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Published: November 4th 2007
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Welcome party
AIESEC Sophia take us out for dinner They say that Tokyo is perplexing and beguiling, gaudily hung with eyeball searing neon and plagued by incessant noise (rough guide). Well I think the author was either 1) drastically exaggerating for effect or 2) on speed when he took his last trip around Tokyo.
Life in Tokyo has proved surprising straight forward so far. The subway system is much like London underground, only larger in scale. The 13 lines are simply colour coded and signs are in English as well as Katakana (a type of Japanese script). Addresses look complicated at first glance but in actual fact read backwards it tells you which district, which neighbourhood, and then in numbers which mini neighbourhood, which block and which building number. Simple! Every restaurant menu has pictures of all of the food making it easy enough to order. Outside the restaurant you'll find plastic mock-ups of all of the dishes so you can see whats on offer. This novel idea began when foreign food was firs t introduced to the Japanese and restaurants found it difficult to explain exactly what it was that they were serving. This trend caught on and now the majority of restaurants are using them.
The
'eyeball searing neon signs' are actually rather attractive. Fresh off the aeroplane my first thoughts of Shinjuku (an area of Tokyo) was that it reminded me of Times Square new York. Only in a language that i couldn't understand. The bright lights seem to add to the warmth of the city, making it feel more friendly and welcoming than any other large concrete mass of a city that i have visited. As for the noise, well i just haven't noticed it!
The journey to Tokyo was relatively pain free. From Leaving my house to arriving In Tokyo it took 18hours. The highlight had to be the man at passport control doing a double take of me and my passport and loudly declaring 'ooww now you skinny'!! Well i have never been fat or even a little bit on the chubby side! so he got the evil eye as i muttered that it was just a bad picture.
The Journey from Narita airport to my new house was far from pain free. I had of course taken the maximum baggage allowance of 46kg plus hand luggage, and my welcome party consisted of one small Japanese girl. So I found
myself negotiating the train and subway systems with a 20kg backpack on my back, a rucksack strapped to my front and a 7kg holdall in front of my rucksack in my outstretched arms! This went on for about 3 hours at which point the pain was too much and i said we had to get in a taxi. now here's the strange part, we got in a taxi outside one subway station and took it to the nearest station to my new house, where we got out. Then Manami (the Japanese girl) says 'OK, now we walk for 10 minutes'!?! Ohhhh I could have cried. it was pure agony, my arms hurt for 3 days after.
Im in Tokyo for 6months now so i'll tell you all about my flat, my job and the different districts of Tokyo over the next few blog entries. For now i'll just tell you about 2 of the more novel things I have come across in the short time that i have been here.
Novel item number 1. Japanese toilets. These appear to come in two varieties, the pleasant ones and the ones that attack you!
I came across one of the
pleasant variety whilst browsing in a designer shopping mall. it looked like a regular toilet but with a control panel sticking out of the side! well i sat down to inspect the control panel and was pleased to discover that the seat was heated! much fun was had trying all the buttons and taking pictures, 15mins later i emerged to find a huge que snaking out of the toilets and into the department store! very embarrassing.
the variety that attack can be found in numerous locations across Tokyo including at the office. well i decided to press one of the buttons and water started shooting up my back! i tried to turn it off but i couldn't so i jumped up, then it was going up the wall! i lent over to shut the toilet seat and the dam thing got me in the face! the toilet cubical (and my glasses) were completely drenched!
Novel item number 2. F-Cup Cookies. Well these were top of my list to locate having heard Scott Mills on radio one talking about them! I managed to find them in some huge shop in Shibuya (area of Tokyo) which sells everything from frog costumes
to sofa's to wigs to kitchen cabinets! The box states that all weight gain goes onto the chest and comes with a warning not to eat too many! well i can tell you, they were disgusting! but the Japanese seemed to like them!
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Ben
non-member comment
Very comprehensive nairation of your life Laura. I'll have to take a leaf to be fair. Looking forward to the rest of the blog's. x