Akihabara and other misadventures

A bit later than I planned to post this, but then this weekend was quite busy. Well, I say busy...

Firstly, there was the terribleness that was Friday. Now, originally I though Friday was going to be in the 'Best. Day. Ever' folder of my life. Okay, maybe that's exaggerating. But at least in the 'Pretty awesome day' folder. Turns out I kind of fail at planning things. So in Japan at the moment, there's a whole load of stuff encouraging us to reduce electricity usage (or maybe its not all across Japan and is just in my uni, I'm not sure yet) I think it's to do with the fact that there are less power stations in Japan now, so power from elsewhere is being rerouted to the Tohoku area.

So, in aid of this 'reducing electricity usage' thing, ICU decided to have last Friday as a 'no power' day. From 8am to 5pm they turned off all electricity on campus, so no lights, no cooking, and no hot water. Now, all this was fine. They had warned us in advance, and a lot of people were planning to go sightseeing for the day, because they had also cancelled classes. I decided to sleep in for a bit, then use the battery power of my netbook for a few hours of chilled internet time. Turns out no power means no internet. Don't know quite how I hadn't figured that out early enough. But by the time I had, everyone else had gone to fun and exciting places and my very last minute plans fell very, very flat. Still, I had the chance to study for hours more than I thought I would! Then I got bored and went to a nearby bookshop and bought a book to try and read. Turned out that felt a lot like studying too, as I had to have my electronic dictionary next to me the whole time and look up almost every other word.

Saturday was a lot better though, as I finally managed to get to Akihabara. For those who don't know Tokyo, Akihabara is also referred to as 'Electric Town'. It is full of shops selling electrical goods and gadgets, and is an awesome place to find a good deal, if you know anything about that kind of thing, which I really don't. However, as Akihabara is a haven for the geeks of Japan, it doesn't just have electric things. It also has many, many shops filled with wonderful anime merchandise. And arcades, which will eat your money up faster than a trophy wife (I assume. I have never actually experienced that, but I have read about it in Regency era novels...)

However, arcades are also the home to the wonder that is Purikura. Also known as sticker pictures, these things are amazing, and we should totally have more of them in England. You take pictures with your friends, then decorate them. They are designed for girls who often want to look more American, so there are options that make your eyes look bigger, and your skin look paler. For the sake of irony, I usually go for the biggest and most dramatic eyes and the palest skin tone. I went with Alyssa, who is pretty cool, even if she doesn't live in the best dorm on campus (unlike me). Sadly, I didn't get to go and look for shady alleyways, because Alyssa was afraid that at that time of night, in Akihabara, I might actually find some. Apparently explaining that  it would be alright, because I know aikido/self defence was not comforting, especially when I explained the first thing I had been told to do if I got in a fight - try to run away. Turns out she doesn't know aikido/self defence and I didn't have the time to teach her the finer points of the great and noble art of running really fast from danger, so we came home.

Also, the sign in the picture on the right below this paragraph entertained me so very much. It's basically saying that this is a 'women only' zone. There were other signs which I think were saying that guys were not even allowed downstairs to this whole area without a woman. The pink rectangles are the Purikura booths that guys are completely forbidden from entering, whereas they are allowed in the blue ones, but I think they're still mean to have a girl with them. Not that many groups of guys would want to do Purikura, it just entertained me that they made it into a rule.

An example of Purikura, me and Alyssa

Just out of the shot is a little additional sign,
saying 'no cameras'. Oops?

So with all that over and done, and me back safely, even though I had left my bike unlocked for hours, with the key still in the lock, and no one had taken it (I love Japan) Sunday came next, when I finally managed to get along to church. Which was cool because I got to meet up with a friend I haven't seen for almost three years. It was a little bit weird being so far from home, yet still in church. It was nice though, made me feel like I'm finally settling in or something. It was quite a journey to get there, especially as I missed the stop on the bus, and had to go round the loop circuit, which luckily only takes about 30 minutes, with the bus driver staring at me like I was crazy... But yeah, I managed two solo journeys this weekend, without getting too lost, and managing to make it to everything on time. I'm totally not counting the bit of the return journey on Sunday, when I got on the wrong train and went two stops in the wrong direction before I even realised.

Backtracking a bit now, because I covered the weekend which, to be fair is when most of the actually interesting stuff happened, but there was some interesting stuff in the week. So I mentioned how I feel like I'm finally settling in. Well, I think the two main things that are bringing it home to me that I'm living here, and not on holiday, are my bike and my phone. Those are not things that a vacationer buys! Or if they are, then they must be some kind of really rich vacationer, who really likes bikes, and doesn't want to hire one... Anyways! Yes, I got a Japanese phone last Tuesday. My flatmate Yukari took me to the phone shop and dealt with all the confusing translation stuff, and I walked out with a phone. It was a bit of a weird process, as I didn't pay a penny, and now have unlimited emails - Japanese phones email without having to be officially connected to the internet. It's basically like texts, except I can send them to normal email accounts as well. I have never in my life had a contract phone before, and I keep being slightly weirded out by having one, but it's amazingly useful for finding out what's going on and everything.

New phone!

Behold, my beautiful Tavros. Yes, I named my bike
Because it is an awesome bike and deserves an awesome
name.

If I remember rightly, I have already ranted about 'yay I have a bike, yay' in a previous post, but seriously, it's like every time I ride it, I'm reminded that I live here now. That this isn't like before, that I'm here for ten months. While that sometimes seems scary, I'm loving being in ICU. This place is like everything I always dreamed a university would be like. Sure, its a bit disorganised at times, and I wish the Japanese Language Program had made the workbooks to have ALL the chapters we're going to be studying in the order we'll be studying them in, so they don't keep having to give us more paper, which I inevitably lose, but I really love it here. I'm enjoying studying Japanese again. I'm enjoying all my lectures. The campus is beautiful and there are tennis courts, and a gym (which you can use for free) and a swimming pool (which has a small fee for each use). The people are all really kind and friendly, and my dorm is just awesome.

So even though days like last Friday are kind of annoying, I am really looking forwards to these next nine months (and can't believe that I've already been here for almost a month!)

Two weeks in

Vaguely trying to keep to an update per weekend schedule. Here we go!

I have now been in Japan for a bit over two weeks, although it seriously feels like far longer than that. Maybe because I'm used to not really doing much with my time, and these first two weeks have had what feels like a mandatory, or strongly recommended event every single day. It's been fun, if a little tiring and has made me feel like I've lived four weeks here instead of two.

Of course, my classes have started too, but my usual tactic of 'go to classes, then go back to my room, study and lurk on the internet or watch random things' has been disrupted by the nightly parties/meetings/things that have been going on. We had dorm tsukimi about six nights in a row. Tsukimi was a word I had actually never heard of before coming to Japan. It translates literally as 'Moon Watching' and is the term that is used all the time at ICU for the 'welcome new students' parties that go on in the evenings. The ones I went to were held in my dorm, and students from one of the other dorms would come over and we would all introduce ourselves, then play some random 'getting to know you' game (I know, I know, it's a WILD live I lead!) It was actually really fun, if slightly exhausting to have to many social events. I also discovered a new favourite game – Uragiri (Traitor) Basket, a much more entertaining version of the Fruits Basket game. 

Still, despite my busy social schedule, I have managed to explore a bit. My getting lost in Japan count so far is only at two for this trip sadly, but I'm sure that will increase as time goes on. Especially as one of my lecturers recommended that we all went out and tried to get lost because that's when you find the interesting places. I'm still not convinced that wasn't his way of trying to cover up for getting everyone lost on the first field trip they took the class on... Still, it is advice that I intend to follow diligently.

The big news since my last post has to be, of course, that I have found vaguely affordable cheese. Heh, just kidding, no the big news is that I have had a full week of classes, including switching one of my classes for a more interesting one. A lot of the week was spent wearing a really-not-me outfit for initiation, which is now, thankfully, over. The fake nails actually didn't last past a day. They were just far too irritating to put up with. Which was sad, because they were kinda cool, just too long.

It's so...girly :(

So I know very few people will be interested in my classes, so I'll just say a bit about each.

Japanese: it is really disorientating to have Japanese taught at a level I can understand it at, keep up with, and actually learn something through. I like it.

Introduction to International Relations: Really awesome and interesting class, but the timetable means I have no time for lunch.

Contemporary Japan: Ramune to Anime: Make this class an hour shorter, and it would be the nicest class conceivable.

Right, now onto other, less tedious academic things. Grocery shopping in Japan is very interesting, especially for someone like me, whose main method of cooking is heating stuff in a microwave, or cooking things from frozen. That is definitely the most expensive way to eat here, and so I am having to, after many years of resisting, figure out how to cook real meals. Pasta, noodles and pasta sauce are figuring a lot, as I try to figure out what foods contain protein that I can afford and cook (bearing in mind that I really, really dislike cooking raw chicken). Also, I need more ways to cook eggs than scrambling them. Nice as it may taste, I need variety.

Another thing I have learned is that apparently I look half-Japanese. When three people on separate occasions make comments about it, or ask me if I am, I started asking why. Apparently it's the hair. Naturally straight hair is apparently not a western thing. The fact that it is currently black might help, but I haven't made a secret of the fact that it's dyed. Now, I'm not saying its a bad thing that people wonder if I'm half Japanese, it's just odd. Also, if people who know me think that, maybe the random strangers on streets think that too, which might affect my ability to play the 'oblivious foreigner' card. These are the important things in my life to think about.

Speaking of cards, I am now officially an alien! I have an alien registration card to prove it and everything! Ok, granted that was just a bad translation of 'foreigner', but it is the official translation, which is what counts, I feel.

Initiation, Harajuku and mosquitoes

It is actually exceptionally difficult to type right now. The reason? I have just glued fake nails on to my fingers for the first time in my life. I am also wearing a tutu, although that does not appear to be affecting my ability to type, just the level of my pride...

Pretty, right? Or maybe just tacky...

It's not a new fashion choice, it's initiation week! Now, I haven't actually posted anything for a while. The reason being, that orientation to my study abroad university has been long and tiring. Also because I procrastinated. This is also the reason I haven't yet written and sent home the postcards I promised (sorry guys... soon! I promise!)

So last Thursday, I arrived in Japan. The flight was fine, except that there were too many good movies, so I didn't actually get any sleep. My first impression on returning to Japan was that, once again, I had underestimated the heat. I was wearing my winter coat, because it was too big to go in my suitcase, and it was a bit chilly in England. Not so here! And with a typhoon on the way, it was horribly muggy too. Still, I met the guy from the Netherlands who I had arranged to meet, and we started the journey to ICU. Heavy bags, a long journey, and humidity are not my favourite combination, but it was great being back in Japan. Eventually arrived, and went to my dorm, Global House. My dorm is a very international one, and has people from loads of different countries, which makes it, in my opinion, a very exciting place to live.

I was very surprised at how much like a home, or a family, Global House is. Dorms in England seem to be just a place to sleep, but Global House has pride in being Global House. They even have a football team (which won the tournament last year. The cup is displayed in the communal lounge) I guess its because in England, you are in a dorm, usually for only one year. Here, students will stay in the same dorm, though not the same room, for the full four years.

Anyways, the reason I am wearing fake nails, far too much tacky plastic jewellery and a tutu is because every time there are new students, a bunch of the dorms have initiation, where the new people have to dress up to a theme for the first week of class, then perform a dance or something on the last day. We, for some reason, rejected the theme of pajamas, or vikings vs pirates, and chose our theme to be two types of Japanese fashion, one for the guys, one for the girls. Ours is called 'gyaru', and whilst there are many types of gyaru, the main ideas include tacky, glittery, coloured hair, and really bright colours. Also tanned (or makeup darkened) face, white makeup round the eyes...you get the picture. Guys are being 'chara-o', which I have probably spelt horribly wrong, which is basically a cross between 'pretty boys' and hipsters.

A trip to Harajuku was definitely on the menu once the theme was decided. For those who don't know, Harajuku is the Camden of Tokyo. It is the fashion district, where all the alternative people go to shop, or just to walk around and show off their outfits. It's also the place I dream of having a shop selling my designs in one day...

Anyways, we weren't able to spend as long as we wanted there, as we had to get back for yet another meeting. I have to admit, by one week in, I am really meeting'd out. Although I ended up missing it anyways, as pretty much as soon as I got back to my room I felt really ill. I have indeed finally caught the Global House cold/sore throat. I think, especially amongst the girls, there are few who haven't caught it now. I also developed a headache, probably brought about due to my reverse insomnia, or whatever it's called when your body wake you up after five-six hours sleep every single morning... So, feeling really ill, I crashed. I woke up at about 10pm to realise that somehow, between the morning and waking up, my legs had been bitten so many times by mosquitoes.

I really, truly hate mosquitoes right now. I finally start wearing skirts again, and they make me regret my decision... foul play, little insects, foul play.