Saturday, March 30, 2013

Day 11: Shimoda Party


NIHONGO

     The morning I decided to start with Japanese language. I went downstairs hoping to see some Japanese people with whom I could practice some Nihongo (Japanese language). Luckily, Masa was there, and he was happy as usually to help me out. 
      I taught him Russian alphabet. Japanese language doesn't have as many sounds as Russian does. But Japanese people are really good in writing, as they have to memorize thousands of Kanji (signs). They actually have to memorize not only kanji itself, but also stroke order in kanji. For some European student I had writing Russian alphabet was not that easy, but Masa easily copied all the letters that I wrote. He was only writing it in a little strange way, but the letters looked perfect. 
     In our dorm many devices talk to residents. For example water heater tells you something, elevator tells you something. I couldn't understand what they say, thus I asked Masa to translate it for me. Turned out, that the elevator was saying something "Please be careful, doors are closing(opening). Thank you" and floor numbers. The water heater in the bathroom was telling me not to forget to plug the bath before I turn on the water so that I don't lose water. Really funny stuff. 



Shimoda party

    Shimoda students village was having a party for exchage students today. So we went there of course... Hehe. For 500 JPY (4 euro) you got a name tag, snacks and unlimited alcohol. Unlimited alcohol was quite a fun one: 5 liter plastic bottles of whiskey, some Japanese beer with fruit flavors and 3% alcohol, juices, tequila and vodka. Mostly international students were there, however few Japanese also joined. In a while some of the students-organizers from Japanese side were out sleeping on the chairs. 
      We went quite strong with many "bottom-ups". The party started at 7 and at 9:30 organizers started to kick us out. It took around half an hour but they managed it. It was really fun but short party with magic whiskey that hits straight to head.

KAROKE

        Some students headed to the center of Tokyo to a club. We decided to stay around Hiyoshi and a Japanese student purposed to take us to Karaoke. Japanese Karaoke!!! Yeahhhh
     The Karaoke place was open till 5 in the morning and we arrived there around 12. We were split into groups (6-7 people per group). We stayed in our awesome CEMS group. The deal was: 10 Euro per person for 2 hours unlimited singing and one non-alcoholic drink included. There were many songs in English. On top of English words you could see Katakana (Japanese characters used for words taken from English). The remote control for choosing songs was complex as it's menu was completely in Japanese (mostly in Kanji) and we didn't have our master of Kanji (Larry) with us... 
       Somehow we managed to figure it out and had lot's of fun, especially singing Gangnam Style and some other songs, we have never heard before. 
      When we were leaving, the place still seemed busy. Many rooms were still occupied by Japanese singers. Seemed like there was only one guy there working, doing all sorts of activities from bringing drinks to cash desk. 

RAMEN 

      Hiyoushi station is famous for its Ramen restaurants. Ramen is a soup with with noodles and often with meat or seafood. We were considering visiting Mc'Donalds, but our Japanese guide suggested to visit a ramen restaurant. 
      Imagine, 15 foreigners coming in a small ramen restaurant in the middle of the night (also drunk). To get ramen, you had to pay at a special machine at the entrance and then take a seat at a bar. The bar is built around the kitchen, so while sitting at the bar you can watch how everything is cooked. The workers seemed really friendly and happy to see us. For 600 JPY (5 Euro) we each received a huge plate of delicious Ramee soup and a bowl of rice to it. Few guys who didn't order anything also got some food for free. What a great place and great hospitality! The soup was really delicious and filling, exactly what we all needed after a drunken night. 
     I worked in a restaurant before in Russia and I know that employees and cooks are never happy, when a group of people comes in the middle of the night and orders something. I know that Japanese culture is absolutely different and based on mutual respect. Japanese workers of Ramen restaurant showed great hospitality, but I am still wondering, if it was on the outside only. What were they thinking? "Stupid foreigners came here, why!!!" or they didn't think this way... Hope that by the end of this Japanese journey I will be able to understand people here a lot better. 

Friday, March 29, 2013

Day 10: Kawasaki-shi adventures

MOVING IN TO THE DORM


      Today I have finally figured it out... Every day, regardless of the day of the week, big and small trucks are parked in front of our dormitory and workers carry millions of boxes inside. Before I was thinking, that some floors of the building were not yet finished (it is a new building and just got constructed). But I was wrong, all the rooms are finished.
      Finally Japanese people explained, that those are transportation companies bringing stuff of the students. Students move in the dorm for a long period of time and their rooms are not as equipped as ours (only bed, a table and a cupboard and a chair). Thus their parents buy TVs, washing machines, microwaves, other kitchen equipment, lamps, chairs and more things. They usually have to hire a transportation company for that because it is really a lot of things. I remember when I was living in dorms in St.Petersburg, it was a little different. =) 



ABANDONED BIKES

      As usually we went for a run with Ondrej. Today we took a new root in a new neighbourhood. Along the way we spotted a garbage place with a few bikes there. Apparently, their owners didn't want those bikes anymore and wanted to get rid of those. We decided to take a closer look. The bikes were not new, on with rusty chain, but still in a great condition. Wow, great success for us! We don't need to by a bike now! That's what we were thinking until we figured out that the bikes were locked. All Japanese bikes have a small lock on the back wheel. So Japanese people do lock their bikes, we just didn't notice the locks before... 
     Having looked around, in a pile of trash we spotted 3 more old bikes. We decided to leave them there. But other 2 newer bikes were definitely still in a good condition and no one needed them anymore. Why do people lock a bike when they throw it away... This is what we couldn't and still can't understand... If someone can explain that to me, please do! 



PACKAGED FOOD 

     Prices in Tokyo are really high. It is one of the most expensive cities in the world for a while. What I found interesting, is that often to cook yourself is more expensive than to buy already cooked meal from a supermarket. 
     In Japanese supermarkets there is a great variety of cooked packaged food in a range from 2-5 euro. From sushi and maki to rice with salads and meat. You simply need to pick one (of many) and heat it up in a microwave. Eating habits here in Japan are definitely different from those in countries I have lived before. Apparently I am not the only one buying this packaged cooked food, as every day supermarkets have it in quite high quantities.
     Around a hundred meters from the dorm there is a place that sells only cooked packaged food. You can choose either from already cooked sets or order a set or a meal and wait around 10 minutes before they will cook and package it for you. Once I picked up a set of packaged rice with meat and salad and wanted to pay. The lady started to explain me something, but with my not yet high level of Japanese I couldn't understand what it was about. Turned out, that the packaged food I wanted to buy was already outdated (if this food is not sold in a few hours it goes to waste). So they asked me to pick another set and threw the initial one away. This is how it should be! Really impressive. 

JAPANESE POLICE

Here is a scene of Japanese police kicking out illegally parked cars. Japanese-style. 


BIRTHDAY PARTY 

     The first unproductive in terms of activities day so far (had to work till the evening). As I couldn't concentrate anymore, I went downstairs to hang out. Today was a birthday of Japanese students, our residence assistant, Kyohei and the people were supposed to gather downstairs in a small room to celebrate.

     The Japanese birthday seems to be a little different from European or Russian one. People were just hanging out and talking and drinking tea with Japanese cakes. The birthday party was supposed to start downstairs at 20:00 and last till 22:00. That is exactly what happened, 5 minutes to ten everyone left the room and went to a park to continue celebrations there. 
     By that time, our CEMS students have all arrived to our dorm and we decided to occupy the small common room downstairs. Kotani-san was awesome as always. He told us stories, that he has been to Prague and to Lisboa, and to Vienna. He said, that in Vienna he stayed all the time in heurigers (traditional wine places around the city). He kept filling our cups with different tea flavors and bringing his Japanese cakes and other sweets. I was wondering, where is all that supply from... Apparently, when Japanese students move in the dorm, the first time they come with parents and it is polite to bring some sweets or presents to the residence chief (in our case Kotani-san). 

     Seems like our CEMS people also liked Kotani-san a lot, as they were impressed by his hospitality and great English (unusual for Japanese person of his age). The phrase of the day by Kotani-san: "Take it easy, guys!" LOL 


Thursday, March 28, 2013

DAY 9: Helpful nation


HELPFUL NATION & BAZAAR

     Japanese people are amazing! In our dorm there is a guy called Masa. He is always downstairs helping Kotani-san. And he also helps us a lot.
     Today was the day of announcement of Japanese language placement test results. We could see them at Mita or Hiyoshi campus. We invited Masa to accompany us and he was happy to do that. As usual we didn't know where to go... Neither me nor Ondrej. Not because we didn't know where the place we were looking for was located, simply because we didn't know what place we were looking for. After wondering around, we figured out the location. We found the board with the results: great, level 1-2. 
     We heard from other CEMS student, that today was the day of sale of kitchen stuff  in Hiyoshi International House dorm. We needed some things thus we decided to go there, traditionally not knowing where it was located. Luckily we found an ad in the wall of international office about this sale with an address. We grabbed a random Japanese guy and asked if he knew where it was. He started to search on his mobile. It took quite a while. Then he asked to wait, took our Japanese guy (Masa) and left... In around 10 minutes they came back with a printout of a map. Awesome! Some random guy has done such a effort to help us out. But it wasn't done yet. He said, that he would show us how to get there. Really??? This is not the first time it happened to ask when we asked for a direction, a person took us to a place instead of just explaining how to get there. The place was 10 minutes walking distance from the campus. Outside there were few things for free takeaway (hangers, kitchen towels). Then we were invited to go inside to a small room full of cups, plates and stuff of this kind. Japanese ladies ruling that place (around 5 ladies many years of age) were happy to see foreigners there and were asking where we were from. A young looking energetic woman came to me and asked where I went to school here in Tokyo. I said Keio. She replied that all ladies in the room were Keio graduates and and she had graduated 57 years ago (she said she was 81 now). She was so little but sooo energetic! Speaking quite good English! I was really impressed. 
    We managed to pick up lots of things for our kitchen and paid around 4 Euro for all the things. Now our kitchen was fully equipped and ready for guests. 

GUESTS

     CEMS group hasn't been together in a while, thus we decided to have a dinner at Shimoda dorm. We got some noodles from the supermarket and went to the common kitchen they have. It was a nice evening with lots of laughs. As we were officially signed in as guests, we had to leave at 10. However as usually we didn't want to stop on that and decided to show Celine and Joana (our CEMS colleagues) our dorm and how life goes here. 
     We arrived at Motosumiyushi. Kotani-san has met us downstairs friendly and happy as always. A big group of Japanese students was hanging out in our "hanging out room" and they were happy to see us. The first thing they gave us was some Japanese sweets and tea. Then Kotani-san (as always) brought some more sweets and cakes. The people in the room were quite young (18-19 yo), but we were happy to meet them. Guys were shy and gathered outside the room discussing something. Girls were sitting with us asking many questions about where we were from. One of the first questions of one young girl was: do you have facebook? I said that I didn't use it so often... The guys outside seemed to like Joana very much. The bravest one came and asked us if she had a boyfriend. After a while, another guy was literally pushed into the room by others. He said: "Hello! my name is ..." (looking at Joana). Then he attempted to leave the room, but the others pushed him back in and told him to continue. He continued: "I am 19 years old". He tried to go out again, but they wouldn't let him out. Then he said something else and finally others let the poor guy leave the room. 
     The girls seemed to like us also. One of the girls who asked about facebook came to me with her phone and asked to spell my name so that she could add me (here I couldn't say no...). Now I have a new facebook friend! 
     We stayed for another little while. I was hoping that Kotani-san's whife would come out, but it was quite late and apparently she was already in bed. CEMS girls said, that their dorm was completely different and they would come visit us again to talk to more Japanese people. 

RANDOM FACT

     Every evening around Hiyoshi station after 11 o'clock you can see people queuing. I was wondering why...  In Russia they sometime queue waiting for a marshrutka (a small bus). Here it was different. People were waiting in line for a taxi. The line was moving quickly, but there were around 40 people standing. Impressive.

VIEW FROM THE BALCONY






Wednesday, March 27, 2013

DAY 8: Motosumiyoshi day

MOTOSUMIYOSHI STUDENTS DORMITORY ORIENTATION

     First rainy day in Tokyo so far. Going out from the dormitory in the morning, we were able to pick up one of the umbrellas that Kotani-san gives for free use for all dormitory residents. Today we had to travel to the Mita Campus in the center of Tokyo again - it was an orientation day for international students living in our dorm. 
     Today we were lucky enough to catch an express train. As I have already written, the train system in Tokyo is very complicated. On top of that, on every line there are different types or trains: local (stopping on every station), express (skipping some stations and going faster) and super express with few stop but very high speed.

     Back to the story. We have arrived at the campus on time. Luckily, we have met some other exchange students on the way and they told us the room number. In Keio university room numbers look like this A584 which would mean it is in a block A in the building 5, room number 84. We were prepared as usual... But we found the place. 
     There were all exchange students from our dorm. We have 11 floors in the dorm, 4th floor is only male floor with only exchange students and two Japanese residence assistants, 5th floor is a female floor. Other floors are for Japanese students, so we do not have many internationals in Motosumiyoshi. On top of that, most of the incoming students are from Asian countries. 
     Before we arrived to Japan, two times we were sent an email with residence rules and regulations. Upon arrival we were given a print out of residence rules and regulations (same). In the orientation we were given this print out again. The best thing about it, the whole orientation was held in Japanese and translated into English. Every rule and regulation was read out loud for us in Japanese and explained, than translated to English. Lots of fun! Japan :) 

JAPANESE HISTORY LESSON

     During the orientation we have met a girl from Russia, her name was Julia. She studies Japanese history at SPbSU in Saint-Petersburg. With her and Ondrej (he is always with me) we have taken a lunch (delicious and cheap curry with meat and rice). On the way back to the dorm we asked Julia to tell us more about history of Japan. Here are few things that I remember from the story: 
     Japan as a country started 600 years b.c. An emperor was believed to be sent from God. This is the only country in the world where the dynasty of the emperor still the same. 
      It was interesting to know, that Japan has signed deimplementation agreement with US after the loss of WW2 and keeps prolonging it. Japan now has no army, only special forces for internal purposes. 
We have also discussed possible reasons of Japanese technological superiority: primary as a combination of working culture and some other factors etc.        

SPORTS CENTER

     Even though we run every day, going to a fitness canter to do some weights was not such a bad idea. Inside the school of media design at Hiyoushi campus there is a sports center. 
      We have arrived there. The place looks nice and big. Luckily one of the sports center employees could speak English well (she studied in London for a while). We learned everything we wanted about conditions and pricing. Quite expensive: 70 Euro per month as discounted students price. 
      We asked for a tour around the location. Everything looks nice. There is an area with machines and weights, a swimming pool and a sauna. Everything a student needs to be healthy and happy. The only thing we were doubting about was the price 
      We heard, somewhere on campus there was another sports center where   student pay per entry (300 yen). Seems like a better deal. 

RESIDENCE PARTY

      The evening was busy. At 7 our dorm was having a welcome party for exchange students in a traditional Japanese bar. 
     Before that we went for a run (and a roller-blade ride) to Shimoda student village (another dorm where most CEMS students lived). On the way back we realized, that the meeting time for the party was in 20 minutes. So we did our best. Ondrej was much faster down the hill as I had no wheels only legs. So he was way ahead. At some point I lost him... When I got to the dorm, I asked Kotani-san if Ondrej had been there yet. She said she hadn't seen him yet. I ran back out, made a few circles in the area and returned to the dorm: and here he was! Dressed and ready for the party... Wow, it is really difficult to get around without a phone.
     A quick shower was taken and I was ready to go. The place was located not far from Hiyoshi metro station. It is a traditional Japanese bar where people sit without shoes. The only person who took of the shoes and put on slippers was Ondrej. In a minute a waiter came explaining that those slippers were only for going to the toilet and people were supposed to be barefoot at the table.
    We had a 7-course meal with lots of traditional meals. The best part of the day was all-you-can-drink. The price per person was 3500 (30 Euro), for those not drinking alcohol 2500. In Japan drinks are really expensive, that is why it was a good deal.

Photo by Kyohei Otsuka
     It was great fun getting to know other people, learning some more Japanese and eating amazing food. Some people were playing drinking games and saying "kampai" (Japanese "cheers"). The place was closing at 10 so we were asked to leave the place. We headed back to the residence, few quite drunk. Upon arrival, some still didn't want to finish like that as it was only 11. We bought a few beers in the local shop and went to a secret room that Kotani-san allowed us to use. Kotani-san actually joined us around 12 for an hour and then went to bed. What a great person!
  We talked and discussed various things until 3 in the morning. As most of the guys had to be at school early next morning, we finally decided to go to bed. Great day!



 

Monday, March 25, 2013

DAY 7: Japanese Language Test


JAPANESE LANGUAGE TEST

     This morning we had to take a Japanese placement test in order to determent our level for language classes. In orded to come to the test, we needed to register beforehand online. Than we had to remember the registration number, print out a registration form, fill it out, adding the registration number and glueing a photo not older than 3 months. We were also required to bring copies of two sides of our residence card (this is how mine looks like) and student card (here it my student card). Luckily, there are printers and copy machines in every convenience store around. I went to one early this morning. I was able to make copies easily (5 yen per copy) and wanted to print from usb stick... DIdn't work out. I asked the employee of the store to help me, she struggled. Then the head of the store came, but he also wasn't able to figure out how to print the thing... So I left without accomplishing such an important task. 
     To be ontime for he test and print out our documents on the way, me and Ondrej left our dorm a little earlier. However after a few minute of walking,  I realized that I forgot to take my registration number (which was written on a piece of paper). On the way back somehow a folder with Ondrej's documents opened and some of the papers flied away... It was sooooo fun to look at a white guy running around in the middle of the busy crossroad trying to chase some papers that kept flying away from him. In the end we made it: papers were collected, forms were printed out in another convenience store. 
     We arrived at the test place 10 minutes before it's start. Registered. Each student was assigned a seat in a room according to registration number. When everyone was there, a Japanese guy in a suit started his announcement. Regardless of the fact, that some of the people in the room spoke zero Japanese, he started to say everything in Japanese (however translating after to English). The best thing was when he said in Japanese: "those who have never studied Japanese please leave the room and go to another one". =) 
The test was quite difficult from my point of view with a lot of guessing. In had a listening comprehension and grammar part in it. The second part of the test was for more advanced students (composition). All not advanced students were allowed to leave the room after the first part of the test was over. 

BANK

     Opening a Japanese bank account was required. Even though, we are staying here for only 4 months, university staff said, that we might get permission to open an account (sounds promising). 
    We arrived in a bank with a group of international students. The bank was located close to Keio university, thus they had lots of experience dealing with internationals. They counted us, gave us a number and after sometime invited all to come to special backroom. We all were given a sheet of paper to fill out. As usually, only in Japanese. The lady could also only speak Japanese. Lukcily, we had a sample on the table and some of us knew some kanji (so not all of us simply copied gender as female to our forms). We stayed there for about an hour filling in the form. The lady asked, if someone wanted a credit card. Few guys did. They have received another long form completely in Japanese. Lol
     In Japan most of the people have their personal stamp (seal) that they carry around. As we didn't have one, we had to come up with a 4-digit number and our signature to it. From now on it was our stamp-signature for bank purposes. 
      It seemed, that even that people didn't speak much English, they were extremely nice, polite and willing to help. Great experience. 

LIVING IN JAPAN: ORIENTATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

     All exchange students had to attend an orientation session about Japanese culture.A very funny a nice lady with perfect English and Filipino origin has told us many interesting things about Japan. Here are few that she has mentioned: 
- girls shouldn't ride a bicycle with knees out (knees got to be facing inside)
- expectations don't always match reality. Don't be biased. Don't expect too much and too high. 
- in general things take a long more time in Japan than in Europe
- Japanese seem to love rules and regulations. They have so many of those. 
- what Europeans consider polite can be different here, beautiful and ugly, delicious and bad tasting are also different. 
- event time vs. actual time. Japanese are very punctual, but some of them live not by actual time, but by event time. It means that next event starts only after another is finished. 
- in the supermarket you don't necessarily have to say thank you. They don't expect that. You don't have to respond to the nice gestures in the stores or to the words. 
- plants in pots  are not allowed to bring to the hospital when you are visiting because it means that you want the person to stay there longer. 
- Japanese people have special envelopes for funerals and for wedding. You are supposed to put money in that envelope. How much money? It is always written on the back of the envelope.
- another tabu is to stick  chopsticks in a bowl of rice. This is done when someone died. 




SIGHTSEEING

     As we were already in the center of the city  and transportation was extremely expensive, we decided to have a look around. A 15 minutes walk took us to a beautiful tower with a great view from the top (which we didn't enjoy as we didn't go up). 
     After visiting the tower, we headed to one of the most beautiful locations in Tokyo during this season : Naka-Maguro metro station. There along the river a garden of cherry trees is planted. THat place is simply amazing! Blooming sakura lighted up with Japanese traditional orange lights. It felt like warm Christmas time, as people were walking around enjoying the view and drinking champagne from glasses. The place is very romantic and many Japanese people came there with their girlfriends. Some have made a picnic along the cannel right on the asphalt.














     Being tired from a long day, we decided to make a stop and eat something traditional. Luckily we had Larry with us who was in Japan before. We found a restaurant that Larry knew ( a chain restaurant) and went it. It was a great choice. TO get to the table, we had to take off our shoes and place them in a special box. From the menu we ordered one from everything and decided to share all meals to try it all. Really amazing meal! Here are a few pictures. Thanks to Larry and a great company! 


LANGUAGE LESSON AND ORIGAMI

     The day was not yet over. Downstairs in our dorm we met some Japanese people and decided to chat with them. After Kotani family came down and brought some tea and sweets. 
     I have asked them about origami. Turned out, that Kotani-san's wife has many books and knows a lot of origami. When I was little, my grandmother brought a huge box of origami paper and a book from Japan. I used to do that often and now it reminded of my childhood. 
     As we had a great opportunity, we decided to study some Japanese with locals. Ondrej who speaks 0 Japanese was wondering about pick up lines in Japanese and was tought things like: "You are beautiful" and "let's go with me for a cup of green tea". Very interesting culture that I begin to fall in love with more and more.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

DAY 6: The first day on campus


FIRST FOGGY DAY

     Monday. The first rainy day in Tokyo so far. Today we had to get to the center of the city where the main campus of Keio University is located. It takes approximately 35 minutes on metro from the dorm to the Mita campus. In the morning Kotani San met us leaving the dorm and kindly notified that it was raining outside and we could borrow some umbrellas. We thanked him for hiss kindness, but decided to go without an umbrella. People say, that in summer there is real rain here in Tokyo, so everyone should better carry one around. I have noticed, that in front of some buildings and supermarkets there are boxes with umbrellas. Apparently, those are free to take and use. 

MITA CAMPUS EXCHANGE STUDENTS ORIENTATION

     The Mita campus is located in the center of Tokyo, close to the Mita subway station. The ride from our dorm to there is 16 stations and costs 380JPY one way. The campus is well integrated with buildings around, so it is not so easy to find it.
East entrance to Mita campus of Keio university

     As usually, me and Ondrej were extremely prepared, so to find the correct location, we simply followed a group of exchange student who were heading to the exchange students orientation. We arrived 5 minutes late, but somehow no CEMS students were there... We figured there had been something wrong. After looking at some info papers we had from before, we figured out that CEMS orientation has started in another building 10 minutes ago. We rushed out and luckily the other building was not far away. So we arrived there 10 minutes late - great job doing creating such an important first impression on other CEMSies and especially on Japanese people. 
     The orientation itself was nice and useful, with 10000 papers to fill in and more to turn in later.
CEMS Students orientation

CAFETERIA

      After the orientation, we had some time to have a look at the university cafeteria. We managed to find the building. Looks quite similar to European Menza. You take a tray, then pick your dishes and then pay. The prices are acceptable, however the choice is very strange for a European. Additionally, the plates are small as well as portions, so I ended up with 5 different plates on my tray. There is also a possibility to take a "special menu". I had a piece of meat, miso soup, coffee, salad with some meat, big bowl or rice - everything for 555 JPY. Quite a good price and tasty food. In the middle of the room where everyone is eating there is a table with chop sticks, spoons and lots of spices and sauces. 
     After you are done with eating, you have to first separate your used items: put hashi to a box with hashi, spoons to another box. All the plates remain on the tray and you simply put the train on a machine that automatically takes it away to the kitchen. 
     The school hasn't started you, so the cafeteria was quite empty. I guess at the "rush hour" it will be really packed. Let's see. 

REGISTRATION IN THE CITY HALL

      Upon arrival in Japan, everyone has to register in the period of 14 days. Otherwise there is a deportation possibility or a find of 200000 yen. 
     Today was the day we wanted to have it done. So as usually Ondrej and me have decided to follow our CEMS colleagues who lived in another dorm to the registration hall. 
     The registration hall is located 4 stations down our subway line from Hyoushi station. When we arrived there, friendly staff have showed us that there was information available in English (and Portuguese by the way). When we came to an English info desk, an elderly lady but in a great shape has approached us. SHe asked in perfect British-English: Would you like to register your residence in Japan? THis was the first person I met in Tokyo who spoke English so good. She was really helpful and started to explain how to fill in the form which was completely in Japanese. In a few minutes she figured out, that our guys and us did not live in the same dorm. So it turned out, that we were again at a wrong place... Second time in one day! We needed to go to another registration office, which was located 4 metro stations away... The lady was once again nice to print out a map for us and explain everything in detail. 
     In half an hour or so we were close to the place. But as the map she had given us was not so detailed, we were not sure to which building we should go. So we entered one. It turned out to be a hospital or something. We have asked how to get to the place we needed, the guy there asked if we spoke any Japanese. Than he came out from his desk and said to follow him. We came out of the building and followed him. In a few minutes we were already entering the correct building, still following him. He asked staff there where we could get some info in English and a staff member has showed us a way. We thanked the gentleman as it was really nice of him to show us the way. 
     One of the employees there spoke English too and she was able to find samples about how to fill in documents in English. Even though the samples were in English, we struggled for quite a long time... Until we saw some guys from our dorm with Kanae, a Japanese student and a residence assistance at the girls floor. We were now safe! It took us another 15 minutes to figure out how to fill out other forms. Then we simply gave them and needed to wait. It was an electronic queue, so we were assigned a number and had to follow the screen until our number would show up. The wait was around an hour and we appeared to be the last people at the whole registration hall. But we did it! It was done! The toughest thing was accomplished!
At the Ward office

JAPANESE RESTAURANTS: OKONOMIYAKI

     As Kane was really nice to spent 3 hours of her time helping us at the registration office, we all decided to invite her for dinner in a traditional Japanese restaurant that she would pick. She was not exactly sure where to go but finally she remembered a good place near our home base - Hiyoshi station. 
     I would never be able to find that place without here. We entered. The place was packed with people, most of them were sitting on a floor and eating from low tables. We took a normal table with chairs. In the middle of the table there was a huge frying pan. So the concept of the restaurant: cook it yourself. You receive a plate of ingredients that you choose. On top of it is usually mean or fish. YOu start by frying it. Then you mix all the other ingredients in the plate. After you put those on the pan too, trying to create a fat pancake. Then you put already cooked meet that you started to fry before on top of your pancake and flip it around. Then you add dried tuna skin, soy souse and some spices on top, cut it and serve. Ready to go! Really fun and inexpensive place with a great concept! I suggest everyone to try a place like that! Here are few pictures and vids from a place.






DAY 5: First Sunday in Japan


     In Japanese sunday means a day of sun (like in English). This day of sun was actually the first day in Tokyo so far without sun is´itself. But the e´weather was still very warm and nice. 
     Today the first time I slept in and woke up at 7 and not at five, probably bacause lack of sleep last night. After taking a bowl of rice and a coffee, I woke Ondrej up and we decided to go for a run in an hour or so.

SUNDAY IN JAPAN

     This was our first day of sun in Japan. But there is a big difference with Vienna, where nothing is open on Sunday. A convenience store around the corner is 24-7, so the morning coffee for 150 yen ( 1,2 Euro) I bought there. 
      Kotani San and his family were up quite early and greeted us with sadomasochism's (good morning). Additionally, the people were still moving in to the dorm, even on Sunday. As I have noticed, parents were helping most of the students to move in. Few of them had some tables and chairs with them, so I guess the rooms of Japanese students will be even more equipped than mine. 
     Today we took another running route. To be more precise, I rook a running route and Ondrej a roller-blading route, as he is roller-blading while I am running. We went in the direction of Motosumiyoshi metro station. The area is very nice, people are nice and friendly. Some stare at us as if we were Gaijins (foreigners). LOL
     We found a great small stream with beautiful sakura on the  sides. It took us to a large sports ground with a couple football fields and baseball diamond. There very many Japanese there, many were practicing sports, while elderly people were looking at youngsters competing. THat is a great way to spend Sunday morning. Now I started thinking, that Japanese sports culture is stronger, than I thought. 

SHIMODA STUDENTS DORMITORY

     Before we went there, Ondrej and I decided to visit another dorm (Shimoda). It is an international students dorm mostly, thus the rules there are not as strict as in our dorm. We entered easily by accompanying a random guy that we met in front of the entrance. Than without knowing, in which rooms our friends were, we easily managed to find it, as each room had a name of the student in front of it. There are 4 floors in the building, each floor has a shared kitchen. We arrived at the place around 7 in the evening, but there was no one eating, quite a quiet place. 
      Borislav had a little bottle of rice wine and was kind enough to share it with us. Larry, our colleague from Taiwan, has mentioned that in rice wine you have to look at percentage on the label. This percentage indicates how much rice was washed of at the preparation process. The wines with percentage under 50 are of superior quality' have a different name and cost starting from 10000 JPY. We had a little bottle with 70%, quite a new taste for me. 

RUNNING SUSHI

     This evening we decided to attend a traditional Japanese running sushi restaurant. The place was quite small with a relatively strong fish smell. We all took a seat around a sushi bar. It was a time to do all preparations before the meal. First we had to take a box with powdered green tea and put two scoops in a cup, than added hot water to it. I should call the taste very specific. At the next step we added soya sauce mixed with wasabi to  special plate and opened hashi (chopsticks). Now we were finally set and ready. 
     The sushi were passing by. You would only have to grab a plate of sushi that you liked. Each plate had 2 sushi on it, however the golden plate had one piece of sushi (those were tuna sushi for example). After you are done the staff simply counts your plates and you pay 105 JPY per plate (a little less than 1 Euro). Great experience! I'll come again after I learn all the names of the fish and other ingredients they put on sushi :)

BIKING CULTURE

     Japanese have a very strong biking culture. Many people have bikes, however to see a nice mountain bike or professional bike is rare. Japanese people usually do not lock their bikes. Bikes for Japanese are used as a means of transportation from home to closest metro station or to a groceries store. The distances in Tokyo are really long, thus traveling by bike is not really possible. By the way, buying a car is only permitted if you have a confirmed spot on a parking lot. 
     So everyone has one of those classical bikes looking like this. (Photo). The interesting thing about this, as bicycles are really cheap here, many people leave them unattended, because utilizing them is expensive. So there are many bikes on the streets of Tokyo that belong to no one. Police goes around bikes' parking lots and marks the bikes that have to be removed by their owners (if they are left unattended for long time). If the bike that was marked remains there for a long time and will be removed. As I understand, the bikes can be resold or demolished after. There are few places when it is possible to buy a removed bike. From what I heard, it is possible to get a bike in a great condition for up to 6000 Yen, which is really cheap in Austrian standards, however very expensive by Holland's standards (at least that is what Borislav said).