half mile walk anyway, so I pretty much only took the train when there was a typhoon.

- As for local shopping, there is (or was) a supermarket right by the Ishikawacho-ekion the north side. I often went there right before closing time, when they put the prepared foods they hadn't sold yet (like fried chicken and such) on sale.

- You can get most of your housing goods at the local Daisou (100 en for the win!). Another long link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=35.444097%2C139.632478&spn=0.001707%2C0.002411&z=19

- That street, which is called something like Isezaki mall or shotengai orsomething, has a lot of shops on it. I think there's a department store, and I know there's a Book Off and a few cell phone shops as well.

- You should be able to find almost everything you need on that street when you first arrive, unless it's electronics, and for those, go to the Yodobashi camera right next to Yokohama station.

- As for places in andaround Yokohama, definitely explore a lot on your own. I liked to run around Yamashita koen, down by the water, or up the bluff (the big hill to the southeast) into the old foreigners district. On a clear day youcan see Mt. Fuji, actually.

- The Yokohama bijutsukan is right next to the Center, and check out the Yokohama chuuou toshokan out in Hinodecho as well. Kannai is the big night life area. There's a bunch of local history that's quite fascinating if you poke around a bit. Here's onelast link, an article about kotobukicho:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20100706zg.html