Our (the international students') time in Japan has been made easier (for the most part) by many Japanese students from the university who volunteer to help us out.

These students picked us up from the airport, and the university even gave them the funds to buy us bus tickets and taxis to get us to I-HOUSE. The taxis, by the way, had lace-covered seats, and the drivers were wearing white shirts with black bow-ties and tuxedo vests. Talk about service!

On my first full day in Japan, a group of girls took me and some others shopping for necessities. We went to the grocery store (pictured above), along with a pharmacy and a 100 Yen store--the Japanese equivalent of a dollar store. Oddly, one of the first things they insisted I needed was a toilet brush, which would not have been at the top of my priority list, but really, it made the shopping experience much easier to have someone semi-bi-lingual to help you (the girls are mostly freshmen and have to rely on electronic dictionaries to look up a lot of their vocabulary).

Sometimes they seem a little overly-eager to please us, however. At an entry party where we were mixing with Japanese students, three of them sat down at table by me, staring intently as I tried to eat my food. It felt a bit like a "don't tap the glass" moment. Then, I tired to make conversation by complimenting one of the girls' necklaces, to which she said, "You like? I give," and started to pull it off. I assured her she did not need to give it to me, and was glad I didn't tell her I liked her shirt.

The biggest issue of trying to shop in Japan (so far I've mainly just gone to the grocery store on my own) is that you find there actually quite a few products that are difficult to identify if you can't read the labels or aren't familiar with the brand. I've been eating lots of ramen. I find there is a seemingly-endless supply of "just add hot water" products here. And luckily, they all come with little diagrams of hot water being poured into the container, which is really quite a blessing.

On a side note, Pepsi Twist is still common in Japan. Or perhaps they've re-introduced in the US as well? But I bet only Japan sells lemon Pepsi with Gundam Seed anime toys attached. The pop here, by the way, often comes in metal bottles, or extra-tall cans.

I went to a Japanese McDonald's (or "Mack D's" as the Australians put it) the other day, and chicken nuggets apparently taste the same everywhere. Otherwise, I haven't had a ton of restuarant food. I had some very good curry on one of my days out, and some mediocre ramen and so-so rice on two other occasions. I expect I'll eat out more when I'm able to order food without assistance.

I have a camera now, a Sony Ericsson. It was the bottom-of-the-line, free-upon-sign-up phone, and it's way superior to the one I have back home. It takes pictures, sends e-mail, and you can send your name, number, etc., to another person's phone via infared transfer. It makes taking pictures of strange things a little easier, such as this chocolate, which I would imagine only sells well in Japan (who knows? I could be wrong and Crunky Chocolate is big in Germany or something).

posted by No_Fluff_Reviewer @ 8:49 PM

Not a very exciting post yet, just some general information and pictures explaining where I am while attending Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (NUFS) in Nagoya, Japan. The pictures are at the bottom of the post, and you can click to see a larger image.

While in Japan, I'm staying in the International House (I-HOUSE), which is just a short walk from campus. It's two stories (my room is on the second), with a large entry way, a communal TV/computer area, and an inner courtyard. There are several cooking stations on each floor where we can prepare our food and sit at tables. The only strange thing to me is that we have to remove our shoes as soon as we step into the entryway of the building. I assumed "inside" would start when we reached the doorways of our indivduals rooms. One girl commented that I-HOUSE is what a dormatory would be like on a sitcom, and I guess she's right--tile in the entry way, hardwood in the dining areas, and lots of open space is pretty luxurious.

Most interesting about I-HOUSE is probably all the people who live here. I believe the largest group is probably Americans, followed closely by Australians (who aren't actually that far from home compared to the rest of us). There are several students from Britain, Belgium, and Montreal, along with at least one from Mexico. There are also girls from China, Korea, and Vietnam, those the rest of us don't really know them very well yet, though they do seem to speak very good Japanese.

I have my own room in I-HOUSE, which is fairly small, but more than enough for one person--it even has a private bathroom, a far cry from my accomodations at Goodnow.
In my room there's an entryway, with shelving on either side when you walk in the door (a refrigerator, is on one side, along with my food. Walking further into the entry is the door to my tiny bathroom on the left and a closet on the right. The bathroom is quite tiny, but there's room enough to shower comfortably, and although there's no shelving in there, it's otherwise a fine space.

There's a sliding door from the entry into my wider bedroom. I have a futon with two drawers underneath, a desk unit with ample drawer space, and on the opposite side of the room is a large, low shelving unit that I don't have nearly enough things to fill up.

At the back of my room is my balcony. It's not very large, but has a line for hanging out clothes (the dryers here aren't very good). It's not very scenic from my side, in fact my balcony overlooks a car dealership, but it's still nice to be able to open it up and get some fresh air in.

A sign welcoming us to NUFS -
The I-HOUSE entryway and shoe cubbies -
The inner courtyard -
My fridge and food -
My little bathroom -
The left side of my room -
The right side of my room -

I'll hopefully get some more interesting photos of life in Japan soon, and explain what I've been doing while waiting for classes to begin and more about the people I live with.

posted by No_Fluff_Reviewer @ 10:08 PM