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Being a serious amateur photographer, Paola has a mid to high priced camera, whereas I have a consumer level snaphot camera. While we were in Ginza yesterday, Paola was complaining that she couldn’t take pictures that she was satisfied with, especially at night. I told her that she should learn to fiddle with the different settings of her camera, and I was a little disappointed that she didn’t know how to change some settings to take better pictures.
It so happens that all of my fiddling with camera settings today at the different temples that we went to did not work out for me. When we finally looked over all of our pictures over the past couple of days, Paola had a lot of nice pictures, whereas many of my pictures were too grainy, or washed out, apparently because of the camera settings since it was a pretty bright day.
That said, since this is my blog, and I am a bit jealous of Paola’s pictures being better than mine, all of the pictures from the last couple of days that are on this blog are mine.
Also, I have a lot of video that I still have to upload to my website. You will soon be able to see what it is to walk around some of these temple sites. If you cannot yet see any of the videos that I have uploaded, download and install Quicktime from this address:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
My video page is:
http://george.tsouris.net/videos.htm
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Senso-ji Temple
Down the street and two train stops from Ueno park is the Senso-ji temple. It is the biggest, and perhaps the most sacred temple in Tokyo. More than just a temple, it is a huge complex with many different halls temples, and statues. At the front of complex is a large gate that is guarded by statues of the gods of thunder, and rock and roll, errr, lightning. In the middle of the gate, hanging from the top, is a giant traditional Japanese lantern. Once we walked through the gate, we are greeted by a one or two hundred meter path that has little shops on both sides, selling traditional Japanese wares, like dolls, kimonos, prints, and even giant robot Gundam models.
Once we got past all the shops, we saw another large gate that looked very much like the first. This was the beginning of the large temple complex. Off to the right there were two Buddha statues and a small little temple to pray at. Up more from there was a medium sized temple. Off to the left there was a tall five story Pagoda over the residence halls for the abbots.
The main temple in the middle, however, overwhelmed the whole complex. In front of the temple was another fountain that we had seen at other temples, sort of like holy water. It was much bigger than any of the other temples that we had come across. Like the gates, there was a large lantern hanging over the entrance of the temple. Further inside, one could see an beautiful interior that was closed off, but visible. It looked as thought it might be the Buddha’s living room. Many Japanese people walked up and dropped some change in the proper place, and bowed their heads in a silent and brief prayer.
I wandered off to the left of the complex, where there were a few other smaller temples. I came across a small garden with large stone plaques to some people (I don’t know who, or what they did to deserve a plaque in such an seemingly important place). So happened my second encounter with a Japanese man today. The man looked like an abbot or priest, as he was dressed up in important looking robes. He said something like “good pictures,” then a lot of Japanese that I didn’t understand. He then motioned for me to give him my camera. I thought he wanted to take a picture of me in front of one of these plaques. I hesitated, but then gave him my camera. He started walking away, and I was scared that I just gave away my camera. I caught up to him, and stopped him, and he wanted to take a picture of me with some random American girl. Perhaps he thought we were friends, or something. In any case, he did snap the picture, and he gave my camera back. I was relieved that nothing bad happened. I would have been upset had I lost my camera to such foolishness. However, perhaps I am overly cautious and distrusting. I haven’t really heard of such theft in Tokyo from any of my books, but I suppose I could never be too careful. (After all, even though he looked so old and frail, he could have been some crazy martial arts master or something, and beat me up bad for my camera. Luckily, he didn’t.)
Ueno Park – September 26, 2007
After going around Ginza yesterday, we were still excited to see a bit more today. We had thought that we might want to go back to the Ginza area, and try to see some things that we had missed yesterday, but at the last minute, we decided against that. Instead we wanted to see a different area today, so we went to Ueno Park in the northern section of Tokyo.
The first thing that we noticed after we got out of the train station was that there was a lot of homeless people around. I suppose that the park bench is as good a place to camp out as anywhere else.
The first thing that we saw when we walked into the park was a statue of Saigo Takamori. He was the inspiration for the movie ‘The Last Samurai,’ and fought against the Emperor (after fighting for him before), in the late 19th century. After his death, he was recognized as a hero for fighting for Japanese tradition, and was pardoned by the Emperor, and even had a statue erected in his honor. It was cool to see it, having read the history.
From the statue of Saigo Takamori, it was less than a hundred yards before we came upon a traditional Buddhist temple. It was called the Kiyo-mizu Hall. Outside of the hall was a traditional sort of well, or fountain with which people would wash their hands, or rinse out their mouth.
Before I got to see too much more of the hall, a Japanese man came up to me and asked me where I was from. I told him that I was from New York in America. He spoke English very well (as a foreigner who had lived in America for some years might). Being a cautious American, I tried to keep notice to see if he would try to pick-pocket me (I had nothing in my pockets, anyway, and my camera was wrapped around my wrist), as he looked a bit like he might be one of the park’s regular residents. He spoke to me about American politics, and asked me whom I would rather vote for, Obama, Clinton, or Giulianni for president. He went on to complain about the youth in Japan, that they did not have the respect that the older generations had (I think that every generation complains about the younger generation, and claims superiority over the older generation). He gave me some advice as to how I should greet Japanese people, and that in general, they are nice. He finally excused himself politely, and allowed us to see more of the park.
We looked at our map, and led ourselves to Shinto Shrine called the Gojo Shrine. It was tucked away and secluded in the park. It was a small square with several different small buildings, and it seemed so peaceful. Of course, there were people who waked by and did their little prayer rituals while we were sightseeing.
From there we walked up a little further to the Tosho-gu Shrine, where the first Tokogawa Shogun, Ieyasu, was originally buried (his body is now somewhere else). It was very neat with gold leaf paint over the main part of the building, the roof was green, and there was so much detail all around, including gargoyles. The best part of this shrine was that, unlike other shrines that we have passed, we were able to walk inside of the shrine (but we couldn’t take pictures). There were statues of Japanese style lions and statues of guards protecting the box at the front of the shrine. Just like the previous shrine, Japanese people came in to say a prayer, which made the scene that much more serene and spiritual.
Also set within Ueno Park are several museums. We didn’t actually go inside any of them, but we did pass some. Outside the National Science Museum was a life size model of a blue whale. Paola looked at it and couldn’t believe that an animal could be so big. I had to remind her that the blue whale is the largest animal ever.
Another museum that I didn’t think would interest me, but did was the National Museum of Western Art (having come from America, I feel like I didn’t come to Japan to see Western Art). However, one major piece that they have outside in their sculpture garden is ‘The Gate of Hell’ by August Rodin. I had seen a picture of it, but, like so many other pictures of art, I didn’t grasp the greatness of it from a picture. First, it is so big, and also, it is a sculpture on its own, but on the doors is amazing relief sculpture that literally come out of the door.
All in all, it seems to me that Ueno Park is a good place to be if you want to see a lot of traditional Japanese places, such as temples and shrines. That makes it a pretty cool place to visit as a tourist to Japan. Perhaps that is also why so many homeless tend to stay in this park.
Ginza – September 25, 2007
Our first day off after beginning work was Tuesday. Since we work on Saturday and Sunday, we call Tuesday and Wednesday our weekend. Some people may not understand why we should work on Saturday and Sunday. The reason is that we work for a private school, which takes students whenever they can. It makes sense, then, that a lot of students would come when they don’t have other obligations, such as work or school. Therefore, a lot of people come to take English classes in the evening after work (thus my late hours on three days), or on the weekend (the proper Saturday – Sunday weekend). So it makes sense, then, that we, being new instructors, would have to work during the proper weekend, and have our days off during the week.
One of the main reasons that we decided to take the job out here in Japan we so that we could travel, and see different things. That being the case, we have tried to go into Tokyo on each of our days off (I think that there was one day when we were too tired to go out). So today, we woke up and decided that we would go to a different neighborhood in Tokyo, Ginza, in central Tokyo.
I had read somewhere that Ginza seems like the Times Square of Tokyo. Although there are a lot of lights, and flashy television screens that cover the buildings, the similarities stop there (remember that it seems like every major area of Tokyo has flashing neon lights and television screens covering the buildings). One thing that I noticed right away was that there were high-end expensive clothing and jewelry shops all around. It seems like the Japanese really like to shop, and that they like to spend a lot of money, since there are a lot of stores that I have seen like this since we arrived.
So Ginza actually reminded me more of 5th Avenue than Times Square, except that 5th Avenue is a street (I suppose that you can count Madison Avenue as part of the 5th Avenue area), but Ginza is at least three or four avenues down, and six or seven blocks up. It was fun to wind up and down the streets of Ginza, and see some of the smaller shops and art galleries that lined the streets (although the art didn’t really interest me, and seemed unimportant). Also, the people who walked the streets in Ginza were very different from the dressed up kids in Shinjuku or Shibuya, and although there were flashing lights and television screens at the main intersections, it seemed a lot more relaxed and normal while walking around.
We also found the other Apple Store, which is even bigger than the ones in New York City (with five floors). That was cool for me, and another place where we could use free internet, this time inside the store instead of sitting outside on a planter. That was cool.
From the main intersection of Ginza, it was just a couple of blocks down to see the Kabuki-za theater. It was a pretty neat building, being the main Kabuki theater venue in Tokyo. It was one of the few traditional buildings that we have seen so far in Tokyo, and it was impressive. Apparently, they have shows everyday, and I would like to see at least one show before we leave, but we’ll see.
Getting the internet – September 25, 2007
We tried to order internet access for our home during the whole week. People tried to give us advice as to what we should do, but between the two of us, we couldn’t navigate through the Japanese language, and the general standard of service for internet access here in Japan. Our friend Brian offered us the opportunity to ask him for help whenever we needed it, and even specifically said that we could use his phone to order certain things. Therefore, I decided to ask him if he, having a good command of the Japanese language, could help us call and order internet access. We went to his home, and his Japanese wife, Yoshiko, called for us. She had to call a few different places, because we had thought it would be normal to also get cable television along with the internet. Because that was too complicated, we realized that it really wasn’t that important to get cable, so that was that. As it turned out, it will only be a week before the internet company sends someone out, so next week, barring any unforeseen complications, we should have the internet.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
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After work on Sunday
It so happens that towards the end of the day, they had someone come in so that they didn’t have to cancel so many classes (and thus loose money). It was a guy named Greg, that I had met a few days earlier during my training days. I went out with an English guy named Brenden, and played pool. His English friend, Greg, met us. The same Greg came to help close the office today by instructing two classes. After the day was done, he asked if I wanted to have a drink, so we went out looking for a nice place that we might drink. Because I went out last night to what is called an ‘izakaya’ (it sounds like an Amish person’s name), I didn’t really want to do that again.
An izakaya is a Japanese bar. But it is not a bar in the sense that is familiar to me. There is not a long bench-table with stools all around surrounding a person who serves drinks. Instead, we walked in and were seated at booth tables. It resembled a restaurant more than a bar. However, the place seems to mostly serve drinks, and the food that is served is usually appetizer sized plates (not actual dinner plates) which are served by a waitress. So we order a lot of different things to eat, and have a few beers. The thing is, that it helps to have a decent command of Japanese to order what you want. Furthermore, it seems like it’s a bit more expensive than a bar that I am used to.
So Greg and I looked for a western styled bar so that we could get cheap drinks. We couldn’t manage to figure out the area around Mizuhodai too well, so I suggested that we go into the convenience store, buy a can of beer, and find someplace outside to sit (such is allowed in Japan). There happened to be a bench on one side of the square outside Mizuhodai station that was adjacent to my office. So we sat there and talked and drank… until about 11pm (we probably started at 6pm and we walked back in the store to get more beer several times). We talked about a lot of different things, and mutual interests, so it was really fun and enjoyable.
I have to say that meeting new people here in Japan is probably the best part of this experience. I like meeting people anyway, but it seems to be pretty easy here. For one thing, a lot of the gaijin (‘foreigner’ in Japanese) are in the same situation, and so it is easy to chat it up. I wish I could make friends with Japanese people, but that is a lot harder given their general lack of English combined with my lack of Japanese. The people that I have met, though, have been great.
An izakaya is a Japanese bar. But it is not a bar in the sense that is familiar to me. There is not a long bench-table with stools all around surrounding a person who serves drinks. Instead, we walked in and were seated at booth tables. It resembled a restaurant more than a bar. However, the place seems to mostly serve drinks, and the food that is served is usually appetizer sized plates (not actual dinner plates) which are served by a waitress. So we order a lot of different things to eat, and have a few beers. The thing is, that it helps to have a decent command of Japanese to order what you want. Furthermore, it seems like it’s a bit more expensive than a bar that I am used to.
So Greg and I looked for a western styled bar so that we could get cheap drinks. We couldn’t manage to figure out the area around Mizuhodai too well, so I suggested that we go into the convenience store, buy a can of beer, and find someplace outside to sit (such is allowed in Japan). There happened to be a bench on one side of the square outside Mizuhodai station that was adjacent to my office. So we sat there and talked and drank… until about 11pm (we probably started at 6pm and we walked back in the store to get more beer several times). We talked about a lot of different things, and mutual interests, so it was really fun and enjoyable.
I have to say that meeting new people here in Japan is probably the best part of this experience. I like meeting people anyway, but it seems to be pretty easy here. For one thing, a lot of the gaijin (‘foreigner’ in Japanese) are in the same situation, and so it is easy to chat it up. I wish I could make friends with Japanese people, but that is a lot harder given their general lack of English combined with my lack of Japanese. The people that I have met, though, have been great.
Second eight-hour day of work - September 23, 2007
Yesterday went so smoothly for me. I feel good about the job, and the people that I work with, which is important. Today I was supposed to meet another coworker, Ari, but he called in sick. At a small branch like the one that I work at called Mizuhodai (named after the train staition), there are usually only two instructors working at a time. In fact, before I started, there were only two regular instructors there, and they would bring in one person from another branch; now that I am the third regular instructor, they don’t need to bring in other people.
So as it happened, because Mizuhodai is only one train stop from mine (Tsuruse), I thought that I could leave a little later than usual. I didn’t realize that the trains run less frequently on Sunday, so, although I wasn’t late, I got to work with only five minutes to plan my lessons. I was nervous, but handled it ok. Then the staff lady, Yuka, told me that Ari was calling in sick, and that she would cancel his lessons. Fine with me. About a minute before the classes started, I saw the students waiting in the classroom (its actually more like a cubicle), and they were not the students that I had prepared for. I asked Yuka about that, and she said that she had cancelled my lessons, and that I would take Ari’s. I had to completely scrap what I had planned, and come up with a new lesson because they were higher leveled students than the ones I prepared for. Of course, I pulled it off without a hitch, and the rest of the day went smoothly, while I was in the office all day by myself (with Yuka). The mix up happened because she spoke less-than-perfect English, and I spoke less than less-than-perfect Japanese.
Apparently being in a small office like mine is much better than being in a big office, like Paola. There are many instructors (probably about 6 at one time) at her office, but they have about as much space as I do at my office (where I was alone today, but has two people at the most at one time). What this means is that people are trying to get as much space as they can to sit down and prepare before a lesson, and grade the students after a lesson. Furthermore, they have to wait to get access to the file drawers to get the info for their next class (which they need to plan), which is further complicated when people have the files that you need because they just taught the student you are about to teach. Frustrations abound, and that is really the main thing that Paola has complained to me about. On the bright side, she isn’t at all complaining about her ability to do the job, and she is as confident as can be about it now.
So as it happened, because Mizuhodai is only one train stop from mine (Tsuruse), I thought that I could leave a little later than usual. I didn’t realize that the trains run less frequently on Sunday, so, although I wasn’t late, I got to work with only five minutes to plan my lessons. I was nervous, but handled it ok. Then the staff lady, Yuka, told me that Ari was calling in sick, and that she would cancel his lessons. Fine with me. About a minute before the classes started, I saw the students waiting in the classroom (its actually more like a cubicle), and they were not the students that I had prepared for. I asked Yuka about that, and she said that she had cancelled my lessons, and that I would take Ari’s. I had to completely scrap what I had planned, and come up with a new lesson because they were higher leveled students than the ones I prepared for. Of course, I pulled it off without a hitch, and the rest of the day went smoothly, while I was in the office all day by myself (with Yuka). The mix up happened because she spoke less-than-perfect English, and I spoke less than less-than-perfect Japanese.
Apparently being in a small office like mine is much better than being in a big office, like Paola. There are many instructors (probably about 6 at one time) at her office, but they have about as much space as I do at my office (where I was alone today, but has two people at the most at one time). What this means is that people are trying to get as much space as they can to sit down and prepare before a lesson, and grade the students after a lesson. Furthermore, they have to wait to get access to the file drawers to get the info for their next class (which they need to plan), which is further complicated when people have the files that you need because they just taught the student you are about to teach. Frustrations abound, and that is really the main thing that Paola has complained to me about. On the bright side, she isn’t at all complaining about her ability to do the job, and she is as confident as can be about it now.
As for the Job
There are structured lessons that we have to teach. I am supposed to teach those lessons, and supposedly that is what the students pay for. So I try not to stray too far off from the book. However, the lessons are based on conversational knowledge of the language, and so I get to share a lot of interesting conversations with the students. I have already had conversations with students about movies, literature, Tokyo sights, and my personal interests. So besides giving the students a few basic structures, the job is actually kind of interesting. I enjoy learning about people, and the things that make them tick.
First full day of work – September 22, 2007
Be warned, I am writing this blog while I am drunk.
Today was our first full day of work. Yesterday was our first day after training, but we only had a half day (four hours). Today was the first day that we had a full day (eight hours). After yesterday, I felt that I could do this job while I was drunk (as I am now). I wanted to wake up and leave for work a little later than usual, but because Paola had the same exact schedule as I did, I walked to the train station with her. It takes a bit longer for her to get to work in the morning since her branch is about 4 stops away, and my branch is only one stop away. We both had to be to work by ten in the morning, but since we left about an hour early for training (which was at the same place as Paola worked), she figured that she should again leave at the same time. I knew that I would be very early if I left at the same time, but it was ok. So she was off, and so was I.
I got to my office more than a half hour early, and the office was not open yet. I decided to walk around, and check out the neighborhood a little bit (I didn’t get a chance last night). There wasn’t much to see since it was a small neighborhood, so I went back to where the office was. Just outside of my office was a small coffee shop, and so I bought a little drink, and read for about fifteen minutes.
I then went into my office, and the office administration (which consisted of one person) was there, and welcomed me. Last night, my new supervisor was there, but he left soon after I got there. Also, the administrative staff that was there last night (a girl named Yuka) was different from the regular staff, so today I got a chance to really meet the people that I am going to work with. My supervisor’s name is Matt, and the administrative staff person is named Haruko (the administrative staff has to be Japanese so that they can speak with the students about their progress). Haruko does not speak as much English as some of the other staff that I have encountered, but it is ok.
After work tonight, Matt invited me out for drinks at a Japanese bar across the square from our office. (A Japanese bar basically resembles a regular restaurant that serves a lot of beer, and a lot of smaller plates, like sushi, etc). Before long, several other people joined us at the bar. It was fun meeting a lot of other people, and got to know different people, especially those with whom I share similar interests.
We got home at about 11:30 at night. I work tomorrow morning at ten in the morning. I think that I will get up with enough time to get a shower, and get out the door with barely enough time to get the student files that I need, but it will be fine. Like I said, the job is easy, and I need very little preparation time to get ready for each class.
First Day of work without training – September 21, 2007
Waking up for work has always been hard for me. Even though I didn’t actually start work until five in the afternoon, Paola worked at ten in the morning, so there were the normal nerves. To be sure, Paola is doing so much better than she was during the training. She finally feels like she has a handle on the job, and I was able to see that.
She had to work at a branch that is different from her regular branch. During our training, we noticed that it is not unusual for the company to send people to work at different branches so that they could help out the understaffed ones. I suppose that something like that is what happened when Paola was scheduled to work for today (and next Friday). Since it was a place that neither of us had been to before, I agreed to walk with her to the office. She told me that she appreciated that, and so I felt good about doing it.
When I got home, my plan was to buy groceries, call my folks, and figure out how to use the washing machine. Buying groceries was easy, and now I am getting used to what food I should get (the food that I am familiar with is all imported (I think), so it is very expensive, which means that I have to figure out what is affordable). Then I finally called my parents. I had not called my parents since the weekend, so it was nice to finally get in touch with them. I told them that since it costs me about a dollar per minute to call them, I asked if they could get a calling card and call me back, which would probably cost them about 10 cents per minute. They understood, and called me back. We spoke briefly, and I told them that Paola and I were both well.
The washing machine was a different story. With all of the Japanese writing on it, I couldn’t figure out what the buttons did, so I just pressed what seemed to make sense. Although I managed to turn the machine on, I couldn’t get the machine to wash the clothes. I got very upset. I suppose that since Paola was now more stable, it was time for me to loose my composure a bit. Because the dirty clothes sat in the machine wet, they began to stink. The trash was also stinking (being that it was not a trash pick up day, it sits in our apartment), and the shit I took in the toilet room was stinking, too. The whole country of Japan seemed to stink, and so I began to hate being here.
By the time Paola came home (about 3 in the afternoon), I had prepared lunch for her, and she tried to calm me down. It didn’t work to well, even though she was being rational, and I was being irrational. I knew that she was right that when I went to work, I would be distracted, and thus feel a little bit better.
So I left for work at about 4. Despite the fact that I have five years of teaching experience under my belt, I was still nervous because it was the first day of work; it would have been the same if I was still teaching in New York. Up until I began my first class, I was sweating, but the moment that I started instructing, everything went smoothly, and I felt comfortable. I realized how easy the job is, and that is it. I felt better about everything, and when I got home at about 9:30, I was happy to have embarked on this adventure.
She had to work at a branch that is different from her regular branch. During our training, we noticed that it is not unusual for the company to send people to work at different branches so that they could help out the understaffed ones. I suppose that something like that is what happened when Paola was scheduled to work for today (and next Friday). Since it was a place that neither of us had been to before, I agreed to walk with her to the office. She told me that she appreciated that, and so I felt good about doing it.
When I got home, my plan was to buy groceries, call my folks, and figure out how to use the washing machine. Buying groceries was easy, and now I am getting used to what food I should get (the food that I am familiar with is all imported (I think), so it is very expensive, which means that I have to figure out what is affordable). Then I finally called my parents. I had not called my parents since the weekend, so it was nice to finally get in touch with them. I told them that since it costs me about a dollar per minute to call them, I asked if they could get a calling card and call me back, which would probably cost them about 10 cents per minute. They understood, and called me back. We spoke briefly, and I told them that Paola and I were both well.
The washing machine was a different story. With all of the Japanese writing on it, I couldn’t figure out what the buttons did, so I just pressed what seemed to make sense. Although I managed to turn the machine on, I couldn’t get the machine to wash the clothes. I got very upset. I suppose that since Paola was now more stable, it was time for me to loose my composure a bit. Because the dirty clothes sat in the machine wet, they began to stink. The trash was also stinking (being that it was not a trash pick up day, it sits in our apartment), and the shit I took in the toilet room was stinking, too. The whole country of Japan seemed to stink, and so I began to hate being here.
By the time Paola came home (about 3 in the afternoon), I had prepared lunch for her, and she tried to calm me down. It didn’t work to well, even though she was being rational, and I was being irrational. I knew that she was right that when I went to work, I would be distracted, and thus feel a little bit better.
So I left for work at about 4. Despite the fact that I have five years of teaching experience under my belt, I was still nervous because it was the first day of work; it would have been the same if I was still teaching in New York. Up until I began my first class, I was sweating, but the moment that I started instructing, everything went smoothly, and I felt comfortable. I realized how easy the job is, and that is it. I felt better about everything, and when I got home at about 9:30, I was happy to have embarked on this adventure.
Meeting up for drinks
Our training supervisor, Tony, invited us out for drinks tonight. He said that he goes to this particular place every Thursday night with some friends. Despite being tired, we ended up going out and enjoyed ourselves. There were seven of us who all worked for our company at some time. Two of the people had moved on to other companies. We all shared interesting stories, and had a good time. It was nice to hang out with more people, and getting new friends. We did have to leave a bit earlier than the others because Paola works her first day of work tomorrow morning, so we wanted to make sure that we got enough sleep.
More train woes
I recently had a little rant about the commuter train service in Tokyo. It seems that my example holds true. When I wrote the piece, I imagined the possibility of traveling the same distance, but paying different prices. Well, that is exactly what happened to us.
We left from our regular station, Tsuruse, and went to our first station in Tokyo, Ikebukuro. This is the route that we have taken several times. However, it so happens that a different train line also runs along the same track, going to most of the same stations, and taking us to our destination in Ikebukuro, and we happened to get on that train today. We went the same distance that we always do, but when we got out of the train and into the station, we ended up at an unfamiliar part of the station because we inadvertently took a different train. Because we took this different line, but bought a ticket for our regular line, we had to pay a 70 yen (70 cents) transfer fee for transferring train lines. I felt ripped off, and feel like my previous rant is thus justified. But we have to deal with it, so…. Now we must pay attention to the train we board at our station.
We left from our regular station, Tsuruse, and went to our first station in Tokyo, Ikebukuro. This is the route that we have taken several times. However, it so happens that a different train line also runs along the same track, going to most of the same stations, and taking us to our destination in Ikebukuro, and we happened to get on that train today. We went the same distance that we always do, but when we got out of the train and into the station, we ended up at an unfamiliar part of the station because we inadvertently took a different train. Because we took this different line, but bought a ticket for our regular line, we had to pay a 70 yen (70 cents) transfer fee for transferring train lines. I felt ripped off, and feel like my previous rant is thus justified. But we have to deal with it, so…. Now we must pay attention to the train we board at our station.
Cell phones – September 20, 2007
On our day off between training and first day of work, we decided to try to get connected to the world. This meant that we wanted to get cell phones, and an internet connection. We went to one place near our training office where we tried to get an internet service provider. Today, we were trying to find one that was more familiar to us, either listed in the welcome pack, or recommended by someone. There is a cell phone place up the street from our home, so we started there.
To be sure, any place that has a roof sells cell phones. Our trainer, Tony, even told us that our English instruction company got into cell phones for a while (they have since stopped selling cell phones). We wanted to limit our choices to cell phone companies, and since we had heard several people tell us about one company in particular, we decided to try with SoftBank.
However, at the SoftBank branch up the street from our home, there was neither English service, nor did they offer the plan that we wanted, despite the fact that it was offered in the English catalogue that the man at the store gave us. We decided to take the train into Tokyo in order to see all of the choices that we might get.
We found ourselves at the SoftBank flagship store in Shibuya. I think that every service person there spoke English, so it was easy for us to explore the different plans. We ended up getting a prepaid phone plan. I don’t think that any plan would have really given us a better deal, but we had to choose one.
A quick word has to be said about cell phone service in Japan. Just as I remarked before, things are not the same as America, and no matter what, we would have to pay a lot more than we did back home. There are no such plans that give x amount of minutes for a fixed rate. Instead, the different payment plans merely give you lower per minute charge on your phone (the more you pay, the less your calls cost). That means that you pay your monthly fee, and on top of that you pay for each call, too. That is why we decided to just get the prepaid plan, for which we pay even more per minute, but it lasts… for only two months! The lady who sold us the plan, and with whom we discussed our concerns, did not bother to tell us that our prepaid minutes expire after two months. I felt like no matter what we did, we would have gotten screwed, so we just have to take it.
We tried finding other internet service providers, to no avail. Our friends gave us phone numbers to call for English service, but we couldn’t figure that out either. We are hoping that Paola can ask some staff at her office to help us get situated with internet access (we know the people at her office, but I don’t know anyone whom I am working with yet).
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
More Videos
----REMEMBER TO CLICK ON "SEPTEMBER" TO THE LEFT TO VIEW THE WHOLE JAPAN BLOG----
I have uploaded a couple more videos. You can see them at my video web page:
www.george.tsouris.net/videos.htm
I have uploaded a couple more videos. You can see them at my video web page:
www.george.tsouris.net/videos.htm
After work
-----REMEMBER TO CLICK "SEPTEMBER" TO THE RIGHT TO SEE ALL OF THE JAPAN BLOGS------
After work, we walked up the street from the office to a computer store. Paola insisted that we get an internet connection at our home. We asked the guy all about it, and he said that it would take a month for us to get the internet. This did not sit well with Paola, but the sales man assured us that this was the time frame for things like this in Japan. Indeed, on our first day of work, I remember one of the guys remarking, when we complained about the price of phone cards and phone calls, that America is by far the cheapest in the world, and lots of things don’t work at the same price or the same speed as in America. Paola was not convinced, so we did not purchase the internet service (it did not help that the internet provider was one that was not listed in our welcome packet by our company (as if they would list every internet service provider in Japan, but that is how Paola works)).
So we went back to our office to ask the guys there what they thought about taking a month to bring internet to our home. They basically said that it didn’t surprise them. As to Paola’s worry about the quality of the provider which she had never heard of, one of the guys simply suggested his own provider. He wrote down the phone number and gave it to us. Since it was late, the supervisors (whom we were speaking with) were getting ready to leave, and asked if we wanted to join them for a drink.
This drink consisted of going to the Seven-Eleven down the street and buying a can of beer. We went to a little park (a wide sidewalk with bushes) across the street from the office and enjoyed our beer together. We talked about the company, and how good we felt after this last day. Brian, the supervisor who just came today, even remarked that he could recognize that I had teaching experience, and that he felt I might be up for a promotion in six months. That certainly boosted my confidence.
It so happened that Paola and I lived off of the same train stop as Brian and Tony (the other supervisor who was with us over the last three days). When we got off of the train, we all walked into the market in the train station together, ready to get something to eat for dinner. Brian asked us what we were doing for the evening, and when we replied that we had nothing planned, he invited us to dinner (Tony had something planned, so couldn’t come).
Brian lived on the other side of the train station from us, in an apartment with his wife, Yoshiko, and their seven month old baby, Maya. Paola couldn’t stop saying how cute the baby was (I had to make sure she didn’t think the baby was so cute that…..). To be clear, Brian is an American from Providence, Rhode Island, and Yoshiko is Japanese, from Saitama (where we live). We talked about the job, and life in Japan. It was a pleasant evening, and Paola and I were both glad we went.
Tomorrow is our day off, and we hope to get phones, and order internet access. Perhaps we will do some sight seeing as well.
After work, we walked up the street from the office to a computer store. Paola insisted that we get an internet connection at our home. We asked the guy all about it, and he said that it would take a month for us to get the internet. This did not sit well with Paola, but the sales man assured us that this was the time frame for things like this in Japan. Indeed, on our first day of work, I remember one of the guys remarking, when we complained about the price of phone cards and phone calls, that America is by far the cheapest in the world, and lots of things don’t work at the same price or the same speed as in America. Paola was not convinced, so we did not purchase the internet service (it did not help that the internet provider was one that was not listed in our welcome packet by our company (as if they would list every internet service provider in Japan, but that is how Paola works)).
So we went back to our office to ask the guys there what they thought about taking a month to bring internet to our home. They basically said that it didn’t surprise them. As to Paola’s worry about the quality of the provider which she had never heard of, one of the guys simply suggested his own provider. He wrote down the phone number and gave it to us. Since it was late, the supervisors (whom we were speaking with) were getting ready to leave, and asked if we wanted to join them for a drink.
This drink consisted of going to the Seven-Eleven down the street and buying a can of beer. We went to a little park (a wide sidewalk with bushes) across the street from the office and enjoyed our beer together. We talked about the company, and how good we felt after this last day. Brian, the supervisor who just came today, even remarked that he could recognize that I had teaching experience, and that he felt I might be up for a promotion in six months. That certainly boosted my confidence.
It so happened that Paola and I lived off of the same train stop as Brian and Tony (the other supervisor who was with us over the last three days). When we got off of the train, we all walked into the market in the train station together, ready to get something to eat for dinner. Brian asked us what we were doing for the evening, and when we replied that we had nothing planned, he invited us to dinner (Tony had something planned, so couldn’t come).
Brian lived on the other side of the train station from us, in an apartment with his wife, Yoshiko, and their seven month old baby, Maya. Paola couldn’t stop saying how cute the baby was (I had to make sure she didn’t think the baby was so cute that…..). To be clear, Brian is an American from Providence, Rhode Island, and Yoshiko is Japanese, from Saitama (where we live). We talked about the job, and life in Japan. It was a pleasant evening, and Paola and I were both glad we went.
Tomorrow is our day off, and we hope to get phones, and order internet access. Perhaps we will do some sight seeing as well.
Last day of Training – September 19, 2007
Even though every night has ended well, every morning does not start so. I think that every morning that we have started the training, Paola had lost her confidence from the night before. This morning, knowing that we had to teach four complete lessons, she doubted that she could do the job at all. I tried to reassure her, but I don’t think that it helped too much. I gave her a couple of pointers on how to plan each lesson, and write her notes, but I didn’t want to lecture or dictate to her, knowing that each person learns in their own way. It bothered me a lot to see her this way.
During the day, we did what we had to. I was not with Paola during every step, but our supervisors (there were two today, as opposed to one the previous days) gave the three of us trainees good support, and told us that we were doing a good job. This encouraged me, and I had hoped that it would make Paola feel better too, but I couldn’t be sure.
When we went out to lunch, we chose a restaurant at the end of the street. We ordered our food, but it took a long time for it to be prepared. We asked if we could get it to go so that we wouldn’t be late back to work. We were late anyway. The three of us were scared that it would look bad on us (certainly it must have had some negative effect on our supervisors), but they didn’t say anything. For my part, I merely avoided eye contact, but Paola actually apologized, and said that she is not regularly late (I am of the position that I don’t initiate conversations where I have to apologize, and since the supervisors didn’t bring it up, I felt no need to either).
By the end of the day, the supervisors seemed to give us nothing but praise. Of course, we were not perfect, but they let us know that they were happy with our performances today. Paola said that she felt much better, and felt a lot more confident about her abilities for this job. The supervisor that was with us over the last few days even commented that she no longer looked scared, but that she even appeared to be more confident. They even told us about some horror stories about training sessions that went much, much worse, and that we should have nothing to worry about. I figure that the reason that they make the training this way is so that by the time the training is over, we should be able to teach classes. Sometimes being throw into the pool is the best way to teach someone to swim.
During the day, we did what we had to. I was not with Paola during every step, but our supervisors (there were two today, as opposed to one the previous days) gave the three of us trainees good support, and told us that we were doing a good job. This encouraged me, and I had hoped that it would make Paola feel better too, but I couldn’t be sure.
When we went out to lunch, we chose a restaurant at the end of the street. We ordered our food, but it took a long time for it to be prepared. We asked if we could get it to go so that we wouldn’t be late back to work. We were late anyway. The three of us were scared that it would look bad on us (certainly it must have had some negative effect on our supervisors), but they didn’t say anything. For my part, I merely avoided eye contact, but Paola actually apologized, and said that she is not regularly late (I am of the position that I don’t initiate conversations where I have to apologize, and since the supervisors didn’t bring it up, I felt no need to either).
By the end of the day, the supervisors seemed to give us nothing but praise. Of course, we were not perfect, but they let us know that they were happy with our performances today. Paola said that she felt much better, and felt a lot more confident about her abilities for this job. The supervisor that was with us over the last few days even commented that she no longer looked scared, but that she even appeared to be more confident. They even told us about some horror stories about training sessions that went much, much worse, and that we should have nothing to worry about. I figure that the reason that they make the training this way is so that by the time the training is over, we should be able to teach classes. Sometimes being throw into the pool is the best way to teach someone to swim.
Day 2 of work – September 18, 2007
(The building on the left is our office.)
Although Paola felt good about the job last night, by this morning she was nervous again. This was mostly because she knew that we would have to teach two full lessons by ourselves today. That’s pretty rough, thrown head first into the mix on the second day of training. I don’t think that either of us thought that would be the case. (In fact, if we had read through the materials that they gave us when we first arrived last week, we would have seen that, indeed, this is what was going to happen.)
That said, it is not as if they are simply giving us the book and telling us to teach. The head trainer is very friendly, and he is certainly helping us get the hang of what we are supposed to do. So before each lesson that we had to teach, we went over everything that we were going to do during the lesson. He was helpful in giving us advice, and answering questions that we might have.
All three of us made the same mistake of racing through the material too fast on our first lesson. We had been trained yesterday on the second half of the lesson, but before teaching, we barely got enough training for the first half of the lesson today. For that reason, we didn’t completely grasp the first half, and so we went too fast. Like I said, the trainer was friendly and helpful, so he didn’t make us feel bad for this (we already felt bad enough), and told us what we needed to do for the next lesson.
I could tell that Paola was uncomfortable an unsure of herself during the whole process. It was as though she thought that she would never get it. There was one section of the lesson in particular that she still didn’t get the hang of, and so I could see her stressing about it. I tried to give her some help by giving her some tips about what she might want to do, and so did some other people. I could tell, though, that she still wasn’t confident about what she was doing.
After the second lesson, at the end of the day, I asked her how it went. She didn’t think that it went too well. However, when we go our evaluations back, she was reassured by what she heard. Even though she did not give enough time to the first half again, it was much better than last time, and the trainer said that she did very well. This made her feel better about everything, and more confident in her ability to do the job. After the day was over, she even admitted to me that she was really nervous and did not feel good about the job until after she got the positive evaluation. She was certainly starting to feel more comfortable in the new position. In fact, the other instructors who had been there for a while were telling us that they had the same exact feeling when they started, but after about a week, they realized that it was the easiest job that they ever had.
As we were leaving work, one of the other instructors asked us if we wanted to go out and play some pool. I wanted to go out and socialize with some folks, so we did. In fact, pool is not my forte, but the whole point was to try to participate a little bit in society outside of work. We met two other instructors, Brenden and Greg, and one Japanese staff member from another school (I can’t remember what she said her name was, perhaps Anayumi, or something). Greg and Brenden were both from England, Greg from the north, and Brenden from London. Greg said that he had been here for a month, and Brenden for three months. We talked a bit about work, and what brought us to Japan over some beers and pool. It was nice enough getting to know new people. He also gave us some advice about what we might want to do or see on our free time; I really want to try to make it out for the Sumo tournament next week, but we’ll see what happens.
-SBE-
First day of Work – September 17, 2007
We woke up today, knowing that it was going to be our first day of work. I think that we were both nervous about it. Because I have five years of teaching experience, though, I was much less nervous than Paola.
As the day was progressing, I could see in her face that she was not very comfortable in this new job. She was especially scared of the actual teaching that we were going to perform with real Japanese students. (They call it On the Job Training. We get a short introduction to how to teach a part of the complete forty minute lesson, and then they put us in a class where we teach that portion of the lesson.) Furthermore, while the training and introductory part was done with all of the trainees together, the real teaching was done with each trainee apart from the others, so I was not there when Paola did her teaching. This bothered me because, not being there, I felt that I would not be able to help her. In fact, even if I were there, I still would not have tried to help. I felt silly, but there were several parts of the day, when we were together, that I wanted to jump in and assist, or give her the right answer; of course, I never did. Whenever we did get a minute, though, I would ask her how things were going, and for the first half of the day, she would only give an insecure nod. I was hoping that she would be able to pull through.
During lunch, we went to a popular fast food place that has served billions all over the world. The other trainee, Phil, joined us. He was from Australia, and worked as an artist. He had come to Japan a few months ago to try to find work, and this is what he came up with. He came to try to get his art exposed in Japan, and in a few months, he is going to participate in a convention of sorts, where artists display their work, hoping for galleries to pick them up. I enjoyed talking for a bit about contemporary art. We also agreed to swap dvds, so that we could have something fun or different to watch.
I think that the reason that I liked the working experience is because there were people whom we could talk to, other people in a situation similar to ours. Everyone there was very friendly and nice, and easy to get along with. Everybody offered good advice as to how to take care of different things that we were concerned with (like internet access, and phones). I appreciated that.
During the second half of the day, it was more of the same, just focusing on different parts of the lesson. So basically, after the first day, we got the introduction to the second half of a whole lesson. Since all the lessons are pretty much the same, it is easy to adapt the same criteria to different lessons. Tomorrow we will learn the first half of the lesson, and we will be ready to teach the whole lesson. The third day, I assume (I would be able to tell you for sure if I actually looked at the schedule and plan that they gave us), will be focused on honing our skills, and other administrative matters.
When we left, I was anxious to ask Paola how she felt about the whole thing. From my earlier assessment, I was afraid that she would not be happy with the job, and might want to quit. To my surprise, she said that by the end of the day she felt very comfortable with the job. She even said that she felt more sure of herself than the last teacher that she worked with (while she practiced her part of the lesson). She did say that she was still nervous because tomorrow we are to give a whole lesson by ourselves, but she knew that she would get the practice, and that in the end she would be fine. I reiterated what the trainer had said, “You just have to be confident, and be in control, or at least look like you’re confident and in control.” It seemed to me that she would be able to do the job just fine. We even agreed that it might even be of some benefit to her since she is typically a shy girl. Yet again, I think that everything is going to work out just fine.
Sunday at home – September 16, 2007
We were thinking of going to Tokyo again today, but we decided against it. We were tired, and the hot, humid weather is not friendly to tourists. When I did step outside today, I almost immediately began to sweat.
We just went around to different stores in the neighborhood looking for things around the house. We also went to the market to get food. I put my guitar together with a screwdriver that I bought at the hardware store next to our place and the strings that I bought in Shinjuku. Paola also began to iron her clothes for work tomorrow (I will do that later tonight or even tomorrow morning). Later, we will look over all the paperwork that our company gave us, and look for things that we want to have clarified tomorrow during orientation. –SBE-
We just went around to different stores in the neighborhood looking for things around the house. We also went to the market to get food. I put my guitar together with a screwdriver that I bought at the hardware store next to our place and the strings that I bought in Shinjuku. Paola also began to iron her clothes for work tomorrow (I will do that later tonight or even tomorrow morning). Later, we will look over all the paperwork that our company gave us, and look for things that we want to have clarified tomorrow during orientation. –SBE-
Public Toilets
Before we left Los Angeles, my mom reminded me of an old family friend who visited Japan several years ago. Our friend remarked that the toilets were on the ground, and to use them, one had to squat. When my mom said that might still be so, I scoffed at her, and said that the story was from several years ago.
While the toilet in our apartment is something that I am used to, some of the public toilets in the train stations and in parks are on the ground! Personally, I wouldn’t stand over this toilet to use it, let alone squat over it.
Train Accessories
I had read and heard that many people in Tokyo and the rest of Japan read a lot of manga (comics) on the train. It really is true! There are all sorts of manga on sale at the news stands, and people of all ages read them; in fact I haven’t seen any kids reading manga.
Another thing that I thought was cool was that a lot of people on the train play Nintendo DS (Gameboy), or other video games. Cool. Again, not too many kids playing games, but mostly adults, men and women. In fact, there are a lot of video game arcades that we walked past on the street, and there were a lot of people inside playing games.
I like that lots of the things that I like seem to be in the mainstream in Japan.
Another thing that I thought was cool was that a lot of people on the train play Nintendo DS (Gameboy), or other video games. Cool. Again, not too many kids playing games, but mostly adults, men and women. In fact, there are a lot of video game arcades that we walked past on the street, and there were a lot of people inside playing games.
I like that lots of the things that I like seem to be in the mainstream in Japan.
Lunch and evening in Shibuya
Before we went there, though, we decided that it would be nice to sit down for a proper meal. Yesterday, all we did was stop at convenience stores and eat pork filled dumplings, or we would get a drink from the several vending machines on the street. I practiced some Japanese, which was fun, and we ate some sushi, some of which was good, and some otherwise. We thought that we would go to the Apple Store up the way, do what we needed to, then go home, because we were tired.
I sat our front of the Apple Store (there isn’t much space inside the store) and uploaded tons of content, and looked online for other stuff. I think that I must have sat there for a couple of hours. We were proud that we had so much content to upload: about ten pages of single spaced writing, over two hundred photos, and about ten minutes of video. The writing was already done, but everything still took a long time to upload. Plus, we looked at a lot of stuff online, like where the other Apple Store was (in Ginza district, closer to the Imperial Palace, where we were earlier), and replied to some emails.
Sitting on a planter on the sidewalk, I noticed a lot of people looking at me, and finally someone came up to talk to me. His name was Damien, and he was from Leon, France. He looked like he was a teenager, or in his early twenties. He asked me about the mac I was using, because he had the same one, so we talked for a while. That was fun. Talking with someone, plus having sat there for two hours helped us realize that we should get up and do something. We decided that we would try to find a bar to sit and have at least one drink.
While we were walking around, we came upon some sort of festival, or procession. There was one wave of people who were beating drums, then another wave that were playing flutes, banging small cymbals, and dancing. The last wave of the procession was a mini-float of a samurai, lit up from the inside. It was really neat, and we followed it to the end, which was only a few blocks. It was really interesting and a lot of other people were following, taking pictures too. After that, our exhaustion caught up with us, so we decided to go home, and call it a day.
Imperial Palace - September 15, 2007
We decided to go central Tokyo today and see some more cultural things. When we got to the Tokyo subway stop, we noticed right away that it was much less crowded with people than the different areas that we went to yesterday. Outside of the train station, there were a lot of tall business buildings, none that were covered with flashy billboards or neon lights. Plus, because it was Saturday, there were few people around this business area.
We walked west towards the park where the Imperial Palace is. The main portion of the park with the Imperial Palace is closed to the public except on New Years and the Emperor’s birthday. So we just got some photos from the outside that are still very nice.
There is also a section called the Eastern Garden park, where all the lesser citizens can go to get a feel for the Imperial Palace. There is a museum inside, and lots of trees and smaller buildings where samurai used to live and guard. It was neat, but much too big, and we didn’t feel like exploring that stuff today.
Remember, two days ago we walked all around to look for Paola’s passport, then yesterday we walked down the western side of Tokyo for about 11 hours, so today we were quite tired of walking. So, instead of doing sightseeing, we thought we would just go back to the Apple Store to do our internet communications.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Lots of photos
---REMEMBER TO CLICK "SEPTEMBER" TO THE RIGHT TO SEE ALL OF OUR JAPAN BLOGS----
We are trying to post all of our pictures that we shot here in Japan online. We have tried to upload them on flickr.com, but they require you to sign up with them, and I think that is rubbish. If you can help us find a nice place that will let you upload lots and lots of photos without requiring people to sign up if they want to view them, please email us or reply to this post below. Thanks.
We are trying to post all of our pictures that we shot here in Japan online. We have tried to upload them on flickr.com, but they require you to sign up with them, and I think that is rubbish. If you can help us find a nice place that will let you upload lots and lots of photos without requiring people to sign up if they want to view them, please email us or reply to this post below. Thanks.
Paola says.....
This is some of what Paola wrote about our trip so far. Remember, to see all the Japan blogs, click "September" to the left.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
After spending 2 lovely weeks in LA with George’s family, the day had finally arrived. September 11, of all days, we left for Japan. Even waiting at our gate I already felt we were there because we were the only white people. We were able to sit on two ailse seats which was nice because we were together, but still had room to stretch out. George already looked exhausted even before we took off. Eventhough we did not have individual screens, which would have helped in flying by the time, I did manage to watch Shrek 3 on the big screen. Surprisingly, the 11 and half hour flight did not seem that long. So we arrived in Narita, and met up with a Nova representative, and then met up with the rest of the 40 or so other new teachers that had just arrived from all over. So we were given packets with all the information we needed, from the key to our new home, to maps, to applications for opening bank accounts, etc, etcc… it is actually a lengthy process. I mean, we have to apply to get an alien registration card, which we did the following day, which I will get into shortly. Then, you need the certificate, not the card, which you pick up later, to send with the application to sign up for a bank account. But then I thought about having to get a cell phone, and connection with internet, phone and cable to our home, etc, etc…. they are small things, but they add up and at the beginning it is a bit overhwhelming. Well, I’ll continue with that later. So then Nova bought us a bus ticket, and told us to get on it and it would take 2 hours to get to the subway station near our home. When we arrived at the subway station, we would be greeted by yet another NOVA rep, who would accompany us on the subway to our home. He did meet us on time, thank goodness, and we went 4 srops to our new subway stop, after which we had to walk about 10 minutes to get to our apartment.
Our apartment, wow, that was a bit of a shocker. It kind of looked like a motel. We walked in and it did feel small, really small at the time. By this time, I was so tired. After a 12 hour flight, and another 6 hours for meeting up, traveling to our home, etc, that is a looooong time to be up. Once Tony, the Nova rep left, I just started to cry. I suppose I was just a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, which is only normal, but I was so thankful that I was emabarking on this with george.
DAY 1
Woke up at 4am and was wide awake, but decided I needed to sleep, so went back to sleep. George, naturally, didn’t. He was all excited and started exploring outside, making videos of the apartment, etc… So at 7 I decided to get up. Our luggage was to be delivered between 9 and 12 noon, and since we had time, we decided to take a walk and start buying supplies we desperately needed. Like towels to shower with, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, food, the essentials. Of course, it was too early and nothing was open, but we walked to the subway station and found a 24 hour market, so we bought some food.
So that was the first walk around my new neighborhood. It is kind of out in the sticks, but it still is pretty bustiling. Its kind of like living in the Bronx. Anyway, so we got back at around 9ish, and as predicted, george fell asleep, and I started to unpack my carry on bags.
After our bags were delivered, we went to apply for our alien registration card at some sort of city office. Nova had given us instructions as to how to get there and what to do. So, well, just finding the bus was difficult because like I said, everything is in Japanese, but we managed to find our way. Then at the place, the guy didn’t speak one word, not one, but again, we managed. So we got our certificates, one which we have to send to apply for our bank accounts, and one which, until we get the card, in 2 weeks, we can use to by a cell phone, etc. so, that was that. Then we decided to walk back to our home, where we discovered there were a couple of drug stores and grocery stores, so we explored those, and bought all our essentials to start making our home look and feel like a home. That was nice, and I started to feel better once i began to unpack and basically assign a place for things, etc. as we were unpacking, we were both contemplating why we brought so much stuff, but whatever. There is plenty of space for it, so its ok. By that time, it was already like 6 or so, so we decided to go walking thru our neighborhood again, at night. Since it was rush hour, there were more people. So we explored, walked around side streets, etc, and found that is was indeed rather bustling. By 8:30 we were soo tired we decided to head back and go to sleep. I definitely felt better than I did the day before. Slowly, slowly adjusting.
DAY 2
Today george again, woke up around 4am, and stayed up. Honesly I don’t know how he got through the day. I woke up at 6:30. Which is way to early for me, but I was just wide awake, still jetlagged. It is 16 hours ahead of LA time. So, 6:300am Tokyo, means it is 2:30pm the day before in LA. Crazy! And Italy is 7 hours before, so it is 11:30pm the day before there! In any case, totally jetlagged. Anyone who knows me, knows I just don’t get up at 6 in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. So we decided to go into the heart of Tokyo and explore. So we went to the station, managed to buy 2 tickets to Ikebukuro, which is like the central station, that connects to the central Tokyo station. So, our stop where we live is called Tsusure station. So we take the Tobo Tojo line to Ikebukuro, which is in downtown Tokyo. Then we have to get another ticket to go to other stations from ikebukuro. Unfortunately, our line does not take us directly to shibuya or Shinjuku, which is the heart. So its just a transfer. No biggie. So from tsusure to ikebukuro is 30 minutes, and it really is very efficient. Fortunately we were able to figure it all out, because the do have the names of the places in English, but its still rather tricky. Anyway, on our ride, I started listening to george’s Japanese learning cd’s which he downloaded on my I pod, and so we were both listening, and funny, its only been 2 days, but I already recognize words, and I was putting things together. I really think I’ll be able to learn it. So, then in ikebukuro, we got off and wow, there were so many more people, since it was rush hour. Technically, here we should have purchased another ticket to go to Shibuya, but we decided to be adventurous and walk. And walk we did! Sure, we got a bit lost, but figured it our with our maps. We walked and walked and finally made it to Shinjuku, which is kind of like a times square. Many stores, neon lights, etc. we stopped along the way to buy some drinks and food. Again, not one word of English. And its cool, cuz they have vending machines to buy drinks, even beer, like on every block. So we walked some more, taking everything in. Its interesting, because they have shrines, just nestled in the middle of the big city. We saw a cemetery, but figured it wasn’t proper to go around taking pictures, so we discreetly took a few and left. Another thing I noticed is that it is sooo humid here. I don’t know if it’s a normal thing or not ,but its humid. And also, everyone rides bikes. But we couldn’t figure out if there was a system for what side to walk on. It seemed like there wasn’t. so you just have to be careful.
So we continued to walk and made it to Harajuku, which is sort of like the punk rock district of Soho in new york. Just very young, hip, cool shopping stores. Very punk. Its consists of many narrow streets, just lined with shops of crazy clothing. They even have signs saying no pictures allowed. Anyway, so we ran into many tourists here. This is the area made famous because every Sunday, people come out and walk around here in Halloween costurmes basically. In New york we saw a book, actually george bought it, on portraits of the people in costume. Crazy shit! Very goth, Lolita style. Anyway, it’s a photographers dream, right? So ya, they just walk around like that. So even on Friday, one could see this vibe. People were already dressing up. Crazy! I can’t wait till Sunday. Freak show! And its super, super crowded.
So, we took pictures and left Harajuku on our way to Shibuya. We took many little side streets, and I guess this is where the residential neighborhood lie. There is so little space in Tokyo, that they just have to cram it in. But its funny, in the middle of all this chaos, there are these very quanit, little streets, with little houses and aapartments. But everything is so crammed. Anyway, so we headed for Shibuya, another major district. Also for shopping, everyghing. It is also very young oriented, and very trendy. Full of bars, shops, restaurants. There is a famous meeting place by a statue of a dog. The story goes that a long time ago, the dog’s owner left him there and so the dog waitied patiently to return, and he never did. He waited for 10 ears, until he died. So they made a statue for him. So, that is the general meeting point. And indeed it was. It was crowded. Soooo many people, its unbelievable. By that point we were soooo tired. It was like 2 or 3 pm and we had been walking since 9am basically. So we sat at a crowded starbucks, yes, you heard right, starbucks, and drank something and cooled off, while overlooking the crowds below. And then we decided we had enough, time to go home, but not before going to an internet café, and the apple store, where we could use free internet. Then, at 7is, rush hour, we headed for home. Madness on the subway again! But we made it, got home, took a shower and crashed.
So that gives you a taste of our first 3 days here in Tokyo. I still can’t believe I’m here. Today we will explore some more, and Sunday we will get ready for Monday, which is our first day, on the job training. My work station is only 3 stops from my home, so that’s nice, oh, and george and I have 2 coinciding days off. Yey. So anyway, ya, Monday, we go in, and I’ll find out all I need to know about getting connected, etc, etc. because I don’t’ know what company I should use, etc. they need to tell me. So hopefully soon I will have internet and phone and I just can’t wait. You have no idea. Anyway, so I hope you enjoy reading about my first 3 days in Tokyo. And there will be more to come
SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
After spending 2 lovely weeks in LA with George’s family, the day had finally arrived. September 11, of all days, we left for Japan. Even waiting at our gate I already felt we were there because we were the only white people. We were able to sit on two ailse seats which was nice because we were together, but still had room to stretch out. George already looked exhausted even before we took off. Eventhough we did not have individual screens, which would have helped in flying by the time, I did manage to watch Shrek 3 on the big screen. Surprisingly, the 11 and half hour flight did not seem that long. So we arrived in Narita, and met up with a Nova representative, and then met up with the rest of the 40 or so other new teachers that had just arrived from all over. So we were given packets with all the information we needed, from the key to our new home, to maps, to applications for opening bank accounts, etc, etcc… it is actually a lengthy process. I mean, we have to apply to get an alien registration card, which we did the following day, which I will get into shortly. Then, you need the certificate, not the card, which you pick up later, to send with the application to sign up for a bank account. But then I thought about having to get a cell phone, and connection with internet, phone and cable to our home, etc, etc…. they are small things, but they add up and at the beginning it is a bit overhwhelming. Well, I’ll continue with that later. So then Nova bought us a bus ticket, and told us to get on it and it would take 2 hours to get to the subway station near our home. When we arrived at the subway station, we would be greeted by yet another NOVA rep, who would accompany us on the subway to our home. He did meet us on time, thank goodness, and we went 4 srops to our new subway stop, after which we had to walk about 10 minutes to get to our apartment.
Our apartment, wow, that was a bit of a shocker. It kind of looked like a motel. We walked in and it did feel small, really small at the time. By this time, I was so tired. After a 12 hour flight, and another 6 hours for meeting up, traveling to our home, etc, that is a looooong time to be up. Once Tony, the Nova rep left, I just started to cry. I suppose I was just a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, which is only normal, but I was so thankful that I was emabarking on this with george.
DAY 1
Woke up at 4am and was wide awake, but decided I needed to sleep, so went back to sleep. George, naturally, didn’t. He was all excited and started exploring outside, making videos of the apartment, etc… So at 7 I decided to get up. Our luggage was to be delivered between 9 and 12 noon, and since we had time, we decided to take a walk and start buying supplies we desperately needed. Like towels to shower with, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, food, the essentials. Of course, it was too early and nothing was open, but we walked to the subway station and found a 24 hour market, so we bought some food.
So that was the first walk around my new neighborhood. It is kind of out in the sticks, but it still is pretty bustiling. Its kind of like living in the Bronx. Anyway, so we got back at around 9ish, and as predicted, george fell asleep, and I started to unpack my carry on bags.
After our bags were delivered, we went to apply for our alien registration card at some sort of city office. Nova had given us instructions as to how to get there and what to do. So, well, just finding the bus was difficult because like I said, everything is in Japanese, but we managed to find our way. Then at the place, the guy didn’t speak one word, not one, but again, we managed. So we got our certificates, one which we have to send to apply for our bank accounts, and one which, until we get the card, in 2 weeks, we can use to by a cell phone, etc. so, that was that. Then we decided to walk back to our home, where we discovered there were a couple of drug stores and grocery stores, so we explored those, and bought all our essentials to start making our home look and feel like a home. That was nice, and I started to feel better once i began to unpack and basically assign a place for things, etc. as we were unpacking, we were both contemplating why we brought so much stuff, but whatever. There is plenty of space for it, so its ok. By that time, it was already like 6 or so, so we decided to go walking thru our neighborhood again, at night. Since it was rush hour, there were more people. So we explored, walked around side streets, etc, and found that is was indeed rather bustling. By 8:30 we were soo tired we decided to head back and go to sleep. I definitely felt better than I did the day before. Slowly, slowly adjusting.
DAY 2
Today george again, woke up around 4am, and stayed up. Honesly I don’t know how he got through the day. I woke up at 6:30. Which is way to early for me, but I was just wide awake, still jetlagged. It is 16 hours ahead of LA time. So, 6:300am Tokyo, means it is 2:30pm the day before in LA. Crazy! And Italy is 7 hours before, so it is 11:30pm the day before there! In any case, totally jetlagged. Anyone who knows me, knows I just don’t get up at 6 in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. So we decided to go into the heart of Tokyo and explore. So we went to the station, managed to buy 2 tickets to Ikebukuro, which is like the central station, that connects to the central Tokyo station. So, our stop where we live is called Tsusure station. So we take the Tobo Tojo line to Ikebukuro, which is in downtown Tokyo. Then we have to get another ticket to go to other stations from ikebukuro. Unfortunately, our line does not take us directly to shibuya or Shinjuku, which is the heart. So its just a transfer. No biggie. So from tsusure to ikebukuro is 30 minutes, and it really is very efficient. Fortunately we were able to figure it all out, because the do have the names of the places in English, but its still rather tricky. Anyway, on our ride, I started listening to george’s Japanese learning cd’s which he downloaded on my I pod, and so we were both listening, and funny, its only been 2 days, but I already recognize words, and I was putting things together. I really think I’ll be able to learn it. So, then in ikebukuro, we got off and wow, there were so many more people, since it was rush hour. Technically, here we should have purchased another ticket to go to Shibuya, but we decided to be adventurous and walk. And walk we did! Sure, we got a bit lost, but figured it our with our maps. We walked and walked and finally made it to Shinjuku, which is kind of like a times square. Many stores, neon lights, etc. we stopped along the way to buy some drinks and food. Again, not one word of English. And its cool, cuz they have vending machines to buy drinks, even beer, like on every block. So we walked some more, taking everything in. Its interesting, because they have shrines, just nestled in the middle of the big city. We saw a cemetery, but figured it wasn’t proper to go around taking pictures, so we discreetly took a few and left. Another thing I noticed is that it is sooo humid here. I don’t know if it’s a normal thing or not ,but its humid. And also, everyone rides bikes. But we couldn’t figure out if there was a system for what side to walk on. It seemed like there wasn’t. so you just have to be careful.
So we continued to walk and made it to Harajuku, which is sort of like the punk rock district of Soho in new york. Just very young, hip, cool shopping stores. Very punk. Its consists of many narrow streets, just lined with shops of crazy clothing. They even have signs saying no pictures allowed. Anyway, so we ran into many tourists here. This is the area made famous because every Sunday, people come out and walk around here in Halloween costurmes basically. In New york we saw a book, actually george bought it, on portraits of the people in costume. Crazy shit! Very goth, Lolita style. Anyway, it’s a photographers dream, right? So ya, they just walk around like that. So even on Friday, one could see this vibe. People were already dressing up. Crazy! I can’t wait till Sunday. Freak show! And its super, super crowded.
So, we took pictures and left Harajuku on our way to Shibuya. We took many little side streets, and I guess this is where the residential neighborhood lie. There is so little space in Tokyo, that they just have to cram it in. But its funny, in the middle of all this chaos, there are these very quanit, little streets, with little houses and aapartments. But everything is so crammed. Anyway, so we headed for Shibuya, another major district. Also for shopping, everyghing. It is also very young oriented, and very trendy. Full of bars, shops, restaurants. There is a famous meeting place by a statue of a dog. The story goes that a long time ago, the dog’s owner left him there and so the dog waitied patiently to return, and he never did. He waited for 10 ears, until he died. So they made a statue for him. So, that is the general meeting point. And indeed it was. It was crowded. Soooo many people, its unbelievable. By that point we were soooo tired. It was like 2 or 3 pm and we had been walking since 9am basically. So we sat at a crowded starbucks, yes, you heard right, starbucks, and drank something and cooled off, while overlooking the crowds below. And then we decided we had enough, time to go home, but not before going to an internet café, and the apple store, where we could use free internet. Then, at 7is, rush hour, we headed for home. Madness on the subway again! But we made it, got home, took a shower and crashed.
So that gives you a taste of our first 3 days here in Tokyo. I still can’t believe I’m here. Today we will explore some more, and Sunday we will get ready for Monday, which is our first day, on the job training. My work station is only 3 stops from my home, so that’s nice, oh, and george and I have 2 coinciding days off. Yey. So anyway, ya, Monday, we go in, and I’ll find out all I need to know about getting connected, etc, etc. because I don’t’ know what company I should use, etc. they need to tell me. So hopefully soon I will have internet and phone and I just can’t wait. You have no idea. Anyway, so I hope you enjoy reading about my first 3 days in Tokyo. And there will be more to come
Friday, September 14, 2007
Videos
I have uploaded a few videos for everyone to see. You will need a program that can view .mov files, such as Quicktime (do a google search to find it. Also, to make sure that you have not missed any of my blogs, click "September" on the right side of the screen (this page only shows so much at one time).
The first one is an overview of our apartment.
www.george.tsouris.net/apartment.mov
The next video is Paoal showing you our sleeping arrangement.
www.george.tsouris.net/bedding.mov
The next one is a quick 360 degree view around Shinjuku station.
www.george.tsouris.net/shinjuku.mov
The first one is an overview of our apartment.
www.george.tsouris.net/apartment.mov
The next video is Paoal showing you our sleeping arrangement.
www.george.tsouris.net/bedding.mov
The next one is a quick 360 degree view around Shinjuku station.
www.george.tsouris.net/shinjuku.mov
Daylight savings time
One thing that I never thought I would defend is daylight savings time. I have always thought it was the stupidest thing that seemed to have no benefit at all. However, I think that I have been converted.
I woke up for the first time this morning after the sun had already risen. The last two days, I woke up around 4am, probably because my body is getting used to the time change. Today, there was sunlight when I woke up. It looked like the sun was up, and the morning was bright. It was 5:30am. I remember yesterday, walking out of Ikebukuro station at 9am, and remarking to Paola about how high in the sky the sun was for 9am. It looked to me like it was noon! Throughout the day, we kept thinking that it was so much later than it was.
The heart of summer has barely passed, and at 6:30 at night, the sky is pitch black. I remember that is exactly what time it was when we left the airport, and rode the bus to our home, and the sky was as dark as can be.
Now, perhaps I am someone who likes the sunlight and the daytime too much because I definitely think that some sort of daylight savings time should be put into effect here so that there is more sunlight during our waking lives. I suppose that the folks here in Japan are used to it, though, and might even like it. There were many more people out on the street and around Shibuya station last night after dark (oh yeah, it was Friday night, though). We can still party all night if we get just a little more daylight during the afternoon.
I woke up for the first time this morning after the sun had already risen. The last two days, I woke up around 4am, probably because my body is getting used to the time change. Today, there was sunlight when I woke up. It looked like the sun was up, and the morning was bright. It was 5:30am. I remember yesterday, walking out of Ikebukuro station at 9am, and remarking to Paola about how high in the sky the sun was for 9am. It looked to me like it was noon! Throughout the day, we kept thinking that it was so much later than it was.
The heart of summer has barely passed, and at 6:30 at night, the sky is pitch black. I remember that is exactly what time it was when we left the airport, and rode the bus to our home, and the sky was as dark as can be.
Now, perhaps I am someone who likes the sunlight and the daytime too much because I definitely think that some sort of daylight savings time should be put into effect here so that there is more sunlight during our waking lives. I suppose that the folks here in Japan are used to it, though, and might even like it. There were many more people out on the street and around Shibuya station last night after dark (oh yeah, it was Friday night, though). We can still party all night if we get just a little more daylight during the afternoon.
Going home for the night
We ended the day at Shibuya, about eleven hours after we started. In those eleven hours, we didn’t really stop to sit down for more than fifteen minutes. Our bodies were tired. We learned that Tokyo is much too big to walk around to see everything, so we are sort of forced to use the transit system. Because it was rush hour (around 7pm), we did not get a seat, and had to stand the whole way, for about an hour, which wasn’t comfortable after walking for about eleven hours.
Although the maps are in English, and we pretty have it figured out, I don’t like the transit system in Tokyo (this is after only one day; perhaps after I have given it a chance, my opinion will change). I am used to the New York system which is unified and uniform. That is, in New York, it is all one system, which means I buy one ticket for one price, and go wherever I want. For one thing, The Tokyo system is such that I pay different prices based on where I want to go; the further I go, the more I pay. Another thing is that the Tokyo system is not unified. It is several different companies working in the same city. If I want to go to a particular place, I have to figure out what company line to use. This means that sometimes when I transfer within one station, I have to exit one company’s line, buy another ticket, and get on another company’s line to get where I want to go. Furthermore, this means that the price out of my pocket is going to be more, thus, worse for the consumer.
----WARNING: ACADEMIC CONTENT----
Allow me to explain. If I wanted to go (let’s say) 5 stations away on one line, I would probably pay about 200 yen (2 dollars). But if I want to go 5 stations away, and I had to transfer between different companies, I would probably have to pay 160 yen (the minimum price for a ticket) twice, which is 320 yen.
Now, on the face of it, one might think that that this flies in the face of contemporary economic theory. After all, we are taught that more companies in the market better serves competition, thus lowering the price, thus better for the consumer. However, although we have several different companies in the transit industry that are, seemingly, in one market (Tokyo), this is not the case. The city of Tokyo is not the market, but rather each individual station is a market in itself. That is, each route is a unique product that only one company is allowing service to. That is, if I am at Tsuruse station (near our home), and want to get to Ikebukuro, there is only one company I can use, the Tobu line. Again, if I want to go from Ikebukuro to Shibuya, only one company has service, the Japan Rail line. Thus, instead of having one state run system that serves the whole market (all the stations in the city), as is the case in New York, there are instead several different monopolies running in Tokyo. I should have apologized in advance because I don’t have a degree in economics, but to this uneducated commuter, the Tokyo system seems so much worse for the consumer than a state run system.
(A quick correction: I suppose that the system that I described above might be better called an oligopoly rather than "several different monopolies," especially since there is definitely evidence for collusion.)
----ACADEMIC CONTENT OVER-----
One definite crappy thing about our apartment is that there is no hot water. After walking around in the humid Tokyo environment for eleven hours, we were a bit ripe, and needed a shower. The water seemed to be freezing cold, but sometimes you have to man-it-up, and just do it. I think that I even read somewhere that cold showers are somehow better for you. I don’t know if that is true, but after we figure out who we need to talk to about this, I won’t be taking advantage of that possible health benefit much longer (I hope).
After our cold shower, we fell right to sleep.
Shibuya
From Karajuku, it took about another twenty or thirty minutes to Shibuya. Each neighborhood is separated by at least a thirty minute or longer walk, which by this time of day was wearing on us very much. This time, walking from Harajuku to Shibuya, we decided to venture off the main road, and just take any side street we could that went south. It seemed to me to be like Europe in that the side streets were like alleys between the homes or other buildings where people walked, or, very carefully, cars drove. It was much more quiet, and it was interesting to see the different homes and apartment complexes.
When we got close to Shibuya, we could feel the energy rising; there were many more flashing billboards and pachinko parlors, more people, and stores that sold eccentric things.
As we were walking towards the main station, we came upon a Shinto procession. There were several men dressed in their uniform gi that were carrying a portable shrine. They were chanting some song, and others in the group were around them to make way through the crowd. I felt very lucky that we got a chance to experience this by chance on our first day in Tokyo.
We then walked to the station. It is said that the intersection at the station is the busiest in the world, and that at every light, more than a thousand people cross. Like Shinjuku, there were tall buildings covered with flashing billboards and televisions. It was a bit of sensory overload. At one corner, there is a famous statue of a dog, and the station exit is named after it. The story goes that everyday the dog would wait for its master at the station, and when the man died, the dog stayed there forever, waiting (until, presumably, it too died).
Shibuya seemed to me to be the most cosmopolitan part that we visited today. I saw more people here that were not Japanese while we sat in the Starbucks than we had seen the rest of the day (which isn’t to say that there were a lot of non-Japanese in the Starbucks, either). Throughout the neighborhoods that we walked through today, there were always a lot of stores for shopping, mostly clothes. However, in Shibuya I saw some music schools, smaller cafes, and video game arcades (I saw one other arcade in Shinjuku, I think).
We also found an internet café so that we could email our families to tell them that we were alive and well. I also searched for the location of the local Apple store so that we could get free internet access. We were only there for a short while, before we left. The man at the counter was nice, and spoke fractured English, so we communicated well, or so I though. We paid, and all was well. When we first walked into the place, and order the computer to use, he told us that we could get free drinks. So, when we left, I helped myself to some tea in the refrigerator. Apparently this was not the free drink that he was talking about, and he ran up and stopped me. I told him sorry in Japanese, and we left; perhaps because it was after we paid, or perhaps it was only coffee that we could get for free. In any case, I was too tired to be embarrassed, and in fact I was a little angry; after all, he did tell us there were free drinks. After thinking about it for a bit, though, I knew that I shouldn’t have been angry because of a lack of communication between us. In any case, we won’t go to that internet café again.
Harajuku
On the way to Shibuya, we noticed a sign that said that Karajuku station was close by. While we were in Ikebukuro, I did not notice many street signs. But once we ventured, and knew where to look for them, there are, indeed street signs with accompanying English, just not as frequently as we might have guessed. There are two kinds of signs: the ones that simply say the street names, which are a bit confusing to me, since the streets in one neighborhood all seem to be named the same thing, and only the major streets are so labeled; and there are direction signs that tell us what is ahead, and left and right. Both can be useful if the map we are using has similar labels, but that is not always the case.
So, seeing the sign to Harajuku, we decided to head that way. We knew from television shows and books that this was the area where young people like to dress in outrageous fashions. However, they say that Sundays are the most popular days, but we wanted to see what might be there today. Indeed, when we got there, a few people were dressed up. Along with that, there was a small pedestrian street that was filled with stores that sold all sorts of different clothing, from punk to frilly dresses to hippy to I-don’t-know-what.
I was impressed with all the different characters and the desire for these people to show off. For the first time today, I felt like a neighborhood had an energy that I liked. It was fun to be there around people who had something to say, and to be around the energy of youth. This energy was felt for the rest of the day, even as we headed further south again towards Shibuya.
Shinjuku
Tokyo is not a small city. In fact, it is very large and spread out. I didn’t anticipate this, and so when we set out to walk from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku, it didn’t seem that the walk would take about an hour. We were very tired and worn out before long, but we were determined to get there.
By the time we got to Shinjuku, it was worth the tiring trek. Surrounding the train station in the middle were tall buildings covered with colorful signs and lights and television screens. It seemed to me like the typical Tokyo scene that I was waiting to see.
Having walked through two main areas of Tokyo by now, we noticed that Pachinko parlors are popular. I had seen some travel documentaries, and read in books about them, but I didn’t really grasp how prevalent they were. Basically, Pachinko is a form of slot machine, except instead of pulling a lever, the player drops ball bearings from the top, and watch as they fall and bounce down the pinball-like machine, and hope that they fall in the right places to win. The parlors are filled with colorful flashing lights, and outside, the entrances are covered by banners that feature all sorts of different cartoon characters.
Walking down a pedestrian street, I saw a guitar store, which made me very excited. I went inside and looked around. I felt confident enough about my Japanese that I asked if I could play a guitar. Before I left, I bought some strings for the guitar that I brought here (now if I could only find a screwdriver to put it together).
The guide book said that there was more things to see, such as temples, or whatever, but we didn’t really care much for that today; we just wanted to walk around and see as many different areas as possible, and feel their relation to one another. Despite that, on our way south towards Shibuya, we came upon another Buddhist temple. This one was bigger and had more elaborate decoration than the one we saw around Ikebukuro. Again, there were very few people inside the grounds, but we walked around anyway. The people who were there may have minded, but they didn’t tell us so, so we stayed. Like the last temple, there was what seemed to be a cemetery in the back. I suppose that this is standard fare for Buddhist temples.
Ikebukuro
From our train station, the first and last stop in Tokyo is Ikebukuro, so we figured that would be a good starting point for our sightseeing today. We got there at 9am after a half hour train ride. After getting out of the train station, I was very disoriented. Looking at a map was useless because I didn’t know where north was (I told Paola earlier that I wish I had a compass), and there really weren’t any street signs, let alone street signs in English. So I took a guess, and we walked around where there were lots of flashing lights and things like that. Looking in the guide book, it said there was an interesting place called Sunshine Plaza, so I tried to find that. It turns out that where I guessed north was turned out to be south, so we went exactly the wrong way.
However, while going the wrong way, we came upon a Buddhist temple. It was neat to see something that I had seen so many pictures of. This particular temple wasn’t a particularly special one, nor was it listed in our book, but it was the first one we saw up close. There were cars parked outside, but within the campus, and that took away from some of the awe. The doors to the temple were closed, too, so we didn’t go inside. Around the back, however, there was what seemed to be a cemetery, and a caretaker sweeping the leaves. We felt a little out of place since there was nobody else around, so we left before too long.
We tried to look at a map on the street that was in Japanese, but couldn’t make too much sense of it when a middle aged Japanese man came up to us and asked us in English what we were looking for. I told him, and he said that he was walking that way anyway, so we walked and chatted. It turns out that he lived in Seattle for a bit when he was a teenager. He was now taking English lessons with someone, and in exchange he was teaching the person karate. After a bit we had to depart, and he pointed in the general direction of Sunshine Plaza.
It so happens that I misunderstood where to go, and, again, we went in the opposite direction. However, we came to a different train station, so I looked at the map, and given the relation between the two train station, I was finally able to get my bearings, and we didn’t get lost again. However, at that point, having walked so much without already seeing the Sunshine Plaza, I didn’t care to backtrack again, so we instead headed towards our next destination, south to Shinjuku. On our way out of the Ikebukuro neighborhood, we saw the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, which I think is a music hall. The architecture was huge and impressive, and if we want to see a classical music concert, it might be there.
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