My first few days in Ishioka

Two days ago, I moved into my apartment in Ishioka, Japan.

My coordinator, my contact at the dispatch company I work for, drove me all around the city to get me settled in (getting my key, introducing me to the school staff, etc). It took us forever to find the apartment, though, since the only access road is this really narrow, winding path through a dense residential neighborhood. Once there, though, we managed to set up the Internet, so that was awesome.

The apartment itself, which I’ll post pictures of soon, is one and a half rooms. The main room is a living/sleeping area with a TV, a closet, a small fridge and a microwave, as well as a bed frame with my futon. There’s a sliding door at the end of it that opens out to a balcony, despite the fact my apartment is on the first floor. It is actually a balcony, believe it or not, raised slightly above the ground, with an enclosing fence. The room itself is rather large, or it least it feels that way since everything is so close to the ground. Tomorrow, a floor chair is being delivered so that I can actually sit at the coffee table thing I have.

The “half room” I mentioned is a very efficiently used space consisting of a bath room, a toilet room, a kitchenette with a sink, a stove (with one burner), a cupboard, and a mini fridge, and then there’s a washing machine right next to that. The whole thing is kind of neat, and there’s a door separating the two rooms, so that’s fun. Yesterday, I found a cockroach, though, but it was easy enough to chase it out the front door.

The complex itself is very clean looking compared to the rest of the neighborhood, but it seems like there might be at most 5 other people living here, based on the cars and bikes I see around. I have yet to see another person go into an apartment.

The day I moved in, I told my coordinator that I wanted to buy a bike, and she told me about a few places I could do so, one of which was Jusco, a big chain that I was sure would accept my credit card.

We ate lunch together (ramen), then she dropped me off at the home goods store where I bought a towel and a frying pan. My next stop was Jusco (15 minute walk from Nitori, the home goods store), where I expected to buy my bike... but they weren’t selling bikes, but they told me the store 10 minutes up the road did. So, I had to go down to 7-11 (10 minutes further down the road) to get money from an ATM. I did, then walked some 15-20 minutes up to the Yamashin Home Center store, where I bought a nice mountain bike for pretty cheap. I rode it back to my apartment, haphazardly using a map to figure out the way. Later that day, I went searching for the supermarket.

After some time, I did manage to find the supermarket, but realized that this was a yet uncharted aspect of Japanese culture for me. I knew a few basic things I wanted, so I figured I’d grab as much as I could carry back within reason. I made my purchase, but soon realized they hadn’t bagged my stuff for me. I didn’t know what to do! It turns out that you actually need to buy plastic bags. So, I did that. Somehow, I only managed to get one bag, though, so all my stuff had to fit into it, because I was too embarrassed to go back and ask for another.

The next day, the supermarket was my first stop (I was hungry), but I went prepared with bags of my own, so it was a much easier experience. I took my time around the store, and grabbed some essentials. I now own Paprika, but no salt, because I couldn’t find salt.

Afterwards, I decided I needed to go back to Nitori for a second futon (for the guest I’m expecting in a few weeks, and possibly to use in conjunction with my current futon for added comfort). I also wanted to purchase a floor chair and some hangers, and another pillow. So, I did. But, before that, crazy shit happened.

These useful stores like Nitori and Jusco are actually a 40-50 minute walk from my apartment, but the bike can bring that down to about 15 minutes. A few minutes away from my apartment, the screw holding the left pedal to my bike snapped, and the pedal started wobbling until it fell off completely. I was lucky to notice the wobbling in time to stop the bike before I hurt myself, but shit. I then proceeded to walk the bike the rest of the way up and down hills (coasting on the bike when possible), all the way back to the store where I bought it. They were kind enough to let me replace it with another of the same model, but I’m still a bit worried about it. Once the bike was taken care of, I did my business at Nitori, then headed back down the road, stopping at Yoshinoya for dinner, all the way back to my apartment.

I also found there’s a bike sales/repair shop only 15 minutes from me by walking. That would have been nice to notice earlier.

The past two days, I’ve been so exhausted and sweaty by the end of the day... I’ve been taking cold showers. It is wonderful.

AND TODAY, I believe I will attempt to acquire a rental phone to make life a bit easier while I wait the month required to be able to get my real phone. I think I’ll try to get a rice cooker, too, by going up to Jusco. I think it might also be time to clean up and unpack!

Oh, also, school starts September 2, but it's Sports Festival training, so I won't have any classes until the 6th, I believe.

Expect more posts like this in the future, although slightly shorter, hopefully. I will get back to reporting about news once my life settles a bit.