life so far

I’ve been pretty lax about writing up my experiences here, mostly because I’m hardly ever at home. But I will try to sum it up here:

I live in a guest house/dorm type building, where I have a single sized bedroom. There are about 60 people in the dorm, all of whom are pretty nice people. There aren’t any Japanese in the dorm, but there are a few other international students from places like Spain and Russia. Its pretty quiet here, and the building is located in Ota-ku, which is a small residential area. The train station is a 10 minute walk away, and it will get you to Kamata on one end and Gotanda on the other. From Gotanda you can transfer to the JR Yamanote line which will take you to Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku one direction and to my school in the other (at Tamachi station). Theres a killer sushi bar right next to Ontakesan station, and a grocery/department store called Jusco. Theres also a sweet bar called Pearling Cafe, which is really small and run by this guy named Masa who is a surfer. A bunch of kids from the dorm, particularly the ones under 21 go there pretty often (probably because its a novel experience for them to go out drinking).  Thats about it for the neighborhood, its a little far from school in terms of biking, and I haven’t found an english map yet so I just take the train to school right now and that takes about 40 minutes.

School is pretty swell, there is a good mix of Americans, other internationals and Japanese students. I have met and hung out with cats from all over the world in the last two weeks, from Europe to South America to other parts of Asia, like India, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. Thats pretty fun. There are two school buildings, and all of my classes are in the Azabu hall building. Azabu hall is near a cool neighborhood called Azabu Juban, where a lot of foreign embassies are located. Theres a good mix of international food there. After Azabu Juban theres Roppongi Hills, where there is a huge fancy mall with lots of hyper expensive designer clothes and an art museum. Behind Roppongi Hills is Roppongi, which I haven’t been to yet. Roppongi is where there are a bunch of bars and clubs, filled with mostly tourists and foreigners. It sounds pretty over-hyped, but I will probably have to go there at some point to at least check it out. Tonight I am going to Koenji for the first time to see PWRFL Power, this guy named Kaz who is on tour from Seattle. I met him just before I left and he seemed like a nice guy and a very talented musician. I have been going to Shibuya fairly often, mostly because thats where people always want to go clubbing, which I am not that into. I like Harajuku, and I picked up some nice clothes there. There are tons of vintage stores and boutique clothing shops, most of which is insanely expensive. Shinjuku is kind of the same as Shibuya, with a bunch of bars, shops, restaraunts and  skyscrapers.  In Shinjuku there is also this art supply store called Sekkaido that is enormous. Its 6 stories tall and has anything art related you can think of. Thats where I got some of my school supplies.

I’m slowly picking up Japanese, mostly at bars because thats where it seems like Japanese are most likely to talk to you. They love to get “socially lubricated”, as it were. Theres some good beer here, lots of Kirin Ichiban and Heineken. There is a severe lack of good whiskey here, I miss Jameson! I’m stuck with crappy Jack Daniels most of the time. There is also Wild Turkey everywhere, for reasons I don’t understand. As well as Early Times. All crap. Japan is definately a drinking culture, all the businessmen go straight to the bar after work and come home drunk, passing out on the train en route to their destination. (see photo below)

There is tons of awesome cuisine here. I love the Ramen and Udon. Sushi is the best however! You can also get rice bowls with Unagi (freshwater eel I think… the other is Anago and its cheaper, sweeter and all around not as good.) for pretty cheap, but there are also places that specialize in Unagi and thats going to cost you.

All in all, this place rules. I’m having an awesome time so far, but I’m trying to keep my costs down by not drinking all the time and cooking some of my own food. Come out and visit me!