Cultural experience: check!

Having been quite a few weeks since my last post, obviously quite a few things have happened.
Firstly, I completed the move into my new apartment. Unfortunately the only decent photo I had on it was of Morito posing like an idiot.
This is the main room, I also have a kitchen/dining area but due to the fact it's gotten so cold now, and my bedroom has a heater AND a nice, toasty kotatsu (the table in the photo, it has a heater underneath. Genius!), I only use it to make my meals. But it's a nice place, and on top of that I finally have the internet. All is right with the world!

Secondly - Halloween! ...which is pretty much non-existent in Japan. Despite all the decorations and merchandise sold in shops, no one really celebrates it. So as a Brit, it was my duty to dress up stupidly and go get drunk, of course. While I didn't really get drunk, I did dress up like a fool. I met up with a friend from Hosei university and a group of Hosei students and went to a club in Shibuya. It was fun, and as a foreigner I get in cheap (if you have a discount ticket, you get them given to you when you leave), which I can't complain about. I went there again a week later in fact (sans silly outfit). Good fun. (I'm the pink panther on the left)

Also, Japan has many national holidays, to give poor workers an excuse to have time off from their busy schedules. As a student, I got almost the whole week off, due to Culture Day. You would think I would have taken more time to do more cultural things, but that didn't really happen. I did have at least one cultural trip however!

One of my teachers took me and some classmates to a few places she thought might be of interest. The first was the Basho museum, Basho being a famous haiku poet. While her intentions were good, we had to sit through a video we barely understood (I was very sleepy too, I wasn't even watching it) and then look around the very tiny place, with all the information too difficult to read!
The second was the Fukugawa Edo museum, which was about the lifestyles of people back then, and had a reconstruction of an Edo style village. It was okay, we looked around and there were a few interesting things. But then a member of staff came over and explained every single building we'd already looked at, meaning we had to walk around again! Let me emphasise the fact that I was very tired.
The third and final place was by far the best, and made the whole day worthwhile in my opinion.

It was a park, and while we had to pay to get in, it wasn't so expensive, and was a really pretty place. I forget the name, but never mind. It was a large lake surrounded by trees and had rocks representing certain Japanese ideologies (or something) scattered around. They looked like normal rocks to me, but the idea is nice I suppose.


So all in all a nice day out. And I experienced some culture too, which is something I haven't done much of since arriving, to be honest.

On a more language related topic, while I feel more confident in speaking Japanese, I still don't feel like I'm doing enough of it. I've met random Japanese people in random places and spoken to them, but I haven't made friends who I hang out with regularly, bar those at Seijo who I eat lunch with every week, but that's for like 45 minutes. This must be remedied!

Well that's about all I have to say, I've done random stuff, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. I also have almost no money this month, so I'm a bit limited!!

Bye x

Host club fun

Well it's now been over a month, and still no damn internet!! But finally, I'm moving places very soon, as the previous occupier has now finally moved out! Hurray! It's so big and nice, too. All the walls that are not connected to another apartment (which is about half) each have a window, so it's nice and bright. The views are quite nice too, not just someone elses balcony. I'll also be sharing the internet with a neighbour it seems, so it'll even be half the price, which will be good.

These past weeks have gone by so fast, as has a lot more of my money. I suppose it's my own fault, going out drinking and the like so often. But there are so many fun places to go, it's Tokyo after all, I don't want to spend most of my time at home! But unfortunately my HSBC card now does not work, probably because I failed to mention that I was going to Japan. Oops. So now I'm trying to get that sorted, which is actually harder than I thought, but hopefully will turn out all right in the end.

My university life is quite fun, because even though I get homework regularly it takes very little time to do, and all the kanji I'm learning I've already done, so it's only revision really. But it's useful as I'd forgotten how to write most of them! Finishing at 12 every day is also really good, although having classes from 9am every day of the week, with 90 minute lessons is a bit of a drag. But not unbearable.

I've now experienced the Japanese "culture" experience that is a host club twice since I got here. For those of you who don't know, a host is a young Japanese guy who is paid to entertain the ladies who go to the club to get chatted up. It seems that a requirement to being a host is to have very big, dyed hairstyles and wear tight shiny pants. Whatever floats your boat, ladies! While personally these kind of men are too flashy for me, it's actually quite a fun experience. However, if you go back to the club after the first time the price becomes ridiculously expensive. The first time ranges from between ￥1000 to ￥3000 yen for about 2 hours, including quite a few drinks, but if you go again can cost as much as ￥20,000!! Fear not, however, as there are so many host clubs in Tokyo (Shinjuku is the place to go! Kabukicho particularly) that you could probably go pretty often and still go to a different place each time.

For you men out there, there is also the female equivalent, unsurprisingly known as hostess clubs. Again, very flashy girls with big, dyed hairstyles. However being something you can't experience in western culture (that I'm aware of), it's definitely worth if for the experience.

I also want to go to a maid cafe at some point, although being surrounded by otaku (japanese geeks) might be very creepy, I'll just have to brave through it! Hopefully they'll let us take photos, if not there are many maids in the streets of Akihabara I could probably get a photo with.

That's it for now, as once more I'm in an internet cafe. Hopefully for the last time in a while, I really want to be able to use the internet in my own apartment ;_;

Bye!

2nd Week

Hey there,

It has now been around 2 weeks since I arrived, and for some reason A LOT of my money has disappeared! When they told us that the Tokyo lifestyle was expensive, they really weren't kidding! I don't even want to think about how much I've gone through in such a short amount of time. All I can say is thank God for loans, grants and scholarships! Hopefully my scholarship will go in soon, it's supposed to, so fingers crossed! I also need to pay for rent, bills and pay my laptop off too. I'm not in a dire situation by any means, but I'm gonna have to slow it down if I want to, you know, EAT.

Anyway, as for what I've been up to, this weekend I went to Japan's biggest club: Ageha. Basically, if you want to be picked up, that's where to go. Although you have to pay a ridiculous ￥3,500 (￡18ish?) to get in, so you might just want to go to a bar and try your luck. As we went on a Saturday, there was only one kind of music - trance. Which is fine if you like that kind of music. I don't. But never mind. I thought, the entry fee is expensive, so the drinks are probably cheaper, right? Wrong! My advice: drink beforehand. Lots.

One plus about Japan's clubs is that they're open until about 5am. As trains stop running from about 12:30am, it's hard to get home, so they stay open until then, and then when you want to get home you can stumble to the nearest station and get the first train. Which is what we did, and as you'd expect, it wasn't really that fun. I also noticed the amount of people who were getting trains to wherever at 5am. Crazy Japanese people.

I may have enjoyed the experience a bit more, if one of my friends hadn't taken my previous advice, and drank beforehand. While going into the club she was fine, but it went pretty downhill from there. I won't go into details for her sake, but we spent a lot of the night looking after her until we could get back.

On another note, I've been to the shrine in Asakusa, where I bought myself a little souvenier, which I then proceeded to forget in the restaurant we ate in... and I went to Yasukuni Shrine too. Both were okay experiences, although I still have no camera, so once more... no photos.

Other than that, I've mainly been drinking, shopping, and playing crane games (UFO catchers), which is probably where all my money has gone. Ah well, you live and learn.

As for classes, they are actually really easy. As my university only has 8 exchange students, we all have to study at the same level. Which is unfortunately equal to first year grammar at the moment. Same goes for kanji... hopefully things will get more difficult. I talked to one of the teachers though, and she said she'd give me some stuff to do by myself, which should be good. I'll just have to make sure to actually do it...

I have my first non-Japanese class on Wednesday, which happens to be tennis, followed by badminton! I don't know if the 3 hours of sport will be too much... I'll find out, I suppose! So even though I've been taught in Japanese anyway up until now, the other teachers will be speaking as though to actual Japanese students (as most of them will be) so hopefully I'll be able to understand!

Well this is long enough already, so I'll stop now. I'll update whenever I can, as still no internet.

Bye!

One week gone, and still alive!

It has now been a little over a week since I arrived in Japan, and it's definitely been a fun experience so far. There hasn't been a day when I haven't been doing something, whether it be shopping around in places like Harajuku or Shibuya, drinking with my friends in Japanese bars or just getting to know my local area.

I've gotten used to being here pretty quickly, and have managed to get through the situtations that have required me to speak Japanese with minimal embarrassment so far. I was given the "This is Japan, you must speak Japanese only" speech by the woman in charge at the International Exchange Office at Seijo University, and while with my friends obviously this has not been 100% the case (most of them are in fact native English speakers), at university it's not been going so badly. I have also managed to navigate the train system without getting completely lost, hurray!

My bank account has now been opened, I've met some Seijo university students and chatted to them a bit, been to my campus, registered as an alien (which requires too much Kanji form filling!) and other necessary stuff.

My apartment is not so far from my university (10 mins by train) and its not so bad. However, upon moving I noticed that the person who lived there last didn't much like cleaning. In fact, they seemed to think that emptying the fridge/freezer of food was unnecessary! It was disgusting. Also, there's a dodgy smell coming from the sink/pipe area in my kitchen. Thank God I can move within a few weeks. It'll be in the same apartment block, just a bigger/nicer room. While more expensive, I won't have to put up with foul odours with the added plus of a nicer view and more space! I also won't be able to use the internet in my apartment until then either.

I also haven't done anything particularly 'traditional' so far, but today that's about to change! I'm going to Yasukuni Shrine in Iidabashi with some friends of mine. Should be fun, and perhaps even educational!(?)

Well, since I'm currently in an internet cafe and my time is running out, I'll leave it at that.

More later!

Live from Tokyo!

Well, here I am! Arrived at Narita airport, Tokyo about half an hour later than scheduled, but in one piece! I unfortunately packed way too much stuff, however, and obviously dragging a 32kg suitcase around Tokyo's transportation system is not fun.

Getting through immigration was ridiculously quick and easy. Didn't ask me a single question at all. Going through customs was also relatively easy. The guy asked me whether I had anything to declare, and when I said no, he hesitated for a second as though he wanted to check my bags, but was probably put off by how big and obviously full of stuff it was, and just let me go through, which I was obviously pleased about!

I'm staying at my boyfriend's Dad's place just for tonight, which meant taking a train from the airport, then another train, then a bus, to walk for about 10 minutes through a small neighbourhood, and up two flights of stairs! Gotta love Tokyo! ...Luckily I wasn't the one dragging the bag, but it sure looked tough!

Reality hasn't really hit home yet. I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't feel like I'm going to be living here for a full year. It's been a bit anti-climactic really, after waiting for so long. But I know that I'm going to have a great year anyway, especially as I've only just arrived and haven't really ventured out into Tokyo yet!

Also, I bought a laptop about a week ago online, with a computer company called DosPara, so it was nice to arrive at this apartment to a sleek, shiny new laptop! I'm not much in the know when it comes to computers and such, but it's fast and has a good graphics card, with a fair amount of memory. Compared to the ancient laptop I was using before, it's brilliant. And shiiiiny. It's Japanese, however, so if something goes wrong and I get a pop-up alert to tell me so, I'm probably going to have a slim chance of knowing what it says. But it's got a finger-print scanner, so only I can use it if I so wish, which in my opinion is pretty damn cool!

Well, as I've not really done anything of note today, that's about all I have to say, other than I've arrived safely. I'll try to give an update later on when I've done more fun things, and talked to my foreign exchange office about what I should do.

...although it's supposed to be very hot/humid tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to! :(

Later.

2 days and Counting...!

Well... it was quite a while ago since I wrote my very first post, wasn't it! Oh dear. Hopefully this isn't the beginning of a trend! I'm pretty bad (or good?) when it comes to procrastination...

I also noticed how boring my title/name of blog is! Oh well, I'm not a very creative person, and it explains itself quite well I think. If anyone can think of anything more exciting, yet not over the top, I'll consider changing it.

Anyway, a lot has happened since March, obviously! I was awarded the scholarship that I'd hoped for (£400 a month!), passed all my exams, finished my second year and various other stuff in between. I also greatly enjoyed my month in Japan, although it was quite a while ago now so I'm not so clear on any particular order of events, and so won't bore you trying to remember. Anyway, I have now got pretty much everything that needs to be done, done! Visa, flight, money etc. Now that's all that's left is to get there!

I arrive on the 11th September, at 6pm. I move into my apartment, what the Japanese call a 'mansion' - basically a block of apartments, nothing fancy at all, unfortunately - the following day. To live in Shibata Mansion costs me about £300 a month (￥60,000), although Seijo reimburse me half that, luckily. I can also choose which apartment I stay in, as I'll be the first of all exchange students to arrive! ...Not that there's many. In fact, Seijo has a whopping total of 8 foreign exchange students this year.

There will also be students of other universities nearby living in Shibata Mansion, including Japanese students, and there are 100 apartments altogether. I consider myself quite lucky that I won't be living in dormitories, as is usually the case for exchange students at Japanese universities. For example, one university (Yokohama), where I was originally going to go, doesn't allow visitors inside the dorms. There are ways around this of course, it just makes it easier when the restriction isn't there in the first place. Another is ICU, where they apparently have a 10pm curfew?! No thanks!

The day after moving in I'll be going to Seijo University to enroll, and whatever else it is they want me to do (not really sure, to be honest!). I have quite a few things I need to do in general, though, which include: getting my alien registration card, opening a bank account, signing up with Japan's National Health Insurance, and buying an electronic dictionary and a new camera. I also plan to get my hair chemically straightened in Japan, as it's a big frizzy, wavy mess unless I attack it with a hair straightener every day. Hopefully I'll come out of the salon with a full head of hair...! As you can see, I have a lot planned, so at least I should have stuff to do until classes start on the 24th September. Plus from the day I arrive I have plans for the next couple of days to meet up with Japanese friends/fellow classmates! So it should be loads of fun, if not a bit busy/hectic!

Hopefully I'll keep up with this blog, for interest (if any!) of others, and for myself, to keep a record of the amazing experience that living and studying in Japan for a year will hopefully be! I'll post photos every now and again too, if there are particular ones I think might be interesting. Although I'll be posting the majority on Facebook anyway, of course!

Well, I think that's about it for now. The next post should be within a few days, once I've arrived in Tokyo. I don't know whether my apartment will have functioning internet straight away, or if I have to sort it out myself, but hopefully I'll be using the internet in no time!

Ciao.

Introduction

Well, I've decided to conform to the masses and start my own blog. I'm Rachel, 20 years old, currently living in good old Sheffield. At the moment I obviously won't have many interesting things to say, but as I'll be going to Japan for my study abroad from September, I figured I might as well start now. Procrastination might be another reason...

As a second year at Sheffield University, majoring in Japanese Studies, my third year is one spent abroad, to help improve my spoken Japanese, and experience the culture first hand and all that. I'm obviously looking forward to it very, very much, and I'm slowly getting through the remainder of my second year with the thought that eventually, I'll be able to go to Japan.

I've only been to Japan once before, for 3 weeks in Summer, and I spent very little time by myself, so being independent in another country whose language is not my native tongue will be a good experience for me, albeit a challenging one. I'll be going to Seijou University, a small, private university situated in south-west Tokyo, with one other person from my course.

But obviously before that, I have to pass the final exams in the second semester. Although the results are not out until next Thursday, I already know that I've passed the first ones (relief!) and that I didn't do too badly. I'll just have to make sure I keep up with the studying. Well, do more than I'm doing currently, at any rate...

I do have one thing to keep me going for a while, and that's the fact that for Easter, I'll be going to Japan once more! Admittedly, I am a dirt poor student, as many university students are, but with some help I managed to scrape together enough funds to get there, and hopefully do some fun things too. I fly from Heathrow at 6:40am on Friday (crazy time, I know!) and arrive on Saturday 15th March, again ridiculously early. But I'm not going to complain!

And when I come back, I'm sure there'll be lots of studying, essays, presentations and Japan Society (of which I'm a committee member) things to do to keep me busy. Speaking of which, I have kanji screaming to be done.

Joy.