First time at Shinjuku

**EDIT I am stupid and so I got Shibuya and Shinjuku mixed up. We went to the SHINJUKU office. I'm too lazy to correct every word.


Today we went to the Shinjuku Office (well I say today but I always make my posts at around 3-5AM the next morning) and we had to meet up at the front of our respective dorms at 7:20AM. It wasn't a problem for me to get up... in fact I got up around 5AM and it takes no time for me to get ready so I just sat around for a while... It really sucks when the internet isn't reliable so I have no time killer... At least until Pokemon XY comes out. (I wonder if the middle game will be Z and if they're make a Z-shaped Pokemon lolololol)

また焼きそばドッグかよ？！
Another yakisoba dog?!

My breakfast was a drink and this yakisoba dog I bought last night (since I R SMRT and knew it would be so early I may not have time to buy stuff... I'm still unsure what time the stores around here open and close). We met up outside and there were a 2 Waseda students there to lead us to Shibuya and help us out. I wonder if they are compensated for their time? Because I always feel like we are a handful and they have to hold our hands through everything hahah. Though it is times like these I am grateful for the hand holding because hell if I know how to navigate trains and streets and what this office is supposed to look like.

Walking down the street to the station

All the people in this photo are from our group and that's not even half.
It was most everyone from the North and South Wings of Soudairyou so I would say
about 20 - 25 people total? Excluding the Japanese Waseda students.

The sun wasn't working for me but I guess
Babakuchi is the street.....? I see it everywhere though
even as a stop on the JR train so maybe it is a city.

  

Red sign in the background is for Karaoke

I really don't understand why Pachinko (Japanese gambling machines where you use marbles instead of chips or JPY because I believe gambling is technically illegal or something? I'm not entirely sure) NEED to have creepy, crappily animated 3D "Anime babes" everywhere but it freaks me out.

TakadanobabaTakadanobabaTakadanobabaTakadanobaba

This is the train station closest to Waseda campus/my dorm. There is a smaller train that runs through streets within the city (like UTA TRAX) and that station is really close to me. But if I really want to go somewhere, this would be it. Takadanobaba Station... say that 5x fast.

Group! Don't leave me!

Ancient Japanese hieroglyphs from the Meiji Era.

Their paper tickets are TINY. Also the machine will eat and keep them when you leave your destination. Also it was only 130JPY one way to Shibuya station.

People... errywhurr.

View from the train station.

The trains are actually foreigner friendly. As you can see, there's English everywhere and while on the train the screen will show Japanese and English. Even the overhead PA will announce stops and how to get off in Japanese and English. Gaijin paradise.

It looks insanely hectic (and well... it is) but it is actually very coordinated and even with this amount of rushing no one will push you. They may look a little grumpy if you dawdle but god forbid they ever act upon or speak their true feelings. This brings me to the further realization that I could never live here permanently.

First off, THE DAMN MOSQUITOES. Second, when I first studied Japanese I found their polite culture really fascinating, particularly the polite language. Now into my 4th year of college Japanese studies I can honestly say its more interesting for me to study it than actually participate in it. Maybe because I am still fresh from the plane but it all feels so unnecessary. I mean it's great how polite everyone is, but sometimes I look at people and just want to shake them and yell "It's okay to be pissed off or yell at someone!! AHHH!". Especially around the train stations there are a lot of business men and all of them look incredibly stressed. I've yet to see a single smiling business man. Also I can't remember all of the polite versions of speech and all of the things you have to say before/after you arrive or eat and other things. Keep in mind I'm not trying to offend anyone, but this is coming from an American's POV. I miss the assholes and curt responses. Or rather just American polite culture just saying "please" and "thank you". Instead of 御覧になってくださいませんか？(Goran ni natte kudasaimasen ka?) which means "Could you kindly please direct your attention upon this?" or something long and convoluted like that. It is just politeness to level 9000 and unnecessary to my freedom blood. Third, THE DAMN HUMIDITY. HOLY JESUS. How is anyone expected to do anything?! I never want to leave an AC'd room. It doesn't help that I swear more than the average person AND I'm not used to this kind of humidity. Back in Huntington Beach it gets to 70%ish humidity, so just perfect. Here it's 80-90%. Kill me. This leads me to the fourth, NO CENTRAL AIR/HEAT. Holy gods how does anyone survive? I know Americans waste so much energy by using central air and heating but screw it, this is the Red, White, and Blue! We do what we want because we are the best!

Now don't take these reasons to mean that I hate it here. I LOVE it here. People are very kind and willing to help, I am in love with my dorm, Waseda University, and how different things are here. Convenience stores are just... REALLY CONVENIENT you don't even understand. You can access your bank, buy household supplies, pre-made meals that actually taste good, play fun lotteries, pay your bills... it is insanity. They even heat up your pre-made meals for you and give you all necessary utensils at the counter so you never have to worry about forgetting something. I also really love the intricate mix of traditional and modern. In an earlier post I took photos of the temple that was smack in the middle of the city. There are also random houses or stores that have a very traditional look, along with random very tall trees inbetween skyscrapers. It would frankly take too long for me to list everything I love about Japan so far, but because of the 4 reasons above, I could only ever stay in Japan for like 8 months at a time and NEVER DURING SUMMER. This is the tail end of summer and I want to cry like how is this place inhabitable. Also I think it's that much worse for me because how much I sweat and the mosquitoes. I know some people who haven't even been bitten yet.... Bastards.

Anyways I got sidetracked. We finally got off the station but the train doors closed on 4 students in our group! Hahah, I found it pretty funny (only because I wasn't one of them) but they had a Waseda student guide with them so it was fine. And yes, we were on the train during one of the cram times so it was packed. This is about the only time you will be pushed around in Japan. Luckily the AC is blasted like hell on all trains so you will never sweat from being on a JR train. Dunno about the other ones but I presume they're similar.

Just got off from Shibuya Station

Just buildings and skyscrapers EVERYWHERE

Well I know who would love this area.
For being so insanely environmentally protective, they sure love to smoke.

some street in Shibuya

I don't want to know.

Big brands in Asia? What a shocker.

This is the boring part where we arrived at the office and were crammed into a room and systematically had our forms filled out and everything was done. It took significantly less time than the orientation and was highly organized and efficient like anything else Japanese. We came here to register our dorm address on our Residence Card and the get registered for National Health Insurance. I'm officially better insured here than I am in America (if you didn't know, America in infamous for the shittiest health care system in the world but famous for the best health care money can buy. So basically our insurance sucks, but our surgeons are the best in the world.... great.). My international friends are all offended and horrified by American health insurance and I'm just sitting here like yeah I know while everyone at home wants to take a dump on Obamacare because of taxes (and other things but lets not complicated this post with politics). I actually have double insurance here. I have international insurance required by my home institution which I think pays for almost 100% of my health care and in Japan with the student discount I only pay 75$ for my entire 6 month stay and they cover 70% of all health care costs. So basically if anything happens to me, at least I get taken care of for free.

After this they needed some time to get our cards ready so we split into groups to get some food. I decided to get some 和食 (Washoku) ("traditional" Japanese food, this is actually a new word I learned. Back home people generally just say 日本料理 (nihon ryouri) or Japanese food). I... can't actually remember what I ordered but it was like 830 JPY? (The menu said like 798 JPY, not sure what made it cost more later but anyways) it's some kind of Yakitori. It was chicken and egg and there was some soup poured on it. Really REALLY good. This was the first time I had eaten out in Japan. I just go to the convenience store to eat hahah.

Get in me

Very unique looking building. Those black windows aren't open, they're uneven and kind of curved-like.

So after eating with my group we all went back and got our stuff. We then split up into groups again and I need to get a stamp to open a bank account here which is very different from the States. In the States you just sign your name, legible or not, and it is accepted. Of course they do check your ID and need your Debit Card though. I guess the stamp is so it is a more secure transaction? Because there are several stamp designs and obviously there are multiple kanji that sound the same but are written differently. And when I say several stamp designs I don't mean like a different border or colour, I mean the "fonts" are different. They have several stylized versions of kanji. So in English it would something like Comic Sans against Papyrus or Times New Roman. It physically looks different.

However we weren't able to do it so we need to go back to Waseda campus to get one. We need to put in the order for one and pick it up at the same place so it's better if it's closer to us.

Then after a lot of mindless waiting for I don't even know who (another thing I'm not too fond of, the very strong group mentality in Japan. I'm too much of an individualistic American) we finally separated from who wanted to stay in Shinjuku and who wanted to leave. We went to a cafe because some people hadn't eaten yet and since I had I just got an Apple Lemonade for 330JPY. And this is what it looked like.

Is this tea... or lemonade......? Japan???

Yeah my Apple Lemonade was actually tea. I am really unsure of how this works, even the native Japanese with us were like... What the hell is that hahah. It was good though. I feel bad for making such a hassle out of lemonade. Most importantly... THERE WAS FREE WIFI HERE OH MY GOD. Why the hell there's not wifi here I truly don't understand. Even supermarkets in America have wifi now like Japan, are you not more advance than us? And no I will not shut up about it because that is my only was of communicating with anyone. I may not end up purchasing a SIM card, I'm still unsure.

The bottom left black square is a TV screen. Reminds me of Times Square in New York.

More of Shibuya

Department stores I think

So after splitting up again from the cafe some of us wanted to do some window shopping so we went to the department store that's above/below the Shibuya train station.

It was called Lumine... I guess?

 It had like 12 floors total, 8 above ground and 3 below. We just kind of sauntered around... It really wasn't to my tastes because like 10 floors were female oriented. Like super girly clothes and whatever. It was fun to look around but I wanted to go to like the 2 "for men" levels haha. There was actually a 315JPY shop inside the department store. We only have dollar stores in America. I haven't heard of a 5 dollar store or a 3 dollar store hahah.

Homer you're drunk go home.

Now we finally headed back home and I was sticky and disgusting from the heating. It makes me feel/think I am out of shape because I'm sweating just walking but it is from the humidity and heat. Augh, this weather.

You can't see it that well but that same bite from yesterday bruised and is now bigger than before. None of my bites have gone away. Yay.

When I was at the Shibuya Office I actually met up with Anne who had posted a comment to this blog back in August. We finally met up for the first time! I swear to god she seems a lot more American than Canadian but she's just Canadian. At the cafe we were talking about various things and we were on the topic of Kdramas saying how everyone cries ALL THE TIME and then we were talking about dramas that will actually make you cry instead of watching them cry and Anne said it's very difficult for her to cry while watching something and I said I cry at pretty much anything. I know I am just overly empathetic, but Anne called me a pussy! A PUSSY! Like seriously are you actually Canadian?! What happened to the stereotype that Canadians are insanely polite? That's such an AMERICAN thing to do! I deem her an honorary American. Wear Our colours proudly Anne, you have proven yourself worthy.

Joanna (Australia), Anne (Canada), Sasha (Russia), Patricia (Australia), and I decided to meet up at 5:30 and they were going to cook food! Me being the greedy inept freeloader just ate their delicious food and did nothing. I tried to buy some of the ingredients for the food at least but damn my awesome and nice friends! Joanna, Anne, Sasha, and I went to our local market and bought stuff.

Only one section of their pre-made foods

Pre-made fried foods... I'm trying to avoid these

The caramels I like are in this section for some reason

I can't remember what these are called but I think my parents like eating these.

Fish section... Everything looks amazingly fresh and is SO CHEAP. Oh my god I can't believe how cheap fish is here. It's like highway robbery in the States compared to here (and it isn't even that expensive in America).

"Easy to make" section. Think of these like Betty Crocker or Hamburger Helper in America. ...Cept a lot better and more delicious hahah. My mom used to buy these for me at Mistuwa. The top row, fourth one in starting from the left is what I ate for dinner last night but was pre-made by 7/11. So good! Even comes with clams.

I ended up buying a bag of brown rice (900JPY/9USD), a dessert that looks like flan but I don't think it's flan (98JPY/0.98USD), another Yakisoba dog (125JPY/1.25USD), some Japanese side dish Anne recommended (198JPY/1.98USD), and my favourite Vermont curry to make myself sometimes (188JPY/1.88USD) for a total of 1509JPY or 15.09USD. It kind of seems like I have done a lot and spent a lot of money so far but I have been keeping track of my expenses, especially those that I didn't receive a receipt for, and I have spent 10,117 JPY or 101.11USD. In the 4 days I have been here. Keep in mind 17 of that 101 I used to pay to ship my luggage and I have bought some necessary household items too. This is how cheap things are here. 

I mean of course it's easy to blow your money and I have been very careful about it but it is also very easy to live comfortably and eat happy for very very cheap. And keep in mind these are only personal expenses I am keeping track of. For the internet dwellers that don't personally know me but stumbled on my blog, my 6 month study abroad here is completely funded by scholarships, fellowships, and grants. So all I have to account for is my own personal expenses. If you are concerned with how expensive your entire trip will be... it will be very expensive. I received a bit less than 15kUSD in funding and I will probably only have like 200-400 of that left over that's not being used for tuition, rent, plane ticket, and all the "necessary" expenses.

Just like with anywhere else, if you go out to eat or drink it is markedly more expensive than just buying things at a convenience store. While it is still fairly cheap, you do need to look for the right places. There are 500JPY(5USD) ramen shops and there are 1000JPY(10USD) ramen shops. Just choose wisely and do some research. Your dorm mates have probably been around and your dorm leaders and dorm caretaker probably know some places so ask around or explore. Don't be afraid! Everyone is very willing to help. So willing that if you're used to being independent you may get irritated with Waseda for so much hand holding hahah.

Off topic again, so we are now back home and everyone else had begun cooking. Joanna and I invited Anne and Sasha to use our South Wing kitchen and lounge because it is a lot nicer than North Wing. I haven't looked at theirs (the two wings are physically connected though) but I'll take their word for it.

The row of appliances I was talking about in the lounge in an earlier post.

What I started at while everyone else was hard at work. Sometimes life is just so easy.
Also I think my cup has a face made of Japanese characters.

I flip through the channels and I somehow stumbled on the kids channel... SO AWESOME!!!!
POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE!!!
What I love the most about it is that there are closed captions and because it is a kid's network they even have Furigana (hiragana pronunciation over kanji) so they can follow along. Great Japanese learning tool. And Pokemon. POKEMON.

I love you Dento/Cilan. He's voiced by one of my favourite VAs, Miyano Mamoru.
Also as I was watching a commercial for POKEMON PAN (Pokemon bread, comes with a pokemon sticker) came on!
I have been looking for it and I can't seem to find it!

Patricia finished setting the table. The lady in the middle is the caretaker, Aya! She's so sweet, I feel like she's my mom.
Then we met our new dormie from Belarus! She seems awesome. We invited her to join us.

Left to right.. I may not know everyone's name, sorry!
Marina (Belarus), Joanna (Australia), Anne (Canada), (France), Sasha (Russia), Patricia (Switzerland)

Joanna.. Anne... What are you doing XD

Thanks for the awesome food guys! Sorry I didn't contribute... It was really good though! I need to take my J-CAT (Japanese language placement test) later today at 1PM.. kind of nervous for it but I guess we'll see how it goes. Also I will go back to Shibuya today and find the Apple Store on my own.... I'm gunna be brave! And get directions off Google. See ya!

Also in case you were curious, my blog posts take me about 2-3 hours to format, write, and post. That's why I get lazy sometimes hahah.