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foolish_m0rtalWe got into Tokyo yesterday but I didn't have internet access till today, so sorry for the delay.
The flight was really long, but I wasn't really in the mood to watch movies like I usually do, so I read a bit from the conversational Japanese book I'd mentioned before (and freaked the fuck out of the Japanese people I met later), slept a bit, and actually got inspired to write another original fic. (And a screenplay for Sundance, but that was the day before the flight, so that doesn't count)
It was both interesting and unnerving how the flight attendants would sometimes speak to you in Japanese, sometimes in English, and sometimes both.
The International Office person, Sugiyama-san ("but you can call me Sam") we'd been communicating with came to pick us up at the airport. We took the train at the bottom of the airport (WOW, WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIS [a constant question in my short experience with Tokyo- we could all learn a little about REAL environmental sustainability from Japan]) through the province beside Tokyo. There were a lot of rural parts- rice paddies and whatnot. Then we switched to the JR (Japanese Railway) to go to Nishi-Kawaguchi, which is the station closest to Warabi House, where we were staying. When we passed Tokyo, Sugiyama-san explained that East Tokyo was the more traditional part with the old houses (I guess we know where Yuuko-san's house is now) and the West part is more modern. Maybe I got that switched up...
DK House Warabi had a sunken entranceway to take off our shoes (Zhou, the guy I came with just started walking in, and I shot him 'what the hell are you doing?!' looks at him till the assistant-manager said outside shoes weren't worn inside and everyone had a shoe cubby to keep their outside shoes, and did we bring inside shoes with us? Of course he didn't.
The thing that kind of pisses me off about Zhuo, and I know he can't help it, is that he seems to have done no research into Japanese culture or bothered to learn any of the language. Yet since he's Chinese-American and knows a bit of Chinese, he's able to ease into Japan a lot easier. People are like, ohh, you speak a bit of Chinese, and you're so tall (he'd be a giant even in America), and where's your family from, blah blah. Not that easy for me. Okay, so I'm Asian, but clearly not east Asian. And then I can greet them in Japanese and know how to use their elevators and accept business cards [because I did research, cough cough] and they're like "WHUT!")
ANY-way, I'll post pictures of my room later when I've got enough bags for the plastics, burnable, and non-burnable rubbish. So you don't see random piles of things on the desk, how embarrassing. It's a Western style bed but with a futon I'm used to sleeping on the floor with, which is a bit disorienting. The main baths are open communal baths (hey, it's Japanese), but everyone uses the little cubicles because we're not used to it. Thank goodness (Youkata!) the baths are Japanese, which are nearly Indian, which is something I'm really used to. It's like a structured overly-teched out Indian bath. Actually, this is what I feel about Japan in general. (sorry, India)
We got back really late, and we were hungry. We were just going to go to a small restaurant and get something cheap, but Dorota and Kamila, the two Polish exchange students who've been really helpful with navigating Warabi, the trains, and life in general, took us to...Belc? (I just pronounce it 'Behwouc" and leave the spelling to the professionals) which is a really cheap supermarket.
They gave us a general tour of the place, pointing at things with their umbrellas and announcing their opinions on things. It was really informative and hilarious. I've learned that 'there are many weird things here- one day we just walked around for hours' and 'there are sea monsters in the sea food aisle' and 'this is noodles. We've eaten these noodles. It is good," and "This milk is only 188 yen, but it's just white water" and any of the more expensive milks are preferable. Also that yakisoba saves lives, a piece of advice I took. So I bought some dumplings, yakisoba, a packet I haven't tried yet that's supposed to have Japanese curry and rice, and a kind of sweet plain yougurt from Megmilk for breakfast the next day. Dorota is also addicted to different types of onigiri.
I prepared everything in the kitchen (yes, we have to make/buy all of our own food. There goes every speck of money not going towards the train or rent) and ate it while hanging out with the American exchange students that were going to Sophia university. Then I went to sleep at eleven...
And woke up at four o'clock in the morning feeling entirely too awake.
Damn you, jet-lag. To be continued!
The flight was really long, but I wasn't really in the mood to watch movies like I usually do, so I read a bit from the conversational Japanese book I'd mentioned before (and freaked the fuck out of the Japanese people I met later), slept a bit, and actually got inspired to write another original fic. (And a screenplay for Sundance, but that was the day before the flight, so that doesn't count)
It was both interesting and unnerving how the flight attendants would sometimes speak to you in Japanese, sometimes in English, and sometimes both.
The International Office person, Sugiyama-san ("but you can call me Sam") we'd been communicating with came to pick us up at the airport. We took the train at the bottom of the airport (WOW, WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIS [a constant question in my short experience with Tokyo- we could all learn a little about REAL environmental sustainability from Japan]) through the province beside Tokyo. There were a lot of rural parts- rice paddies and whatnot. Then we switched to the JR (Japanese Railway) to go to Nishi-Kawaguchi, which is the station closest to Warabi House, where we were staying. When we passed Tokyo, Sugiyama-san explained that East Tokyo was the more traditional part with the old houses (I guess we know where Yuuko-san's house is now) and the West part is more modern. Maybe I got that switched up...
DK House Warabi had a sunken entranceway to take off our shoes (Zhou, the guy I came with just started walking in, and I shot him 'what the hell are you doing?!' looks at him till the assistant-manager said outside shoes weren't worn inside and everyone had a shoe cubby to keep their outside shoes, and did we bring inside shoes with us? Of course he didn't.
The thing that kind of pisses me off about Zhuo, and I know he can't help it, is that he seems to have done no research into Japanese culture or bothered to learn any of the language. Yet since he's Chinese-American and knows a bit of Chinese, he's able to ease into Japan a lot easier. People are like, ohh, you speak a bit of Chinese, and you're so tall (he'd be a giant even in America), and where's your family from, blah blah. Not that easy for me. Okay, so I'm Asian, but clearly not east Asian. And then I can greet them in Japanese and know how to use their elevators and accept business cards [because I did research, cough cough] and they're like "WHUT!")
ANY-way, I'll post pictures of my room later when I've got enough bags for the plastics, burnable, and non-burnable rubbish. So you don't see random piles of things on the desk, how embarrassing. It's a Western style bed but with a futon I'm used to sleeping on the floor with, which is a bit disorienting. The main baths are open communal baths (hey, it's Japanese), but everyone uses the little cubicles because we're not used to it. Thank goodness (Youkata!) the baths are Japanese, which are nearly Indian, which is something I'm really used to. It's like a structured overly-teched out Indian bath. Actually, this is what I feel about Japan in general. (sorry, India)
We got back really late, and we were hungry. We were just going to go to a small restaurant and get something cheap, but Dorota and Kamila, the two Polish exchange students who've been really helpful with navigating Warabi, the trains, and life in general, took us to...Belc? (I just pronounce it 'Behwouc" and leave the spelling to the professionals) which is a really cheap supermarket.
They gave us a general tour of the place, pointing at things with their umbrellas and announcing their opinions on things. It was really informative and hilarious. I've learned that 'there are many weird things here- one day we just walked around for hours' and 'there are sea monsters in the sea food aisle' and 'this is noodles. We've eaten these noodles. It is good," and "This milk is only 188 yen, but it's just white water" and any of the more expensive milks are preferable. Also that yakisoba saves lives, a piece of advice I took. So I bought some dumplings, yakisoba, a packet I haven't tried yet that's supposed to have Japanese curry and rice, and a kind of sweet plain yougurt from Megmilk for breakfast the next day. Dorota is also addicted to different types of onigiri.
I prepared everything in the kitchen (yes, we have to make/buy all of our own food. There goes every speck of money not going towards the train or rent) and ate it while hanging out with the American exchange students that were going to Sophia university. Then I went to sleep at eleven...
And woke up at four o'clock in the morning feeling entirely too awake.
Damn you, jet-lag. To be continued!
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Date: 2010-05-27 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 04:27 pm (UTC)