First Impressions of Japan for the Third Time

Japan is just like I remembered it. My first week here I spent in the training building for the English school I'm working for.  It's Japanese style so futons, tatami mats and paper doors. My roommate, Kirsty, is from Sydney. We're the only two girls here out of ten trainees and my Japanese is pretty bad, as expected, but I may not have a chance to improve it as much as I'd like since everyone speaks more English than I speak Japanese. Training is 9 hours a day Monday through Friday but the curriculum for the lessons looks pretty straightfoward (their word, not mine). It reminds me a lot of when I taught SAT review courses for Kaplan so it should be ok. All of us went to a ramen shop for lunch one day where someone noticed when the ramen guy was pointing to stuff on the menu that his finger was half missing and what was left was covered in huge wart-like growths. There were warts on top of warts. Ew. Unfortunately no one noticed until after we ate, so hopefully I wont die of some wart disease or something. We also went out for sushi, the first time I've had sushi in Japan, at a place where the sushi comes on a conveyor belt and you just pick and choose. It was really cheap, $1.05 per plate, and one guy had 13 plates. After that we went to a bar specializing in overpriced beer ($18 for a glass of the most expensive, I had the cheapest one for $8 thankyouverymuch) plus all bars here charge a seating fee, basically you have to rent your seat, usually $3-$5.

I talked to a Japanese student today who introduced himself as Hachiro and told me it's easy to remember because it sounds like Ichiro the baseball player. I told him I am from San Diego and he immediately was like, "Padres!" who still aren't that good, last time I checked. Is there a Japanese player on the Padres? I feel like that's the only way he would know about them.

I had a random thought today also, Japan is made up of millions of people living in paper houses interspersed with cigarette and beer vending machines and billions of dollars of electronics. Why hasn't there been a massive riot?

So the floorplan of my apartment looks nice, it's one tatami mat larger than most, bringing it up to a total of 126 square feet. It's at the end of the Asakusa line in Nishi Magome, only a 10 minute walk from the station. Although I think that's the older part of Tokyo so maybe the apartment is old and nasty. Speculation is so fun..... I won't see it for another week.

Today I was sitting in a Hawaiian chain restaurant in Tokyo. [Yes, the Hawaiians have chain restaurants, but none they'd like to share with the rest of the States (I have started calling it "the States" as opposed to "America" as my new Canadian friends are offended by the fact that"America" does not include Canada to most people in Japan)]. Anyway, I had a teriyaki chicken sandwich which cost $10. The $15 turkey, bacon and cheese was a bit out of my price range. Apparently avocados are hard to come by in Tokyo because one slice was $3. The best part about this place though is that everyone who comes in is greeted by a resounding "ALOHA!" from all of the staff. But since most Japanese people can't pronouce "Aloha", it comes out more like "AROHA!" and is hilarious every time.

Last night was my welcome party and welcome me they did. We went out to a "nomi ho dai" or "all-you-can-drink" at a local bar. One of my new co-workers studied abroad at Cal State Long Beach so we are new best friends. After the party we karaoke-ed (of course, it was my party wasn't it?) until 5am. (it was a flat rate of $10 all night until 5am). This country is so incredibly great.