First photo blog from Japan
Tuesday, 14. April 2009, 02:28:06
Sleepy natsu
To be honest I really wanted to go to Melbourne because natsu's there. We got to spend a bit of time together which was nice. After picking up my passport I caught a Tiger Airways flight back to Adelaide, which was running at least 2 hours late. The flight was dirt cheap so I didn't mind too much. At least I made it back to Adelaide.
my plane
↑ That was the last photo I took in Australia.
Singapore Airport
pretty gardens inside the airport
paradise beyond planes -- an unusual bacon shop
I really loved Singapore Airport, I'm glad I had 5 hours to spend there because it's HUGE. Unfortunately I couldn't leave the airport and have a look, I hope I can have a temporary stay there on my way back to Australia.
food at singapore airport
The tea on the left was delicious, I was eager to drink some more when I arrived in Japan but after showing some Japanese friends, it seems it doesn't exist here. The
I noticed they had a lot of Australian sweets at the airport; a block of cadbury costs about AU$10 over there.
Japan
The flight to Japan was nice, it was on the multi-level Airbus A380, an enormous plane. I was seated right at the front and had some great leg room. At night time I fell asleep on the woman sitting next to me, I think I may have even tried to cuddle her... how embarrassing. When I woke up I apologised and hoped her husband didn't notice. Looking out the window of the plane I could see Mt. Fuji, it was an amazing sight. I knew I didn't have much longer to go.
Going through customs was a little tricky. I showed them my passport and they said there was a problem. A man took me off to a separate room (the detaining room?) and told me that my visa was incorrect... the consulate general in melbourne cocked up. In less than a minute they gave me a correct visa and I was ready to go.
I came to Japan with zero yen, and about three or four australian dollars. I was dying to withdraw some money but when I used the machine I got this notice ↓
receipt of doom
There was another Australian having the same problem, eventually we found the right machine and I was able to withdraw a little money. Phew~
Unlike with singapore airport, I was not able to use the internet or my mobile at Narita.
first sights of japan
It was an amazing feeling to finally arrive in Japan. I loved how different everything was; nobody could speak english, japanese writing was everywhere, everyone was so polite. When going to the men's room I had to ask for help on how to use the sink, I didn't understand how to make the water or soap come out...
Yokohama
arriving in Yokohama
finally arrived at minesawa
Minesawa is a great place, all the people staying here are really nice, generally it's quite clean-ish. The downside is that we live on top of a gigantic hill which is about a 30 minute walk from the nearest supermarket. So getting a full load of groceries requires a lot of effort.
I'm surprised at how few foreigners there are here. It kind of feels strange to walk through the streets or uni campus and be the only white person around, I guess I'll get used to it. Whenever I see another foreigner in the streets I usually say hello because chances are they're here to study just like me.
Since moving in here I've met a whole heap of people from many different places; French, Americans, Swedes, English, Welsh, Columbians, Chinese, Koreans, Kiwis, other Aussies, and of course some Japanese people. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming, it's a great community here.
Here's some photos of the nearby village:
I go to Wadamachi for all general shopping, it's a small but nice place.
There's a map on the top right, I'm standing across from マクドナルド...
Yokohama-eki [station] is a great place, I went there with my tutor, Natsuko, and we had a good time there.
There were many gaming centres at Yokohama-eki, I loved their skill testers. On these ones you can win huge blocks of chocolate and sticks of salami.
L: my tutor, Natsuko @ First Kitchen. R: she made me do the peace sign...
Minesawa
my desk
This was my desk. When I first moved in I used it for studying/cooking, these days I do my cooking out on the balcony. As you can see my diet primarily consists of rice, mugi-cha [barley tea], eggs and seaweed. I buy lots of meat and fruit. I should start buying more veges too... If I'm feeling lazy I'll whip up noodles. Most other exchange students here are living off of pre-made obentos [lunch boxes], as my budget is kinda tight, I've quickly learnt to make do with cheap ingredients. I don't mind eating rice three times a day.
The view from my balcony.
When the weather is good you can see Mt. Fuji in the distance.
the sakura [cherry blossoms] here are quite beautiful, but last only for about a week.
I'm lucky I could be here to see them
This pic was over-exposed, but u can see minesawa-kitty in it
Minesawa Kitty -- very friendly
Mitsui cruise
The Mitsui V-net cruise was a big day out organised by retired people from the network of Mitsui-group companies. There were maybe 100 people there including the mitsui men, exchange students, japanese students/tutors. It was a really fun day and I'm glad I went, unfortunately some of us got a bit sunburnt.
some of my friends on the cruise;
Pan [Chinese], Steven [American], Junki [Japanese].
Pan and Junki
bridges
"Economic crisis"
One of the Mitsui men pointed to all these cars saying "economic crisisu!". It turns out these cars are supposed to be loaded onto ships but during the economic crisis they're just sitting there doing nothing.
minato mirai 21, and the japanese coast guard
Natsuko in front of a much larger cruise ship called Asuka
Back on foot, Minato Mirai 21
Flower garden
Various shots of minato mirai
Pepsi Nex is the closest thing Japan has to Pepsi Max... it tastes bad
in fact all japanese soft drinks taste weird to me, I'm gonna stay away from them
All-Chinese China Town shot (Pan and Yang)
I was dying to check out Yokohama's 中華街 [china town], so my Chinese friends were more than happy to come along.
One street in China Town
you can see Yang looking up "食べ放題" in her dictionary
China Town was nice, unfortunately the variety of shops isn't great. There are so many places selling Nikuman, and Kuri... Pan showed us into some underground place, which felt kind of sus. There was a girl standing at the enterance, was she on the lookout for police? I dunno. Inside the shop there were rows of pirated videos and strange chinese foods. I managed to find a 5-pack of Shin-ramen for 500yen, this is the cheapest price I've seen in Japan. Maybe it was stolen or something.
My Easter / Other random stuff
My easter celebration
In Japan you can't buy easter eggs... so I headed down to my nearest convenience store and purchased a nice block of Ghana chocolate and a can of warm Wonda Cafe` Au Lait (bought from a vending machine) to consume while watching my favourite TV Show, Ainori. It's kind of lonely but it's nice. Today was the first time I've eaten chocolate since Australia, and it's not something I can afford to do very often.
TV Guide
In Australia I rarely watched TV, but in Japan it's something I do every day (if I have time). I usually plan what I wanna watch and I record some shows too. Wednesday is a good day for TV, I've circled too many tv shows and thus will need to make a difficult decision on which tv shows I should watch. I love the comedy here, so I make an effort to watch as much of that as I can. I also really enjoy watching the Japanese-dubbed version of Friends which is on most mornings.
internet installation notice i received yesterday : D
I was a bit disappointed that there was no internet in my dorm when I arrived here, luckily the guys from NTT (like a Japanese version of hmm.. well they're like Telstra but not so evil) were parked out the front selling internet contracts on the day I arrived. I signed up for the cheapest plan they offered.
For around AU$45/month you can get a 100Mbps fibre-optic connection with unlimited downloads, a free router and it's all free for the first two months. There's also no such thing as cancellation fees for either mobiles or internet connections it seems. Seeing as my budget is a little tight, I cut a deal with the guy directly below me to share the connection. It's strange how common that practice is here at Minesawa; if you look at the building you can see ethernet cables dangling from window to window.
I'm gonna have some bad fibre-optic withdrawls when I return to Aus, I'm sure.
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