10-30

10-30 7:40am – Day 3 – One Last Free Day

So Friday was the Alien Registration card, Saturday was scoping out the headquarters, so then what of today? Well, I think thank since the last two days were dedicated to other places, I should spend today here, getting to know where local shops are, and finding accessories for my room. I need to make sure I have everything I need to function normally out here. I wanna find some stuff for my walls, so it won’t look so barren in here. I mean, it’s not like this is a huge room to begin with, and I know that covering the walls will bring them in a bit, but, the sterility of this place is starting to get to me. That, and I am going to need some horizontal space to place things, and some more coat hangers.

I wonder about the tapestries in our apartment, if they were brought here by Ash or Tim, or they were purchased here. I am going to go down to that little accessory shop that Ash was talking about, and then head to the ばんざいや to check out used stuff and see if there’s anything cool there. Mwahaha, I figured out Japanese input on my laptop, but it will probably never transfer when I upload this. The sign out front of the BanzaiYa says “Put your hands up in the air! But not so high…” Lol. But not so high. I love it.

Walking around with Ash the other day on the way to the City Center, I noticed one of the first major distinctions between my and Ash’s perception of this place. Ash doesn’t speak any Japanese, and he’s figured out a way of life based on what he can see, and what he’s run into. We were walking down the street, and I mentioned the liquor store down the road, that Dan and I had spotted on the way the apartment the first night. リカーランド。 Doesn’t mean a whole lot to a passerby until you realize that the giant yellow building has Liquor Land written all over it. When I pointed it out, he said, “Oh really? Where?” My ability to read any amount of Japanese writing has already given me something of a distinct advantage getting by around here. But, perhaps in this case it will prove to be something of a disadvantage, given that I have a lot more options to spend my money.

Hiragana Katakana Romanji
あ　え　う　い　お　　ア　エ　ウ　イ　オ　　A E U I O
か　け　く　き　こ　　カ　ケ　ク　キ　コ　　Ka Ke Ku Ki Ko
さ　し　す　せ　そ　　サ　セ　ス　シ　ソ　　Sa Se Su Shi So
ま　め　む　み　も　　マ　メ　ム　ミ　モ　　Ma Me Mu Mi Mo
な　ね　ぬ　に　の　　ナ　ネ　ヌ　ニ　ノ　　Na Ne Nu Ni No
ら　れ　る　り　ろ　　ラ　レ　ル　リ　ロ　　Ra Re Ru Ri Ro
た　て　つ　ち　と　　タ　テ　ツ　チ　ト　　Ta Te Tsu Chi To
は　へ　ふ　ひ　ほ　　ハ　ヘ　フ　ヒ　ホ　　Ha He Hu Hi Ho
わ　　　　　　　を　　ワ　　　　　　　ヲ　　Wa Wo
ん　　　　　　　　　　ン　　　　　　　　　　N



1:20pm – Getting Set Up

• So, upon Ash’s recommendation, I took a walk a little further up the street where I’d normally turn right to head to the apartment, and looked around for the Home Dec. store he mentioned. It wasn’t exactly the Home Depot I had expected, or even the used furniture outlet I had as a contingency. It was more of a vacant indoor lot, with a couple of various building parts and some old grey, beaurocratic looking desks and some wire frame storage containers that were about the size of a small dog. Luckily for me, as I was keeping to the tradition of crossing only in crosswalks, I overshot on the way there and passed by this little tiny store which had, conveniently, this little stand thingie sitting out front for 900 yen. I kept that in mind as exactly what I was looking for a nightstand and made my way back towards the station.
• From there, I went to 松戸 (Matsudo) in search of an internet point to contact home, i.e. check MySpace. In this venture I was successful. On the 6th floor of some building near the station I paid 300 yen to spend about 45 minutes on the computer, doing my normal browsing and updating and so on. I still need to find a wireless internet connection so I can upload these posts to my blog, but I made a supplementary entry in the meantime. I emailed my father who received and replied to my email within minutes.
After I got done, I was walking up to the station again, and of course, spotted another internet joint that’s some sort of Manga pad, relaxation station. I will have to check that out at some point and see if they have WiFi, which would be just about the coolest thing ever.
Then, I headed back home, and not to 原宿 Harajuku, though I imagine this being Sunday dress up day, and the day before Halloween, it would have been pretty insane out there. When I got back to 三波柏 Minami Kashiwa, I stopped by the local friendly MacDonald’s (マクドノルド) which I can never pronounce correctly, and had the BLT (bacon lettuce tomato) burger, adorned with which was a delightful peppercorn mayonnaise.
I noticed that both the servers and the patrons who sat near me were not exactly leery, but definitely aware of me at all times. Not that I care, being a foreigner here has its advantages. First of all, I am not expected to abide by nearly any custom, though I do my best to follow them anyway. Well, except for crossing the street wherever I want, though I don’t cross on a red unlike some 外人。And second of all, those people that hang around on corners handing ads to people don't bother me, especially when they’re for things that clearly I wouldn’t have a chance of understanding. So basically, I get offered tissue paper and fans, which sometimes I have a use for, so it’s not all bad.
After 広ご飯 (lunch) I went to the drugstore and purchased Q-tips (the Q stands for Quality) and shampoo, plus whitening gum, and headed in the direction of that little shop I spotted earlier. When I arrived, I discovered that it was much larger inside than I had thought. It was a repository for older used goods, and though I would have liked to peruse the items more, I was on a mission. I went outside, said “これを買いたい” (I’d like to buy this) and lookie lookie it only cost 680 yen. After dusting it off, I paid the lady, and made off with my find.
So now I’m writing this on my beautiful, used, multi-level stand, which is perfect for my laptop, mouse, and personal effects. I’m sure when I post this there will be an accompanying photo. Now I won’t have to use the table in the living room to type sitting up, which I’m sure the roommates will appreciate. K, so now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with the rest of the day. Maybe teach myself to iron.


5:21pm – Something Other Than Ramen

I was talking with Ash this morning while boiling water. He looked at me as I prepped yet another bowl of ramen and suppositioned that “Man cannot live on ramen alone”. The fool. He clearly missed the last two months I spent in this country, and how well it worked out for me. So what if I developed rickets from lack of nutritive diversity? A little rickets never hurt anyone, except sailors, and people in third world countries, and just about anyone else who’s ever developed rickets.
But, to his credit, that is the only thing he’s seen me eat since being here. I told him that I do, in fact, eat other things, it’s just that he’s not around to see it since he’s at work.
So I ventured out after my last journey, and went to the local store and the produce rack across the street, and picked up some actual groceries. So now I have, as well as ramen, a loaf of bread, peanut cream, strawberry jam, rice snacks, some kind of half donut type things, carrots, and an enormous Asian pear to my name. I will make it a point when he comes home to eat something in front of him so he knows I’m not a complete bachelor.
Tim, my other, roommate commented on my situation with the Zen knowledge reserved for experienced Americans in another country: “You know, there’s fresh ramen too. It’s cheap!” I like Tim. He and I get along well. He’s from San Diego, and he’s half Japanese. His family here in Japan is from, lol, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He says that when he says that to Japanese folks it takes them a minute to realize the irony of that statement. And I suppose I really shouldn’t be laughing about that either. Oh well.