Hurrah! I am here!
Flight went smoothly. Greg, Natalie, and I started from Dulles together and met Teresa at the gate. 14 hours went by reasonably quickly, with meals, movie time, Pokemon, podcasting (Greg brought along a nice recorder so we take time to record events and our thoughts orally), and such. Daniel greeted us at the airport, and then we took two trains for about two hours or so (parting with Teresa as she is staying at hostel a ways away from us), and got to the DK House (uh, after getting lost a bit).
The manager, S. Uzuki, gave us our keys (there's a key card to get inside the building, as well as the room key) and a tour of the place. I'll take pictures soon. I'm on the third floor, with Natalie the floor below, and Greg the floor above. The floors are separated by gender, with lavatories and laundry facilities on both ends; the shower/sauna areas, kitchen and lounge areas are on the 1st floor. I'll also take pictures of my room when I'm actually unpacked and it looks organized (eh, which might take a while, knowing me). There's lots of storage room, including secret compartments in the bed, I have a walk-out balcony overlooking the Sakura (cherry blossom) road, there's a mini-fridge, A/C unit, and internet available. So far, I cannot make it to/from the train station without extra turns/getting lost, so this is something I need to work on in the upcoming days. First, I have a pretty terrible sense of direction; second, I don't pay attention to things/where I am going if someone else is leading; third, everything looks the same to me (there's a convenience store and Pachinko parlor/arcade nearly every corner). This is a horrible combination for getting around places...
It already feels like I've been here awhile, which I attribute to all the walking we do (I should've brought a pedometer!) and how much we've been getting done/attempting to get done. Everything becomes quite the adventure when Greg, Natalie, and I are together (we've dubbed ourselves the "San-nin" (三人). We've explored the area around our dorm and the main area of Warabi city, applied for our 'alien registration cards' at the city ward office, exchanged money, eaten a range of food, made our way around on trains, bought bedding for our rooms and other things. Probably the most difficult thing is just not having phones/an easy way to stay in contact with one another. Today I visited Sophia (Jouchi) University, used the gym, ate at a cafeteria, and used the computer lab, all under the tutelage of Daniel.
Picture time!
This is the fort that the San-nin made in the basement the night before our flight. It was mighty impressive and awesome to sleep in, especially with that small space heater pointed right into it.
Waiting at the gate! Teresa and Greg in the foreground, Natalie on the phone in the back.
All of us on the 1st train.
Our first meal in Japan. By the time we made it to the dorm and got somewhat settled, it was pretty late so we didn't travel far for dinner. We ended up at Yoshinoya, a popular and ubiquitous hot shop-type restaurant. We all ate a nice hot bowl of gyu-don (牛丼) which is beef on rice basically. Haha, sorry I took this picture at a horrible time...no one's judging...we were really tired...
On our way to register as foreigners, we came across a McDonald's inside a big supermarket so we went for it. I had the Teritama special, which is a teriyaki burger with egg on top (or like a Teriyaki-style Gusburger for you UVA-folk).
Our first "real" night and we already got our taste of sushi! Be jealous! It's called kaitenzushi (回転寿司) for the way the plates of sushi wind their way around the restaurant on a conveyor belt. This restaurant is in Shibuya, and not only does the wait line wrap around the seats lining two walls, on busy nights, it even trails out the door around the corner. Each customer must eat 7 plates (2 pieces of sushi per plate) in 30 minutes, and then you are welcome to stay as long as you want, otherwise you have to give up your place. I easily ate 9 plates in way less than half an hour, and at 105 yen a plate, it's not a bad deal for a sushi dinner. I loved the lively atmosphere, and it was delicious, so hopefully I'll have plenty more chances to eat there.
2 comments:
I am clearly tired of being on the phone. And clearly tired of being awake while I eat, hahahah.
Great first Japan post! =D
yay you guys are there!
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