Pushing One Month Here!

So, in a few days I will have been here a full month (on the 7th). It really doesn't feel that much like I've been in an entirely different country for a whole month. I mean, Japan is just a country full of people doing their normal everyday things. Here in Tokyo the traditional Japanese culture really doesn't smack you in the face like it might were you in a smaller region/city of Japan. Tokyo is almost it's own special country inside of Japan. I'm really enjoying it though. I know enough Japanese to get by, so I haven't had a big issue with culture shock or anything. The issue for me will probably be reverse culture shock when I go back to Manhattan :P

Also, for those who were worried: I survived the typhoon just fine. And for those who didn't know: ... there was a typhoon that hit Japan over the weekend. Typhoon Chaba, I think it was called. It was a category 4 storm, but the part that went over Tokyo was just the very edge of it. Poor Okinawa though got smacked a bit hard. The coast of Honshu (the big main middle island of Japan) only saw a bunch of rain and wind from the edge of the storm. It really wasn't all the bad for me at least. Hell of an experience though, let me tell you. The wind ended up killing my umbrella and forcing me to walk home in the downpour from the station to my dorm (about 20 min if I'm walking quickly). I guess I could have taken the bus, but I would have had to backtrack a bit to get back to the bus stop... plus I'm a poor college student and didn't want to pay the 200 yen fare (about $2.50 ish). I looked like a drowned puppy when I got home, and the dorm manager was concerned. "What happened?! Why didn't you take an umbrella?! You're

going to get sick!" she seemed kinda pitying when I explained that the wind killed my poor umbrella.

I did a few nifty things this week with some friends. On Halloween me and my friend from my dorm went down to the area called Ikebukuro. It's sort of the the nerdy/geeky/anime area here, and it was lots of fun. We went to an 8 story anime/manga store with all sorts of outrageously awesome merchandise for so many animes. Some were familiar and are in the US, but many of them are only recently coming out in Japan or have never made it to the states, so it was pretty cool to be able to peruse the new things and see what I recognized. We also went to the Denny's (Yes, it's exactly the Denny's you're thinking of, with a Japanese twist) and here in Japan Denny's doesn't suck! It's sorta "meh" in the US, but the food was delicious here and was for the most part all Japanese food with a few standard exceptions like pancakes and stuff. I got a seasonal desert for the fall with caramel and a leaf on it that was pretty good. The amount of people in the area was a bit overwhelming though.

Last night I went on a spontaneous trip to Harajuku (the fashion and some shopping district) with a few Americans from school. The atmosphere there is just crazy, but super energizing and entertaining. We checked out some excellent clothes stores and I got myself some nifty earrings and a freaking awesome goth/J-Rock shirt from a used clothes store. Harajuku is also pretty much famous for its crepes, and they totally lived up to the hype. I ended up having a kiwi one with ice cream and whipped cream in it. The variety of them was insane, and there were like 4 crepe trucks right next to each other competing for business. It was a long day last night because we decided to go to Harajuku right after school was finished at about 4 pm which meant we were out most of the night. I got back to the dorm at about 11 pm, but it was worth it. We all did what's called "purikura" (short for "print club" in Japanese) which is the photo booths where you have strings of pictures taken and then the machine prints them out on sticker paper so you can stick them on things. I'm absolutely going back to Harajuku sometime, maybe next week :)

Pictures!

Alright, the first pic was taken in Ikebukuro when I was at Denny's overlooking the street below. The rest of the pics there were from Harajuku of my friends and me eating crepes, the crepe truck itself, and of the entrance to Takeshita-dori (the street we wandered down for shopping)

Videos!

Ikebukuro

Shinjuku

Ride on my train to school

Gaikokujin Tourokushou

Useful things for people studying abroad in Japan to know!

Always carry your passport with you until you get your Alien Registration Card (Gaikokujin Tourokushou) because it's entirely legal and encouraged for the policemen to ask to see the passport or alien card of anyone they believe to be a foreigner. In fact, I got stopped today in the train station and was asked to show my passport and Visa. You run the risk of being detained and even deported if the cops are in a bad mood, so keep it on you at ALL times. That being said, the Alien Registration Card is much more convenient and safer than carrying your passport (because replacing as lost passport quickly is hell, but the alien card is much easier). Only the passport or Alien Registration Card are acceptable forms of ID for foreigners--your school ID and other things won't be accepted.

To get the Alien Registration Card you'll need to go to the ward office of the ward you live in. You must go to the main large branch, not the smaller local branches in the ward. You'll need to bring your passport and two photos (4.5 cm x 3.5 cm). You'll also need to give your address of where you're staying in Japan, and fill out some paperwork (which conveniently has English translations) to submit it. Now, at that point tell them person behind the counter that you also need to apply for the National Health Insurance as well. In Japan, if you're here for more than 90 days (e.g. on an actual Visa and not the tourist Visa waiver) then you are REQUIRED to apply for this Alien Registration Card and the National Health Insurance. It doesn't matter if you have other insurance already--Japan doesn't care. Most doctors won't accept health insurance they don't recognize already, and some only take the National Health Insurance plan. So, apply for it because it's actually a good deal. For students with no income it's about $15 a month and covers 70% of all medical expenses while here, including dental. You can then take the remaining expenses and claim them from your own insurance when you get back home so in the end you may end up paying nothing.

You'll want to start this process early because it's a hassle and tempting fate to have your passport on you at all times. Also, make sure to go first thing in the morning right as the ward office opens because it gets really busy really fast. I got there before they opened and it still took a couple hours to get everything done and head home. They will give you proof of having applied for the alien card, but until you pick it up you still need to carry your passport at all times. It takes about 3 weeks to get it all processed and made after application. You should leave with your National Health Insurance Card the same day you apply for it and then you can immediately begin using it :)

So... who wants to see some dumb videos of me on a bus on the way to the ward office at freaking 7:30 am? Nobody? Well, I'm putting them up anyway! The first two links below are short bits of the bus ride to the huge Edogawa Ward Office in the morning, and kind of give you a feel for the other parts of Edogawa. The bottom link is a short excerpt from my 25 min walk to/from the train station everyday, while chatting with my dorm mate. We happen to live on one of the big highways in the Ward, so it's typically pretty busy. This was a fairly tame night, though. Not nearly as many people and bikes crowding the sidewalk.

Bus to Edogawa Ward Office

Bus to Edogawa Ward Office 2

Walk Home

In other news, I went out and explored Shinjuku with a couple of Korean friends, and they took me to this awesome little noodle shop. The stuff is crazy-cheap and it's surrounded by the typical crazy Tokyo night life and bright lights.