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Published: November 8th 2006
Thank you all for being so interested in our blog, and all the nice comments.
Marc and I are beginning to settle in a bit and “find our way”. Some of you have emailed me and said I sound homesick already. Thanks for your concern and kind words - I am sorry to worry you all. I really don’t think I’m homesick (but I am sure it will come!), I think I am just a bit overwhelmed by everything. Somehow when I lived in Germany as a teenager, things didn’t seem so “foreign” as they do here. Maybe it was being younger, maybe it was that the signs and everything (though in German) were still sort of familiar as they used the “English alphabet characters.” Here some things are in Romaji (the Japanese language that uses the “English alphabet characters”), but the majority are in Kanji or Katakana or Hiragana which are the Japanese alphabet / characters, and we haven’t begun to study that yet. Besides that, the distinct cultural differences and the enormity of the city, it just seems so much more foreign to me somehow. Honestly, I am fine!!! Stop worrying about me!!!!
I know many of you are interested in our apartment hunting, but before I write about that, I am going to write about our activities since we arrived. A subsequent thread will be about the apartment hunting, I promise!
We arrived late in the day last Thursday (11/02/06), so we have been here a week today. We hit the ground running on Friday morning by going out to the US Air Force Base Yakota to get our ID cards. We are not here as part of the military in any respect, and cannot live on base. We are here though, under a “status of forces” agreement (I don’t understand it, so if you want more details, contact Marc!) so we do have use of the base facilities, such as the BX, commissary, library, theater, etc. Marc’s office is actually on the Japanese Air Force Base Fuchu (pronounced Foo-choo) but he will need to go to meetings at Yakota periodically, hence the ID cards for us both.
We were fortunate that the “site leader” for Marc’s company and his wife needed to renew their ID cards, so we were able to go with them when they drove out, rather than take the subway and trains. Unfortunately, Friday was a Japanese holiday (Culture Day) so it was a 3 day weekend, and the roads were packed. It took us about 3 hours to get there, when normally it takes about an hour. On the other hand it was nice for Marc and me because we had numerous questions for them, and they were a captive audience!! They answered so many questions for us regarding Marc’s commute to the office, shopping, doctors, utilities, apartment hunting, and on and on! Marge has met a group of expatriate ladies who get together to sew, quilt, shop, have bible studies, and on and on. Once we get settled a little bit, she said she would take me and introduce me, so I am REALLY looking forward to that.
We were able to get our ID cards, and then we went to get cell phones. What a mess!!!! Since we are under the “status of forces agreement” we do not have Japanese work visas, and we are not here with the US military. Thus, we are in this TINY little group of people that most people, both on base, and off, are not familiar with. Consequently, when we went to get our phones, it was difficult, because they (the Japanese phone company) wanted our visa or military info. Add to this that we don’t yet have a permanent address, and the fact that Marc is one of the few Americans who work on the Japanese Air Force Base, and the Japanese holiday, and the language barriers, and you have a MESS! We sent numerous faxes back & forth from the phone company office at Yakota to the company in Tokyo, and after about 5 hours, we gave up and told them we’d be back on Monday. (Things were all straightened out Monday and when Marc went to pick them up and the staff there had everything sorted out.)
Even though Bill and Marge had waited with us forever (it seemed) to sort out the phones, they graciously invited us over to see their apartment when we got back to Tokyo. It was great for me to see it as I had no idea at all what to expect, though Marc had looked at a few when he was in Tokyo back in October. Their apartment is beautiful, very contemporary. They showed us around and gave us lots of info on what to ask and what to look for when we go hunting ourselves.
Saturday morning we went “exploring”!!! My first real introduction to Tokyo! We started out at the Shinjuku station. This is the subway and train station that is commonly referred to as the busiest station in the world. In addition to being a station for both the subways and the trains, there are also two very large department stores on either end. It is an enormous complex. Next week or so, I am going to go down there during “rush hour” and take some pictures to post. You just cannot imagine the crowds unless you see them!
Marc showed me how to purchase subway tickets and we were off. We wanted to walk around several areas to get an idea of where we might want to live. Marc had identified several areas that have large expatriate communities and areas that do not. We both think we want an expatriate area so that we might fit in a bit better, meet friends more easily and have an easier time shopping. First we went to an area named Mita. While this area does not have a large expatriate population, they are building a new very large international food supermarket there, which will bring the expats. There are a lot of apartments in newer high rise buildings here, but I didn’t like the area that much. We didn’t see many expats on Saturday and it felt like there were more businesses there, than residents. So… we bought train tickets and went to the Roppongi area. Roppongi has a large expatriate community, with lots of restaurants, cafes, shopping and international food markets. Also there or very near are Hardy Barracks and the New Sanno Hotel. Hardy barracks is a very small US Army base in the city. This is where we have our APO mail box. The New Sanno Hotel is a hotel for US military personnel in the city. We will probably go to both of these places a lot as they are in the city, whereas Yakota is more than an hour away. The New Sanno has various functions periodically such as super bowl parties, Valentines Day dances, etc. We already have our reservations there for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I think this is a place that will be nice to go to when I need “a touch of home.” Bill and Marge live in this area and really seem to like it. (Just a note here, there are 6 people assigned here with Marc’s company - Mitre. I’ve already mentioned Bill and Marge. The other men all have Japanese wives and live further out of the city near their wives’ relatives). We walked around the area a bit and checked out the international food store. We didn’t get to Hardy Barracks until after the post office closed so we couldn’t pick up our mail for the first time. Marc showed me a couple of the apartment buildings he had seen on his October trip. By this time we were exhausted from walking. We took the subway back to the hotel and crashed.
We are still trying to adjust to the time changes. We are about 12 - 14 hours ahead of the States, depending on the US time zone and daylight savings time. We have been going to bed really early every night (8ish) and getting up really early too (4 or 5 ish). Each day seems a little bit better, so we are adjusting slowly.
I am a bit disappointed in the ability to see US TV here. At the hotel, we get CNN Asia which has some US news and the discovery channel. That is it for English speaking TV. Occasionally there will be an American movie on and if it has Japanese subtitles (as opposed to the character speaking Japanese over the American voices) we can watch that. When we were out at Yakota on Friday we found they have some American TV they get by satellite. The people who live on base get this as cable TV, but since we aren’t on the base we won’t. We are checking to see if we can get it when we get an apartment. We have been told the Japanese TV (not just that offered in the hotel) does not have much more American programming. Back home, I watched very little network TV, but I admit I am really suffering from withdrawal for Grey’s Anatomy. It doesn’t appear to be on the USAF cable, even if we can get it. I thought I could go to the ABC website and watch it there, but it tells me I can’t because I am outside of the US. UGH!!!!! This is going to be difficult!!!!! Any volunteers to tape it and send it to me weekly? I’ll be happy to pay you just about anything. One good thing is that I am watching the election returns on CNN as I type this. It is Wednesday mid day…. I don’t have to stay up late at night watching it at home! The other day I was watching the Japanese version of Dancing with the Stars. Too funny. Amazing how I could actually follow it with my very limited Japanese vocabulary and the judges holding up their paddles with the scores. This morning, I was watching a show for a few minutes that was meant to teach English. It was so funny, they are supposed to be teaching the Japanese English, but I was “watching it in reverse” working on my Japanese.
Sunday we went out and walked some more areas - Hiroo, Azabu-Juban and Ebisu. We are just beginning to see a bit of these areas. We haven’t yet gone to any of the parks, or done any sightseeing. We are both really sore from walking so much. We aren’t used to all the walking yet, but we are getting there. It will be great exercise for both of us.
Sunday was Marc’s 49th birthday so we splurged and went out for a really nice dinner. We went to the New York Grill in the Hyatt hotel. This is the bar / restaurant that was in the movie Lost in Translation. We picked this for a couple of reasons. One is the view. It is up on the 52nd floor and the views are amazing. (We decided we really “needed to see” Tokyo!!) The other reason was for the food as we had heard it was a really great restaurant. IT WAS. Probably the best meal I have ever had. We went a bit early so we could have a drink in the bar. Marc ordered his usual scotch on the rocks and he got (literally) scotch on the rock. Just one huge rock! For all of Marc’s “Jonnie Walker Blue” buddies, he wanted me to mention that they did not have Jonnie Walker Blue. They did however have a 1946 Macallan’s scotch for $670. Anyone for a double?
Marc finally started work on Monday. From the hotel, he takes a cab to Shinjuku station, then the train, and then it is about a 15 minute walk to his office on Fuchu Air Base. It takes him about an hour each way. This of course will change when we get an apartment, as our hotel is in a completely different area than where we are hoping to live. Eventually he will have to use a combination of busses, trains, the subway and walking. His main office is on Fuchu, but he will also spend days here in Tokyo, at Yakota, and at the Japanese Air Force Base Iruma and the Japanese Defense Agency Ichigaya. Good thing I now have a cell phone to keep track of him! We do not plan to get a car. Driving around here is nuts! Some of the streets are so small it is amazing to see the cars on them. The traffic is similar to that in NY City, and parking is a nightmare. In addition, before you can buy a car, you have to prove that you have a place to park it. Parking places at most apartment buildings run between $450 - $700 a month. Our current thinking is that when we want to go out to Yakota for grocery shopping, we will rent a car for a day, every 4 - 6 weeks. We’ll see how that goes.
In any case, Marc is now settled in at work, but it will take a while for him to get up to speed. Basically he will be doing much the same thing here (for the Japanese government) as he did in the US for our government, that is to say... Missile Defense. I did venture out a bit on my own on Monday. I went over to Shinjuku station, just to walk around the shops and department stores. The Keio Department Store is very nice, very upscale. The food section is very similar to Harrods in London. I picked up a booklet of Christmas cakes and boy was my mouth watering. So many beautifully decorated cakes and pastries! I looked around the house wares section to see the dishes, glassware, tea sets, etc. One thing I now know for certain is that it could be really expensive to live here! It is going to be torture not to buy things every time I go in the store. They have such beautiful ceramics, clocks, linens, and on and on. I am glad we didn’t fill up our allotted shipping container when we came over because I know I will fill it up in a couple of years, on the way back. No doubt about it! I was curious about the Kimonos, so I found that section too. The fabrics are so beautiful, and delicate. Next I walked over to the Odakyu Department Store. I thought it would be similar to the Keio Department Store. Wrong!!!! It was totally overwhelming! Like a Wal-Mart on steroids. They have banners and signs everywhere advertising specials and prices. These are all different sizes, and colors and just bold and “loud”! I never did find the house wares section, just floors and floors of electronics, washers and dryers, vacuums, stereos, phones, etc. Next week I’ll have to go over and take some pictures to post here, but I doubt the little pictures will do it justice. I can’t even describe it, it was just so different from anything you see in the states.
Tuesday we spent the day apartment hunting (more about that later) and today I just stayed in working on this and trying to catch up on my email. Tomorrow we are going out apartment hunting again so Friday I will write about that whole process. Stay tuned…
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Nancy P
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Arlene, thank you so much for sharing your journey with us! You're a wonderful writer. Keep it ccoming! Nancy