Japanese Class

I've had 2 Japanese language classes now but they've both been done in the usual 'introduce yourself' style. Pretty pointless as everyone in the class has known each other for 2 or 3 weeks before the class...

I'm not sure what a proper class is going to be like, but going by the amount of work we need to do for next week, it'll be hard. At Cardiff, we usually get 15-20 kanji a week and complain. Here, we've been given 80 to learn in a week...

Classes

So I've finally chosen my classes now. I've managed to get away with 3/4 of the business ones being in English. I went to a Japanese lecture beforehand to see what it was like and just sat there blankly, not understanding anything.

I get Monday off but I have early starts on the days where I do have classes. That means I need to leave about 8 and get crushed to near-death in rush hour on the Tokyo trains. Not fun.

Gyoza

Went to Makoto's house the other day to see the family again. We made about 80 gyoza (dumpling things), mine were obviously the best.

Haven't really done much lately. Just waiting for classes to start. I did go and get my Japanese placement test results yesterday though. Got put in the class which Cardiff University wants me to be in. So can't complain.

Inokashira Park

Today I had a day of shopping and walking with Penny around Kichijyouji (吉祥寺） and Inokashira Park (井の頭公園); my favourite part of Tokyo :)It's one of the rare bits of Tokyo which has some of this rare green plant called 'grass' in it.

Today was a national holiday in Japan, so there were alot of people around and rowing in the lake. I remember when I tried rowing there last year I was scared in case I hit one of the ducks with the oars. However, the Japanese seemed intent on trying to kill them all. Luckily I didn't see them get any...

If you ever need a cheap day out in Tokyo, Inokashira is a good place to come. There is also a zoo in the park, but I haven't got round to going in it yet. Maybe next time...

Phones

One of the first things you need to get when you're going to live in Japan is a phone. After the important things like a bank account and foreign registration card of course....

I've had my phone for 2 days now and it has been very handy in allowing me to meet up with my friends without fear of relying on a designated meeting place. Shinjuku station is very big and should be a convenient place to meet up as many train lines go through it. However, the damn thing is a maze and its easy to get lost...

The phone didn't take too long to get, we just walked up to the shop opposite the local station and picked the colours we wanted and got a reasonable contract. I got an orange/yellow one and its pretty striking.

The best thing about it though is the little symbols you can send along with texts. In the UK you can only send smiley faces made up of mathematical symbols, but because these Japanese phones use HTML, you can send loads of different pictures. I like ending all of mine with a penguin. Just because I can.

Accommodation

I've been here 5 days now and I'm getting used to everything. I now don't really pay attention when walking to the local station and back. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to my local station (Meidaimae) and there I just hop on the Keio line and can get to Shinjuku in under 10 minutes. Pretty convenient.

I live in a Meiji University-run halls for international students. Lots of different flats in one building. There are 8 people in my flat but I've only met 2 of them - I think everyone just wants to do their own thing. I've attached a photo of my room. Its quite posh but that means its also quite expensive. We have to top up the machine to use the shower and air con but it doesn't seem to drain down too quickly. I have 2 showers a day and use air con alot and its only got down by 200 yen so far.

It seems like a good place to live for the year. Could've been alot worse.

I've landed in Japan and finally had a good sleep.

The plane journey was ok. Luckily I looked at the in-flight movies before I got to the airport and saw that I had already seen all the films or that I was never going to (Sex in the City 2? No thanks.) I bought 2 books; Frankie Boyle's autobiography My Shit Life So Far and a journalistic book on North Korea which I haven't touched yet as I was addicted to Boyle's book, which I finished on the bus from Narita airport to Shinjuku Station.

I'll do a post later on how my room is and how I unintentionally worried the Meiji students.

Tomorrow I leave for Japan. Am I scared? Yes. But only of the phone call I've got to make when I land. I hate talking Japanese on the phone...