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Published: April 21st 2011
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The Friendly Limousine Bus! So I'm finally back in Japan again! Considering it's an entirely different area and my schooling situation is quite different, even two days in it's shaping up to be much different from the last time I was here two years ago, but I'm looking forward to everything and am going to try my best! In case you didn't know beforehand, I'm studying at Meiji University, which is smack-dab in the middle of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The international dorm I'm living in is in Suginami City, about a twenty or so minute train-ride to get to the main campus in Chiyoda City.
The flight over was fairly uneventful, thankfully. The weather in Iowa and Illinois was not exactly the best for traveling, but I made it to Chicago without a hitch, and my friend Jane, who was on a later flight, ended up being delayed slightly but still made it to O'Hare with plenty of time to find our gate (located only two concourses over but of course at the very end, which made for plenty of exercise). The flight itself ended up being some 12 hours or so, but being a JAL flight, it actually had quite the amenities
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Jane and I were very excited. for exceedingly long-flights. Jane and I made much use of the 50-some American and Japanese movies there were to choose from, and they also had games (I played Tetris for a while), radio stations (I listened to Tackey and Tsubasa's new single) and of course, the ever-useful Flight Map which let us watch an animated plane traveling across the ocean and informing us of how much longer we had to stay confined in our cramped chairs.
Upon arrival, customs also went smoothly and quickly, and both of our luggage made it safely to Japan. So from there, we had to purchase airport limousine bus tickets to Shinjuku Station and then call the International Office at Meiji to inform them of when they would leave. I operated the pay-phone, Jane did the talking. Needless to say it was a bit nerve-wracking for immediate arrival in Japan. While we were waiting for the bus, we were randomly accosted by two police-officers who seemed to have nothing better to do than go around and ask to see foreigners' passports. I stay for four months in Osaka and never get asked for my passport once. I come to Tokyo and am asked within
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Waiting for the bus. an hour of touching down. Joy! But I digress, the bus trip took about an hour and a half and included much careening down tight freeways and a random conversation with a Canadian businessman in the seat opposite me.
At Shinjuku Station, we were met by our Campus Mates, Meiji students who've been assigned to help incoming foreigners with handling of forms and other various issues in settling down in Japan. Jane's was Erika, mine was Aiko. They helped us take our luggage through the jam-packed rush-hour train system to get to Izumi International House, the dorm we're staying at. They are both incredibly nice and have already helped us a lot, especially since that same night we had to fill out what seemed like a hundred forms, such as our application for alien registration, health insurance, and a few others I'm still not positive on. We were exhausted by this point, which made it that much harder, and I will admit I had to redo a few of the forms. Luckily after that we were finished, and we were able to move into our rooms which thankfully all have internet access! Needless to say, I went to bed
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My room. fairly soon after.
This morning, Jane went with Erika to get her hanko made (a stamp with your name on it they use for forms such as those for opening bank accounts), and also to turn in her forms to the Suginami City Ward Office. I'm going with Aiko and two other international students tomorrow to do the same. Because of that, I bummed around my room and unpacked everything. At 2:00 when they came back, the three of went for lunch at a nearby restaraunt, which I think is supposed to be "Gust", but it's written in Japanese as "Gasuto", where I got this strange but delicious mayonnaise and corn pizza, and then we ended up staying there almost three hours just talking. After that, Jane and I went to Meidaimae Station to explore a bit and found a Tsutaya, where I got myself a rental card, and then looked around at one of the book-stores. We also attempted to figure out how the washing machine works... it's a bit confusing, but we think we may have it figured out. I'll need to buy laundry detergent at some point.
At any rate, it's been a very long
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My little bathroom. couple of days, and I'm probably going to go to sleep pretty early again tonight as well because I'm already exhausted. Tomorrow morning it's finishing forms and such with Aiko, and then there's some kind of party for the international students at night, which means we'll take our first trip to Surugadai Campus. The day after that is our placement test day, which is slightly terrifying and I'm not really looking forward to it, but, hey, we'll see how it goes.
Yay, Japan!
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