Hello Japan, Goodbye America

We arrived at Narita International Airport in Tokyo about 3:30 pm on Oct. 3rd to unfamiliar surroundings. The plane ride had been very cramped; it was good to be able to finally stretch my long legs. We walked through the terminal and stopped off at our first Japanese bathroom. They had western-style toilets that I swear if we knew how to operate all the gadgets on it, probably would have started talking to us. A slight exaggeration, but they were nice nonetheless.

After the pitstop, we rode some sweet conveyor belts that honestly went on for quite some time. These conveyors were a great way to show off some of your moonwalking skills if you had them. Sadly, I did not. As we hit the end of the terminal, we headed down stairs to get "landing permission" which consisted of standing in a long but fast moving line and handing the worker our passport. We had no trouble getting through which was a relief.

Next, we proceeded downstairs to pick our luggage which arrived safely. However, it was here that I realized that I overpacked by a lot. I sat and waited as Sean called Jiro, his international friend from OU and our guide, to get instructions on what to do next. I waited anxiously for about 15 minutes then made my way through customs. The lines were short and the workers efficient. "What is purpose of stay? What are in your bags? Do you have any drugs, explosives, etc." I said no, and it was official. I was in Japan.

The next four hours at the airport, however, proved more frustrating. On the first floor, we visited every english-speaking terminal we could find. "Eego o hansemasuka?" I asked. And most everyone we asked could in fact speak english. A good transistion into Japan, I thought. We searched and searched to find a hotel and eventually we found a decently cheap Holiday Inn (Tobu Narita) near the airport. We decided we would take the shuttle in the morning from the hotel, catch a limousine bus, then buy our train ticket at Tokyo Station rather then getting lost in Tokyo our first night. Everyone we met was so helpful.

We waited outside near terminal 16 for our shuttle to arrive. Ten minutes later, we were picked up and ten minutes later we arrived. A friendly Japanese bellhop carried up of all my 8 million baggages of luggage while we checked in. The check in process was easy and the room was nice.
We saw another cool toilet, and flipped on the tv to find Stephanie Tanner from Full House, dubbed in Japanese. We laughed, sat down our luggage, rested for a few minutes and then went exploring.

Outside of the hotel, there wasn't much to see more than parking lots, a few convience stores, more hotels, and odd vending machines placed next to each other every 3 feet or so. Even on the dark, sketchy alleys there were vending machines. I bought a coke and it wasn't half bad. We continued exploring for 45 minutes or so then when back to the hotel and hit the sack; we were both exhausted.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel at 6:30 got on the bus to the airport and caught the second limousine bus to Tokyo station. The hour and half ride was through the country. It was beautiful. When we arrived at the station we ordered tickets in sloppy Japanese mixed with a little english. We found our train platform and waited around; we were early.

At 10:13, we boarded the Nozomi 19 bound for Hakata with stops in Shin-Yamaguchi (our stop). The train was very comfortable and the scenery gorgeous. I took some pictures of the country side but they turned out blurry. Again, I saw the country side albeit at 168mph this time. There were rice fields, and mountains as far as the eye could see between the cities. It was here that, I started to get excited. About five hours later, we arrived at Shin-Yamaguchi.

Waiting for us at the station was Jiro, our friendly Japanese guide, and a worker for the college (I forgot his name). We introduced ourselves, left the station, and went to a suupaa (supermarket) to grab some grub. The food was cheap and a small Japanese boy came up to us curious. I guess he had never seen an American before. I smiled and went to check out. Next, we went to the university and checked into our dorms. From the outside, the dorms looked quite shitty but when I got to my room, it wasn't as bad as I thought. A little cramped, but at least I had my own bathroom (I'll post pictures a little later). After climbing five flights of stairs, I dropped my luggage off, took it all in and went down stairs to sign some forms and get some dinner. We were told all about the recycling here in Japan and how to seperate everything into their respective containers. Afterwards, we got some food at one of the cafeterias, called Bono (the other better tasting cafeteria is called Kireda). I got some chicken and rice, it was actually quite tasty but hard to eat since my chopstick skills were pretty much non-existent at that point but I quickly improved. The rest of the night Jiro showed us around campus. I went to bed pretty early. I was a little homesick but fell right asleep.

The next two days we're pretty much the same. Jiro should us around campus and outside of campus. He introduced us to other Humanites students, whom were very friendly. We met our main advisor, Matsumoto-sensee, who spoke no english and were "officially" checked into the college. I also met my own personal advisor, Ikezono-sensee, a friendly but formal Japanese man who spoke good english. We filled out form after form after form and we were told what we had to go do next. We had to get a personal stamp, alien registration card, bank account, etc. All of this meant that we had to fill out more forms and wait. Where do all of these forms go, I don't know. Thursday night, Jiro and Atsuko took us to Joyfull, a denny's-esque restaurant, close to campus. Friday, we bought new bikes, registered them, and picked up our personal stamps. My last name, Arens, translated to Aanzu and my kanji that sounded like my name meant apricot. Later in the night, Sean and I went exploring around Yamaguchi and found a cool department store with a McDonald's in it. We grabbed a bite, shopped, and rode back home and chilled before going to bed.

Yesterday, we explored the local shinto shrine and took a lot of pictures of campus and the shrine. I talked to an Aussie guy on my floor, named Michael, who is pretty cool for about an hour or so. He's been here for awhile and gave some good tips about local life from a foreign perspective. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, and later that night we went exploring in hopes to find downtown Yamaguchi. Instead of finding downtown, we rode our bikes in circles for about two hours lost. We must have traveled 10-15 miles easily. Eventually, we found our way back to campus and I went to bed, exhausted.

Well guys, it's Sunday here. My first week has past and it's been an interesting week. Next week, we'll finalize our class schedules and hopefully join some clubs. I'll keep everyone posted on what we take and how everything goes.

If want to write me:

email: bmarens@ou.edu
address: Yamaguchi International House, Room #504 1677-1 Yoshida, Yamaguchi, 753-0841

Here are some photos:

flickr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tabiji

Mata-ne!