Life in Japan : The adventure begins

Warmest thank you to everyone who actually reads my blog! I try to make it as entertaining as possible (believe me I try hard!), so as to present an interesting perspective on this foreign country called Japan that I now temporary live in.

Life has been good. Or, rather I've been getting used to the Japanese way of life here. Morning subway rides don't freak me out anymore, as I've the learned the trick of being "passively aggressive" amongst intense grave-looking salary-men (and women). It almost feels like being at war every morning as everyone in the station is very calculative and looks at each other suspiciously in the eye - wondering whether...you're catching the 7:59 express or...the 8:01 local train. This is seriously too much drama for just taking the darn train.

As I try to recollect my life since my last entry, I've experienced many random occurrences which I will loosely categorize as my "adventures" Let the adventures begin! :) (Notice the plural!)

So two weeks ago Monday, it was sports day. (uh-huh, you heard me right! The whole country gets the whole day off just cause)...nice! I went with New Hope Tokyo to this picnic at Sakuragaoka Park in the outskirts of Tokyo (I think. Cause it took me three subway transfers + and a bus ride...really lost track of where I was by then!) Funny thing was on my way back from the picnic, I was waiting at the bus stop for the return bus. When I walked up towards the bus stop, an old lady (say in her seventies) was already standing there. Just as I was making myself comfortable, another old lady (say in her eighties) came up to the stop. (Yes, it's definitely an aging society here!) She asked me (in Japanese) whether the bus has arrived, and then before I could even say anything, the other lady that was already at the stop jumped in and said that because it was the holidays, the bus schedule changed. And then a lot of very Japanese old-lady back-and-forth went on as I stood there blankly. Then, the lady in her eighties couldn't stand the wait, and hailed down a taxi. And also invited the two of us to join the ride to the station! So out of the blue, I found myself sitting in a cab with two gray-haired ladies, smiling pretentiously all the way to the station. It was quite an experience. :)

I've noticed a few things quite particular about the people here. They seem to like to gift-wrap everything like 5,000 times. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. :P But yes, everything is wrapped in a wrapper inside another wrapper and overall it's covered in paper and taped 5 different ways. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Take my dinner below as an example. This is already a mild example.


So yes, my salad was already in a STURDY plastic container, with the dressing separately held in a packaged bag so seriously one needs not to be concerned with the remote possibility of a leakage. But, the attention to detail got a little out of hand, so my salad had an ice pack TAPED to it, and then the whole thing was wrapped in a plastic bag and then TAPED again. And then everything is placed in a bag, and usually that's taped too. Oy, so much work!

And, another phenomenon here is an obsession with cell phone texting. I've always been a blackberry user, so all this texting is actually really hard for me. But cell phone texting here is an art - and I'm serious. Don't ask me why a duck, sun, and a waving hand (literally a moving hand!) show up in the same message. So confused. hahaha - but it's actually kind of cute if you read it. Now, I do it myself too!!! Totally a "fob"! :)

Oh yes, can I just share one more thing? It's total Hello Kitty land here! I bought Bausch & Lomb contact solution the other day...and guess what it came with? A Hello Kitty pouch! how cute! (Admittedly I bought the solution BECAUSE of the pouch, but figured that's the only way I'll be able to accumulate Hello Kitty random goods). But could not help but think, SERIOUSLY, you don't need to lure me to get contact solution with Hello Kitty pouches! But whatever.


I think I'm going to save some random thoughts for another time. Just as a "sneak" preview, I'm planning to head to Keio v. Waseda baseball game next week (woohoo!) so stay tuned!

Life in Japan : One Month Anniversary

So, I celebrated my official one month anniversary in Japan (what a thing to commemorate) today with a visit to a local hair salon.

I've been staring at my rather messed up, weed-like hair for quite some time now. And then everytime I walk out, you see these japanese girls walk by you and FOR WHATEVER reason, doesn't matter how crowded the subways are, doesn't matter whether it's pouring rain or 30 degree celsius scorching hot - seriously regardless of the external environment, they manage to keep their picture perfect make-up, with their hair arranged in an orderly fashion, walking the streets of Tokyo.

Total what the heck. I mean at the end of the day, I'm a girl too and I do think about trying to make myself "presentable" - but I'm clearly still a kindergarten student in the school of "human presentation" in Japan.

So, today, after a few hours of studying (i tried anyway), I decided to pay a visit to a hair salon, randomly picked from one of the ads that I picked up from the station. I walked in wanting just a hair cut and...I walked out with a perm too. Dang. I think it's the feeling of "kuyashii" - which in Japanese means one feels defeated but refuses to succumb to such feeling...(hm, I shouldn't be writing dictionary.com definitions - I feel like my definitions really don't add to explaining anything...!!!) Blah.

I apologize - Narcissism alert below. :P But, just thought it made sense to post it just to prove I did it! Next step is to master the art of make-up here. So why was I here again? haha...I hope it's not here to turn myself into a potential trophy wife. Lol.

Life in Japan : Typhoon No. 18

Typhoon No. 18 was here yesterday. And I took this picture from my balcony yesterday when the typhoon swept over.

Seriously? Doesn't the word "typhoon" suggests something a little bit more...disruptive??? I mean, it was a little uncanny to have all your classes cancelled when it's really sunny out. Made absolutely no sense!!!

Janice's first experience of typhoon in Japan - is WTH, WTH, WTH, and more WTH? (WTH = what the heck!).

It was pretty bad in the morning. I left for school with my dormmates early Thursday morning, only to find out that Keio announced that all morning classes were cancelled that morning at the station. I was soaked when I got home. And unfortunately caught a stomach flu while I was out and about.

It all of a sudden became real sunny in the afternoon, precisely when the typhoon was hovering over the region. Weird heh?

Life at Keio

I have never been an exchange student in my life - and have always envied someone who has had the opportunity to live / study abroad. I guess I'm a good example for anyone who may be interested in hopping on a jet plane and going to some foreign land (Not that I'm ENCOURAGING this - there are obviously responsibilities one should attend to before throwing everything aside!)

So anyways, I went to the Keio Welcome Party for international students yesterday. It was quite a sight. I felt like I was at an U.N meeting as oppose to being in Japan. I just have to post this video because I think it's ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. They did a little bit of a song and dance as part of the "program" and effectively was a monotone song that was a tad too long repeating K_e_i_o K_e_i_o K_e_i_0. You get the point...

It was the same night that Tokyo lost the race to Rio to host 2016 Olympics. Nobody in Japan seemed to care though. I saw the most beautiful Tokyo Tower Friday evening though - glittering with the most beautiful lights I have ever seen...in Japan. (ha! I have to qualify everything I say..teehee). But it was beautiful - wished I could take a photo of the sight but it was raining and I was already running late to the party. I'm glad Tokyo didn't win though - the city's chaotic enough trying to contain its own people - not sure it needs more!