This was written on Sep. 24th as indicated at the bottom and I’ve finally gotten around to proofing it and putting in pictures. I hope you all enjoy it!
So here it is! And here I am! I wonder if I can cut short everything to fit it in here… Right now, I want to do my best to portray my feelings upon arriving the first day.
Upon arrival at the airport and meeting my guide from the airport to the dorm, I was stuck pretty speechless and basically instantly expected to know, understand and speak Japanese. The guides though could speak English well enough and, as my Japanese had somewhat escaped me, they were quite helpful in English.
Tokyo is something else. Some other place. I have never left the comfort of my home country America. I have not until just some few days ago taken such a bound as to be flung across the great ocean into a shockingly cultured place. Tokyo. Japan. Quite simply something out of a movie, TV show, book or animation. Tokyo is and has been everything I have expected and more. Mind boggling. The train ride back left me speechless as I was unable to muster much Japanese and the other guy did most of the talking. I quite honestly didn’t mind as I was awestruck and jaw-dropped by the views outside the windows. The two girls who were our guides were quite funny and a little crazy telling us we smelled nice and asking why foreigners always smell good. They were pretty happy to be hanging with foreigners. So happy that we got just a bit lost after passing the station where the dorm was located.
From the windows I could see traditional homes with red and blue tiled roofs mingling with modern buildings and designs, Japanese signs everywhere – a few with English here and there, traffic signs and pavement writing in Japanese, cars I’ve never even heard of before driving on the left side of the road and with steering wheels on the right side of the car, people on the train staring…and averting their eyes when caught, stations with at least five vending machines each, school girls exist! – so do salary men, lots of old people, and so, so much more. When we finally did arrive, even excluding the slight mess up (which only cost us a few extra minutes), the entire ride was about two hours across Tokyo and cost me only ¥1540 (about US$15.00). That’s pretty cheap for a culturally indulging ride across the largest city on Earth.
The street outside the dorm.
The entrance to the dorm with the name plate visible.
The girls left us at our dorm having gotten our contact info with the intention to go out again sometime for karaoke, which I have unfortunately come to pronounce the American way. That will be changing soon. At the dorm we were greeted by an instant indulgence in the culture. Outside the front door we were supposed to leave umbrellas – a commonplace courtesy in Tokyo, I have found. And inside the door in the lower area we are supposed to remove our shoes and move them to a locker on the wall. The ryouchou (dorm chief/leader; pronounced “ryoh-choh”) showed us how to do this and more while speaking only Japanese. Some things include flipping our name tags to indicate we are out or in the dorm and applying certain tags to show if we will stay out for the night. He even used the phrase “Japanese girlfriend” to give an example of this. He showed us our mailboxes, the private showers, bathrooms, public bath (which I have the intention to use at least once), dorm vending machine, cafeteria, laundry area (the dryers are ineffective – thanks for all that clothes-hanging training Dad!), and eventually our personal rooms.
The entryway from the inside. Includes nametags and shoe-lockers. Which aren't lockable.
The traditional Japanese room, messy as always.
Mine is on the 4th floor. I only had a brief moment to look around the room and put some things down before being ushered off to eat my dinner and be social. The room is quite nice and, I believe, bigger than the personal room in a Witherspoon apartment (my old dorm in Charlotte). It includes everything listed: armoire, bookshelf, desk with phone and lamp, AC unit, a pleasant window which sits out and gives a decent view, curtains and a bed with drawers underneath. Oh, and I forgot the amazing rolling and swiveling desk chair. Good times.
The 4th floor hallway from outside my room.
After this, the ryouchou led us to the cafeteria to have dinner and leave us to meet people. He showed us how to ask for a meal and what to do with emphasis on washing our hands. He told us where to wash them and stood there telling us to do so as if he wanted to make sure we did it. Sometimes even the cooks will tell us to do it! Lots of emphasis on this here. The food though was something I’ve never eaten before and since I was rather hungry I scarfed it down. And it was good too! A type of cold soba (Japanese noodles) with different vegetables on top – the cooks are amazing! Mom, you don’t have to worry about me eating as long as this keeps up!
The cafeteria!
After meeting a lot of the others living in the dorm (including the other student from UNCC), eating dinner and setting up my room a bit, a few of us got together and went out on a night walk through the area. For the most part I think we were being a group of loud, obnoxious Americans, though it wasn’t serious. But I was able to see a lot of the culture in this way. A good mile (or perhaps I should say kilometer?!) down the main street In Koganei, Tokyo and we get to see everything that is. There are shops everywhere stacked in with dorms and apartments (three 7/11s within walking distance), bikes in rows upon rows (this city probably has more mass in bikes than all its cars), petite trucks and cars (if they can even be called that by American standards), modern-looking street lamps, power lines snaking through the sky everywhere, lots of pavement – mostly brick and cobble-stone, a few traditional houses here and there, odd traffic patterns, lights that set a certain mood in motion about the whole experience, and so many vending machines you couldn’t fathom it. I even broke my first law in Japan: I J-walked! But you know, after seeing the way people run and walk around through and down streets here I think I’ve figured out where the term came from! (Just read it’s legal…)
So, that was my first night in Tokyo. I returned to the dorm rather beat and fell asleep fast, no doubt. But there were days to come that would include lots of new experiences. Every. Single. Day.
Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | September 24, 2008
