Jord in Japan

I’ve arrived! In my head it all still seems like an elaborate trick. Or that I’m just in some other place in Australia. I haven’t seen much yet, I’ve only really explored the main street of my city, Chofu, but here is a list of things I wasn’t expecting:

1. You aren’t treated that differently.
   Despite so many people saying that they immediately had people coming up to them asking if they needed any help, I haven’t experienced this at all. So far everyone has treated me like everyone else, which is nice. I haven’t even had any strange suspicious glances others have warned me about. Maybe I don’t look confused enough? Or maybe I just haven’t been here long enough.
2. Its not that easy to use English.
   Really, all shop assistants speak Japanese by default, only a few know much English. Which is good, I need to be forced into the habit of speaking Japanese.
3. People on the street handing stuff out sometimes hand out useful things!
   Its not always flyers, they’re not always trying to sell you something (at least, not directly). Today I was given a handy pack of tissues courtesy of the SoftBank phone company
4. The crossing lights have progress indicators!
   Seriously, you can actually see how much longer you have to wait, or how long before the light goes red again. So if its green, you can decide whether or not you need to run to get across the road! Such a simple but smart idea.
5. How cheaply you can get a meal.
   The concept of buying an entire meal with one coin is new to me. I went to uni refectory for lunch yesterday, got a whole bowl of ramen noodles with egg, veges, plus drink for about 450 yen ($6). An equivalent meal in Australia would be around $12. A Mcdonalds breakfast this morning cost me the same, for hottokeeki, hashupoteito, and orenji juusu. And yes, there are vending machines everywhere.

Things I was expecting

1. Its cold. Really really cold.
   But, everywhere inside is heated.
2. People smoke a lot.
   Walking into McDonalds and smelling cigarette smoke was a surprise. Generally though there are smoking and non-smoking areas everywhere.
3. Everyone is helpful, and very polite.
   Though it is hard to know how polite to be in return (eg if you are too polite in shops, you will get strange glances and blank faces)

My Dormitory

So my dormitory is small, but actually not as small as expected. I’m on the bottom floor, the very first door when walking into the dormitory entrance. I’ve been warned that the bottom floor has a cockroach problem, but I don’t have any food yet so its not problem.. yet.

The picture above shows the dormitory from the front area. On the left is the bathroom, and the right is the kitchen. There is a wardrobe on the right past the kitchen.

The view from my window, a cherry blossom tree

The kitchen. A stove, sink, fridge, cupboard. No oven

This is the bathroom. Notice there is no toilet.

But then.. it appears!

Big flush, small flush

As of today I have all my courses approved for study in Japan, which means my application is nearly ready to submit!

Just need to take a passport sized photo, and I should be finding out very soon if I’m approved! Then I can get started on the Uni’s application, as well as getting my student visa etc.

..about going to study in Japan next year that I’ve already set up a blog for it!

Well, its not confirmed whether I will be going or not just yet, I still need to get everything organised – and get accepted. However if everything doesn’t work out, I will definitely be going to Japan in the summer holidays (December or January).

Anyways, this is just a blog to keep family and friends updated, rather than via email. I won’t update this often from now until I leave, apart from the occasional update on the progress of my application.

I’ll be doing my best to get into study next April at the University of Electro-Communications (電気通信大学) in a city called Chofu (near Tokyo). I have about a month left from now until my application with UQ is due.