On Monday, Rachel and I decided to make the most of our commuter passes and meet in Mejiro. My timekeeping has been atrocious recently. I spent too long doing little things about my room and ended up leaving some 15 minutes later than I should have to meet her on time, then realised that it'd be best if I didn't leave paying my rent until the evening since I didn't know what time we'd be back, so I did that before making my way to the station. After paying my rent I met Jessi, who I hadn't seen in weeks, in the lobby and we walked to the station together. She was on her way to buying shinkansen tickets for her getaway to Kyoto, where she's going to see in the new year.

As the train pulled in to the station I saw that Rachel was sat on a bench on the platform and ran to her ready to apologise feverishly but she said that it was alright, that she had been testing out the different modes on her camera and asked me to take a photograph of the Christmas present given to her by her host family: fluffy black leg warmers with a ribbon-bow. Mejiro is one of the quieter stops along the yamanote: it's only known for Gakushuin University which is attended by most of the current Imperial family and some famous persons. So we simply walked up the main road outside the station one way, stop in a Thai restaurant for lunch, then walk back to the station to check the map for anything interesting that the guidebooks might've missed out.

We decided to walk to the next stop on the Yamanote, Ikebukuro, and along the way visit a shrine. We wouldn't have found the shrine if I wasn't looking every which way but the way ahead as we followed Meiji Dori. The shrine was, I think, for childbearing, according to the map. The sign at the shrine itself told us about how the roof was an innovation of the time and another sign was for the gingko tree that might be the largest in Tokyo.

If you're a collector of commemorative stamps, you'll want to come here. Unfortunately I'd forgotten my journal on this day and will have to return another time. But I'm afraid to do so on my own because the large tree and the others surrounding the shrine made the area very shadowy.

When we got to Ikebukuro, we saw the Seibu Shinjuku terminal. Rachel had never seen a yellow train before we went to Gwynnie's for dinner a couple weeks ago, so she wanted to take photographs of these. Around this time we received an email from Jenna saying that she was at the travel agency on campus and asked if we wanted to take up the deal to go to Odawara castle and stay in a hotel on the coast in Atami the next day. We didn't know where either of these places were but we didn't have any plans and the cost was reasonable, so we agreed to go. We both wanted to more about this sudden trip but I didn't want to be sending emails back and forth when she was busy, so Rachel and I got on the train and went to meet her. On the way I remembered that I'd planned to go to my old dorm, in Nishi Kawaguchi, to return the key and officially move out on that Tuesday morning.

3 weeks since my last post. Being a student (I've had to write two papers, one after the other) has gotten in the way of experiencing Japan.. Especially now that I've moved to a dorm less than 10 minutes walk from campus and taking the train isn't a necessity. But it's winter break now and Jenn and Hannah (also from Kent Uni and doing an exchange year, but in Kansai Gaidai) are in Tokyo for a few weeks!! So I get to play tourist again :)

On Thursday we met up in Akihabara and wandered around. It's so tall. Two thirds of the buildings are either electronics shops or arcades. すごい！ To get to this brightly coloured area you take the exit out of Akihabara Station to 'Electric City' and it does live up to it's nickname. Two thirds of the buildings are for stores selling electronics (in every sense of the word), or anime and manga merchandise, games arcades, old games and maid cafes! Down the side streets are small shops selling computer parts and half of the goods they're selling are in boxes and baskets stacked outside the shop, because the shops themselves are so small. They are so space efficient here in Japan. You can find restaurants that are only slightly wider than the length of my arm span. Shops are also stacked one on to another without the result being a small shopping centre but more like a departmented office block, perhaps. My favourite place to eat is beneath the home of the people that run it.  Upstairs there is only a curtain that separates the restaurant from the family kitchen.

Anyways, back to the excursion. After stopping in a Tully's Cafe by the station for somewhere to warm up - the day had started off very warm but windy, and it gets much colder in the evenings, we walked to where they're staying. I'm not sure how long the walk took because I enjoyed their company so, but you can check on a map: we walked from Akihabara Station to near Kikukawa Station. Along the way we walked past a restaurant that had a large hairy pig hung outside, behind a cage (I'm not sure whether it was real but in the dark it looked like a giant rat), and a shop that sold sumowrestler-sized clothing! Oh :)

The next day, Friday, Christmas eve, we met outside Toyokawa Inari. A mixed Shinto and Buddhist shrine with many statues of foxes wearing red bibs and, because foxes are believed to be good for business and Akasaka is an office building hub so there were many red banners showing who or which businesses have sponsored the shrine. [Photos to be added.] Afterwards we made our way towards Hie Jinja, stopping outside a koban to eat lunch under the trees (that were tagged with ID labels) on the way. I'd bought a curry pan and ate that, Jenn brought home made onigiri and trail mix (this was simply peanuts and raisins, but it's really any mix of dried fruit and nuts and it makes a great snack to help you last the day) and I don't remember what Hannah had.. By this time it'd gotten quite cold, so much so that Hannah needed to put her gloves on while I was determined to hold out since it was still only the afternoon.

Hie Jinja is where I went with some people in the first few weeks of arriving here and saw a show on a night of the full moon; I think I'd told you about that. It looked different to the first visit. Not only because there were no rows of seats for an audience and no stage for a performance, plus it was late evening when I went the first time, but I'm sure there wasn't as much gravel and more bamboo. In the centre of the enclosure a portal had been erected. Like the torii, it signified that we were entering a special place (except we came in through the side entrance and not the main). We saw one man turn around and bow to the main building as he passed through the portal on his way out and he turned again to bow after stepping outside the gate. We couldn't see into the main building because a thin curtain black curtain had been put up but you could see there was something going on. There were a few people, including a young woman in a kimono, sitting around something, and there was drumming.

We left by the main gate and stepped out into the sunshine! Because Akasaka is mostly tall, shiny buildings, we were in the shade most of the time, and so I had to stretch my arms out and bask while I could and whenever there was a gap between the blocks. From here we walked to Tokyo Tower. On the way we saw two shrines, a shop selling samurai armour (take that as you will), plenty of coffee shops, government buildings, a red-brick building.. Nothing particularly interesting.

still to come:

- Tokyo Tower

- illuminations at Roppongi

- dinner at Tendon Tenya

- celebrating Christmas by going out for all-night karaoke

- photos (*headdesk*)

Late night snack. Not sure what the filling is. Mayonaise and something tasty. Only had one of the pieces. The other will be part of my breakfast.

I want a bamboo plant and see it grow the, what?, 20cm a day.

Part of tomorrow's lunch: curry pizza pan/bread

How do you eat a whole boiled egg using chopsticks? And picking apart a whole fish using chopsticks is very annoying. Plus you have all those little bones..

Me and my flashcards

I'm too sensible to ride the Yamanote all the way round. Got off at Akihabara to change to the Keihin-Tohoku and go home.

Today, I checked my Kent Uni mail for the first time in weeks and found out that I could opt to log in volunteering hours for keeping a blog while I'm out here. Isn't that crazy? It's a massive incentive to update you on my awesome weekends here (I HAVE BEEN IN JAPAN FOR TWO MONTHS TO THIS DAY), but I have a lot of work to do.. I have lots of Japanese vocab to catch up for language classes, an essay to hand in next week and notes to write up.

Silly gaijin going crazy over salad. It'd been ages since I had sweetcorn.

note: this is the first time I've taken a video on my phone and so also the first time I've posted a video from my phone. but, still, I apologise for the poor quality. Wasedasai, the annual Waseda festival, was this weekend and it was so good that I no longer care about posting in chronological order. I had, all these weeks, simply given you photos and no tales of my weekends because I am too often too busy and/or tired. please try to find clips of the yosakoi performances at Wasedasai this year, especially by a group with 'samurai' in their name. they were mind-blowing. Wasedasai overall was a lot better than Artsfest at UKC, so I will try to at least bring yosakoi to Artsfest via the Japanese soc (and you will thank me).

Tastes just like the curry bread sold at the bakery in Oriental City. Here it's called カリーパン curry pan. Japanese cuisine has only one kind of curry.

This pack of 12 pieces of すし (sushi) from the スーパー (supermarket) for just 225円 omg

Road barriers

Unlike the others, the bear/mouse looks rightfully scared of oncoming traffic

The fish is whole. head, eyes, tail and scales.

Lol just checked how much money I have and it's definitely not gonna last me til the money my mum's sent me arrives in my bank account on Monday, so I may as well take some more out and go Harajuku with Jenna tomorrow. yay

To celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Waseda, all classes were cancelled for the day. So I went to this place and took these photos.

I bought peanut cream cos it's only 98yen, whereas peanut butter is at least 498 yen, and this is what it looks like. Like toffee. But it does taste of peanut butter.

I woke up at half 7 this morning! had to leave without having breakfast, so we've eaten lunch early

The supermarket is the simplest form of entertainment.

a typical breakfast

Knew he wouldn't last..

Jenna's fallen asleep and seems a lot more Japanese than the rest of us

Having a crepe at Harajuku!

Walking home from the supermarket after attending kimono club and having tempura for dinner with Jenna and our new Japanese friend Takahiko.

whoo! see how early I've left this morning? and I remembered to grab my bottled coffee from the fridge.

Lots of people in the canteen just now, so I couldn't take a photo of my dinner without getting caught and everyone thinking I'm stranger than I am.

The noodles were too salty for my liking but I'm glad it had carrots and seafood; the soup had egg, seaweed and spring onion; the siomay was rectangular but still delicious and I ate it with plain rice. Dessert was home made creamy mango jelly. Overall a really great dinner and I am full (^O^)

Picked up my Alien Registration Card today and tried to show the hologram in this photo. Also noticed that my phone camera has facial recognition capabilities.
plan to open a bank account on Saturday.

All this time the pancake drink was in a vending that I pass daily, down the road from my dorm, and I only have 10 1\ coins and a 10,000\ note.

I'm wandering around the neighbourhood after going out to the supermarket to buy a bottle of Evian, and I've found Humpty Dumpty and the white rabbit. I'll go for another wander in the day light sometime and show you a better picture.

I'm pretty sure Yusuf, my little brother, doesn't check my blog, so I can show these to you. I was originally gonna give these to Kai, my sister, but she's never seen an episode and I'd recently found that Yusuf had written in my journal reminding me of his birthday. ok.

Coffee powder

I am very glad that supermarkets don't close early on Sundays. At 20:51 I spent \857 on a tub of peanut cream, a carton of chocolate milk, two small cartons of regular milk, 4 tubs of strawberry yoghurt, a salad and a bento.

 

squeezy bread spread

Hello Kitty goes to Waseda too!

Dinner tonight.

おはよう ございます

 

 

 

Man, I hope these photos turn out the right way up and I should've emailed them earlier when I was just sitting outside with Aaron. Anyway these photos are of the Okuma Garden: a small green space and possibly a hotel behind it. These pictures were taken on my phone and I haven't fiddled around with the settings enough to work out which is best for what sort of lighting conditions yet, so.. sorry if the first one seems as washed out as it looks on my phone screen.

Just bought my first bottled coffee and I think it tastes great, tho I'm sure folk that generally like coffee would say it's too sweet (right, Kai?)
(sorry if this photo's turned out the wrong way up)

Staying in til half 1 as I only have a class at quarter to 3 today and this is my lunch. Bought from the supermarket down the road for 299円

First week of school

Hey, it's Monday morning and I don't have a class until quarter to 3 this afternoon, so I have time to tell you how my first week of school has been.

Monday
Like today I didn't have a class until the middle of the afternoon, so I went to the office of the company that runs the financial and legal side of my dorm arrangement to sign the contract. A few days before I'd told them that I'd come in the afternoon but I only found out when my classes were on the Sunday and I couldn't let them know that I'd be turning up a few hours earlier because my computer doesn't like to connect to the internet right away (you have to leave the room first sometimes). I suppose this is why they kept me waiting over an hour and I turned up to lunch very late: late enough for Eszter and Kaytlin to have finished eating and on their way to their 3rd period classes.

On this day I bought textbooks for Japanese classes and a mobile phone! Surprisingly mobile phone deals seem to be a lot cheaper back home. For example, you can get 500mb of internet, 200 minutes and unlimited text messaging for £10 a month back home. Whereas my current contract is 1059Yen a month (just to have a number and a phone), plus 315Yen for unlimited emailing (they don't use SMS here but email), a registration fee and a cancellation fee of 10,000Yen when I terminate my contract. On th upside, my phone is gorgeous and allows me to watch TV for free (though the picture is only half the size of the screen with the other half being a garishly bright advert, unfortunately).

I went with Chee Seng, whose Japanese is a great help wherever we go, and Aaron who I'd met earlier that afternoon and also hadn't yet gotten a mobile phone. There's this rule where only over 20s can get themselves a phone otherwise they'd need their parent's permission. At the first shop, since Aaron's mother is in a different continent, the guy serving us asked that Aaron filled out the permission form outside the shop and not in the shop.. I don't remember why we didn't just do that. Instead we went to the shop where Chee Seng had gotten his phone from and helped others get there's because one of the managers speaks Chinese and it was easier for him to communicate. But I managed to sort mine out fine with the help of a salesperson that turned out to also be a SILS student. Aaron, on the other hand, didn't know his mother's birthday and after two attempts of calling her (when it was around 4am in Hawaii where she was holidaying) he was asked to give an approximate birthday. Then we excitedly updated our profiles and exchanged contact details via IR, cos that's how they do it here. The SILS student that helped me also wanted in on this fun and gave us his contact details.

Tuesday
I had two periods of Japanese intensive classes starting at 9. I had planned to leave the dorm at half 7 but got out 10 minutes late and had to take the bus from Takadanobaba Station to campus to get to class on time. Fortunately the building was right near the entrance and finding the room wasn't too hard. I really appreciate the way they number the rooms here: the first digit indicate which floor the room is on.

In the evening there was a party for new SILS students organised by the sempai (students that had been here for longer). We all wore name tags, ate free food, and mingled a little. On each of our name tags we had randomly been assigned a letter and number, each indicated our group for the games. The two games we played were 'two truths and a lie' and charades. I think I can say that we were all disppointed by the lack of fun. So afterwards a group of us went to karaoke. They all live at Nishiwaseda dorm and we stopped by there first cos some people needed to get money or  leave their bag. I'd never been karaoke before and it was so much fun. We were only there for an hour and it woke me up after my long, exhausting day. I think the funnest song we sung was Hakuna Matata.

I left while some people were working out how much they owed each other since I was the only person going home elsewhere and had a long journey ahead of me. But when I got to the station I realised that I didn't have enough money to get home. I'd used a different bag to the one the day before and must've forgot to put in my cash cos I only had coins and they didn't add up to enough, so I quickly sent an email to Marion, Eszter and Chee Seng and walked back towards them. I felt so stupid, especially when everyone that had gone karaoke with us came. I only needed 190Yen. In the end I borrowed 200 from Chase, who I met just that night and barely spoke to. Much appreciated.

Wednesday
After having to borrow money to get home last night, I finally bought myself a suica card (like an oyster card back home except it doesn't make your travel fare any cheaper) and a commuter's pass so that I can travel as many times as I need between Takadanobaba and Nishi Kawaguchi stations.


I don't remember whether anything interesting happened on this day. Again I only had one lesson at period 4. This might've been the day I went to a film circle meeting with Chee Seng. It was really, very awkward because even though they were one of the few groups that attended the "freshers' fayre" only one of them could speak English, sort of fluently, while the others only knew the odd word from when they had to learn it in high school. They seemed like a really nice bunch and I exchanged keitai profiles with the guy that helped translate the conversations for us but I don't plan on attending another meeting.

Thursday
My day off but I went to campus anyway. First I went to the central library to try find a copy of Oedipus. The catalogue told me tha I had to go down to the second basement floor but it wasn't accessible by elevator and the sign by the stairs going down said that it'd take you to the first floor. So I was very, terribly confused about where to go and thought that perhaps I'd just read the info wrong and I had to find a section labelled B2F.. Eventually I asked at the info desk and was told to go down to the first floor, the research collections, where they'd guide me. Downstairs you have to put your bag in a locker and leave your umbrella outside. They provide baskets so that you may bring the stuff you require to work. I showed my ID, was given a tag to identify what kind of student I was and pointed in the direction of the stairs. I walked down to the second basement level and found myself in a dark corridor where the study rooms only had a small window at the top of the wall and one behind the person seated at waist height. Very prison-like.

It was a while before I found any people after reacing this floor and I was quite creeped out walking around this massive library. The map was a little difficult to understand at first. I had to walk around and check where I was at each map I found to work out which direction was which. The book I had been loking for was on the top shelf and I had to climb onto a step ladder to be able to stretch and reach for it.

As soon as I could, I made my way to building 11 and bumped into Kaytlin. She wasn't aware of the SILS office having thrown us SP3 students a pizza party, then we met one of her friends who'd corrected me, telling me that the pizza party was in building 22. We arrive 10 minutes late and most of the pizza had gone. Apparently a large pizza costs around £30 here and these were Domino's pizzas. They'd ordered loads! The toppings were unlike the kind we're used to. I had slices with broccoli, one with chilli sauce and prawns, one with lots of sliced spring onion and one with slices of potato and  grated permasan.

Afterwards, some of us walked over to the Okuma Garden House where we were to get our free health check. This consisted of:
1. filling out several documents
2. getting registered
3. getting a chest x-ray taken
4. having a urine sample tested
5. getting our height and weight measured
6. having our eyesight tested
7. having our blood pressure measured
8. an interview on our general health and well being

My health is fine and we'll only be contacted about our x-rays if there are any abnormalities. That means I won't get to see it. This is probably the second x-ray I've had (the first being of my teeth) and I've not seen any x-rays of myself.

Righto. wowzas it's late. I missed breakfast and have only eaten half an onigiri (that I'd left in he fridge for too long) and a banana, so I'm gonna by an early lunch then go to the one bank in Tokyo that deals with Western Union. I'll try update you on Friday and the weekend later on.

 

Jessi and Aaron playing Guitar Freak XG. I would like to find a friend I can return to the arcade at Big Box with daily to practise on the dance machine.

Pokemon at half ７ on Sunday mornings! It's in Japanese of course o(^-^)o on channel ７ on my phone (and there was an advert for the massive pokemon centre before the episode�). ピカ!

If I hadn't just spent ages on Skype with my family, I'd've updated my blog but I gotta go down for dinner then finally do some work �

Whoo! I'm so glad the posting-via-email thing works. Unfortunately, all the photos will be rotated 90 degrees anti clockwise because that's what my phone does. Suppose I'm gonna have to take all my photos with the phone rotated 90 degrees clockwise to counter it. Anyhow, apologies for not updating you on how my first week has been.. Can't do it now cos I have homework. Hopefully I'll find some time this weekend between dinner at Nishi Waseda dorm and going to Akihabara.

Publishing on Blogspot can be done via email. At first I that this could only be used by folk with smartphones,then I got myself a keitai denwa (more on that later) and now this is the test run

(In Fee's latest blog post, she made a comment about my blog being up to date and concise. Though they seem to me to be far from concise I will try to uphold these characteristics, but if I'm too tired I'll follow what she's done and just list things.)

I'm going to make this one brief because I need to go to bed ASAP so that I'll wake up early enough to leave the dorm at quarter to 7 tomorrow morning to get to my 9am class in time.

Yesterday, Chee Seng, Eszter, William, Sherif, Frant, Jenna and I went to the imperial palace grounds. The weather was great - not too warm and a breeze kept me cheery, very sunny, and it was perfect for strolling through gardens and around ponds. (I'll add photos another time.) It's like Regents Park in that the lay out seems planned in such a way so that photographs look really lovely. Especially with the old buildings dotted around.

We only saw about half of the grounds because when we got hungry and finding somewhere nearby that sold food proved difficult we decided to have a picnic at Yoyogi Koen instead. We ate by the big fountains and people-watched. The most noticeable thing we found was that all dogs being walked were tiny. There was a middle-aged couple with five dogs between them: 3 in the stroller and 2 walking beside them.

We didn't spend long there as we wanted to see Harajuku. On the way out of the park we saw three gangs dressed in different fashions from around the 50s and dancing to 50s music. Just beyond them were park gates and to get beyond the footbridge that takes you across the road, we had to shuffle as there were so many people streaming in both directions - towards and out of the park. Then we passed a great torii (I don't remember whose memorial it led to), crossed a bridge and met another sea of people trying to get into the station. Across the road was a massive (bigger than any single clothes shop I've seen in London) Gap store. omg. It had its own building, all windows and had three floors! Oddly, coming to Harajuku made me crazy over things we have in London yet wasn't so keen on. For example, Jenna, Eszter and I looked around the Accessorize store with wide eyes at all the pretty sparkly and feathery things (which were double the price back home), and none of us are even all that into dressing up. There's something about Japan that's made Eszter buy pink items and a headband with a big bow, and me want to squeal at the kawaiiii things.

I would liken Harajuku to Camden town for the kinds of fashions it is most visited for. There is one street that gets most of the attention in the area and we walked through making only three stops. The first was at the crepe place - Chee Seng pretty much hurried us to there (and I must post a photo of them stuffing their faces), the second is this kind of gothic lolita shop to which Jenna and I ran up the stairs to see (omg there were some nice dresses for only £15!) and the last was so that Chee Seng could take a photograph of a plane inside a shop.

Afterwards we made our way back round to the station. The guys are so lovely they let us see the whole of Accessorize. I sensibly walked out without buying anything, though I tried everything. Next weekend we're going to see Akihabara and let the guys go mental over the electronics.

Oh my goodness, it's already my second weekend here. ..But I still can't handle the heat and humidity very well.

On Tuesday was the Club Info Session. I expected it to be like freshers' fair where all the clubs set up a stall and try to persuade to become a member, sometimes by giving you freebies! We, the new students, were all excited to see what kind of clubs the student body had to offer since we'd been told numerous times that there are thousands of clubs. But we were all very disappointed as less than 10 had turned up (and without freebies). So after quickly walking past the tables to the computers by the window and unsuccessfully trying to check my mail, I went to that shady seating area outside Building 22 where I met Fee the other day to eat my lunch. There I found Chee Seng and sat with him and his friends. We talked until around a half hour before the SILS (School of International Liberal Studies, the school we're enrolled into for this exchange program) when we decided to take another look at the Club Info Session in case some more clubs had turned up. None had so we soon left  for Okuma Auditorium to get good seats. We took many pictures of ourselves with the building in the background on the way and, by the time we sat down, the start of the ceremony had been delayed for 10 minutes because people were taking too long to come in and settle down.

Somehow we all separated and I don't know who I sat next to but we were in the second row. Order of ceremony (as written on the programme, which has the Waseda song on the reverse so I think I'll keep it):
1. Opening words
2. Address by the Dean
3. Guest Speech by a Visiting Professor
4. Greetings from the Associate Deans
5. Introduction of the Faculty Members
6. Closing words

The Dean's speech was very statistical. He talked a lot about the relativeness/relativity (?) of distance with respect to travel and transport, bringing up Phileas Fogg and the dean's own experience of a 36 hour journey from Japan to London by aeroplane. It was, as the deputy dean described it, dizzying, but at the same time interesting, tough long winded. The visiting professor was very funny, actually they all seem very friendly and approachable, and seemed genuinely very excited about being in Japan for a year, so his big speech was to remind us all how lucky we are to be here and that we shouldn't forget how lucky we are. I think saw him today but I wasn't sure at first, so I didn't high-5 him; I hope he's enjoying time here.

After the ceremony ended, we were entertained by a very impressive acapella group. These 5 boys call themselves, or are part of, Street Corner Symphony.

Since I didn't know where my friends were or what they were going to do afterwards I went home. At least we'd arranged to meet the next day for Citibank's bank account applying seminar. However, I left late and was approaching the campus gates at 10 past noon and the seminar began at noon, so I stopped at a photocopying place to get my documents ready and coincidentally Chee Seng, Marion, Eszter and some other people turned up there too! The seminar had turned out to be very popular and a lot of people were told to come to the later ones, so we went to the 1pm session after a leisurely lunch. The bank accounts were explained and the form was straight forward but I didn't have a certificate for my Alien Registration Card.
Afterwards, Marion and I tried to find the NASIC office cos Marion needed to give them her photo but the office was probably just one floor in a building and we didn't know which of the 20+ buildings it was in. We tried asking at the info centre and they said to simply turn right, but that didn't lead us there.

At 3pm was an orientation run by a student club, they gave presentations on Shinjuku and Harajuku, and cafes and bars near campus. They were in Japanese, so I didn't understand much and missed all of the jokes. Eszter even fell asleep through cos she was so bored not being able to understand, but the presentation on cafes made everyone moan about wanting cake during the break. The orientation ended after they showed us a video they'd made about Japanese manners and things, and it was quite funny. The most memorable clip is the one about accessories people attached to their mobile phones. Three students were commenting on each others' as they took their phones out in turn. The first person had something small and cute attached, and they all liked it, whereas the second person was thought to have too many as she had three plush toys. The third person had attached her phone to an accessory, not the accessory to the phone. It was a plush toy about the same size as her head and she defended it by saying that at least it was just one and since it could fit into her bag it wasn't a nuisance but just soft and cute..

This student club had also organised a welcome party for us new international students at the cafeteria of the campus around the corner, Toyama. But Jessi had found that there was going to be a moon-viewing festival not too far away and we decided to go to that instead. It started at 6, so we had some time, and before we set out we decided to have dinner first. We ate at a small yakitori restaurant around the corner from the Nishi Waseda dorm. The guy running it asked how many of us there were, then rushed to the dining room to set up. He turned the lights on, set up a fan and laid cushions around the low table. Of course we had to take our shoes off before entering the dining room. He gave us cold tea and grapes to help us cool down as he prepared the food. There were other customers in the shop so we had to wait a while for the food, but we all agreed that we'd like to go there again as it's so cosy and friendly. For just 700 Yen each, each person got a bowl of rice, 6 sticks of yakitori of various meats and miso soup, and we shared a salad and beansprouts cooked in a delicious sweet sauce.

Soon afterwards we left for the festival but Marion decided to go to the party instead as she wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay near the dorm. It took us around 20 minutes to get to Akasaka-Mitsuke and we arrived around half 7, I think. When we came out of the station we were surrounded by glittering skyscrapers! I was in awe. After a short walk we spotted a huge, bright red torii. It's amazing how you can find jinja in the midst of this modern setting. After walking through the torii, we climbed some steps and came across a tall set of stairs, and this passageway was lined with many little torii (I imagine this has its own name that I'm not aware of). At the top of the stairs, I was surprised to find a vending machine, but I suppose I shouldn't have been since we are in Tokyo.

The first set of doors to the jinja were locked and there were people watching through the bars, so we did the same. But after the first performance we decided to go around the building to see if there were any other entrances. On the adjacent side a sign said that the doors were locked at 5pm, but someone decided that we should carry on walking around just in case and to our amazement we found a door open. We walked through and squeezed in with some people standing at the back.

One of my friends told me that they'd overheard someone saying that the door was being blown open by the wind and that we weren't meant to be there, but a short while later was the show's intermission and some people left their seats. We decided to take advantage of this and look for seats left unclaimed. Luckily all but one of us found seats, but one of the seats was in the path of a great stone pillar so two of us stood watching at the back. I don't know what kind of performances they were but on the fan I as given at the exit the website address printed is www.hiejinja.net The music seemed dissonant at first but after a couple performances, I felt that it worked with the slow, fluid dances.

Most of the people in the audience were dressed in suits, as if they'd come straight from work, with their colleagues too. Everyone also had programmes for the show and the seats that were free were those without a tag attached, so we think that to attend this concert you were meant to have bought a ticket.. While we'd just walked in halfway through.

Outside we met Marion who had turned up with a few other people that had decided they didn't want to go to the party. It turns out that you had to pay 1500 Yen to cover the food they'd provided and we hadn't been told this, plus she'd already eaten dinner. The others she'd arrived with had already left by the time we got out. As we walked back towards the station Jessi decided that she needed cake. In Japan cafés at coffee shops are, supposedly, distinct. If you want cake you must go to a café while coffee shops don't serve cake but they were more likely to be opening at this time than cafés. We found a café before the station but they were out of cakes, so we went back to the Waseda area cos Kaytlin thought that there might be one she knew of that was still open. And it was! Haru and Marion had gone back to the dorm but Jessi, Eszter, Kaytlin and I each had a coffee and a slice of cake. The girly chats we had that night were hilarious! I'm so grateful to Kaytlin for letting me stay over at her apartment, even though we'd just met that day, otherwise I would've had had to have gone back to my dorm to arrive in time for the midnight curfew.

I just went downstairs to reclaim my umbrella and put my shoes away into my shoe box, cos they're drying by the door, but they're still wet. Then on the way back up I noticed the little note on the board for the Toco Bus timetable and a note saying that the first train at Nishi Kawaguchi Station (I can recognise its kanji name =] ) is 4:36 and the last train is 0:58.

Good news: I found the local hyaku en (100 Yen) shop!
Bad news: when I got to the cashier I found that I'd forgotten my cash..

So I hurried out looking most embarrassed and sorry, headed over to the 250 yen meals place and bought lunch, then over to The Price for a few little things. I've finished eating lunch now, but don't fancy heading straight back out again. It's a 25 minute walk in a very subtly encroaching heat.When I first left it was cool and better than bearable outside but as I walked the heat slowly became more noticeable. I hope Autumn comes soon.

In my last post I'd said that we have a freshers' fair and opening ceremony today but I'd made a mistake. They're tomorrow, while today is Respect the Aged Day and some shops are closed. But I don't actually know what this holiday entails.

After dancing and singing along to Rooney's When Did Your Heart Go Missing? I decided to step out onto my balcony. I hadn't done so before because there's an insect screen, implying that there are bitey bugs around here, but I woke up with a couple bites on my legs the other morning and I'm not ill with malaria (just itching a little), so I braved it. I think it was around half 5pm and this is what the sky looked like.

I've also taken photos of the view, from my balcony, of the road that the dorm is on.

Because it was cool outside I decided to go for and walk and as it was going to get dark soon, and colder, I left wearing a cardigan. Although it never turned out to be cool enough for me to want to have worn one. But I must bear in mind that one of the girls I spoke to at dinner yesterday told me that she had gone out shopping to buy tights because it is getting colder and Autumn will come soon.

Like I'd mentioned before, vending machines are on every road and they are very brightly lit. I'm glad that they're so bright because the street lights are quite dim and rather far apart.

I went to The Price, the local supermarket also known as the 7-11, to get a couple onigiris cos they're only 98 Yen each there but they were all sold out. So I went for a walk to see the shops on the other side of the station. From the platform you can see signs for arcades and a KFC. A couple people I've spoken to here at the dorm prefer travelling from Toda-Koen Station, even though it's further and more costly, because there are so many arcades around the Nishi Kawaguchi Station.. I suppose this means that the gambling zombies at the pachinko machines wake up to be an angry mob as they grow frustrated at not winning. Like any casino, there are no windows at pachinko arcades, so that the people inside can't tell how long they've been in there gambling for. I stayed in the brightly lit area and found several bookshops, convenience stores and places to eat, then headed back after half an hour.

Dinner isn't served at the dorm on Sundays, to give the manager and his wife a rest I suppose, so I had to buy my own dinner. It's cheaper buying ready made stuff than to cook a meal a week because I'd have to also buy pots/pans and utensils to use. The choco chips are the ones I won at bingo earlier at the party, the cereal's just there cos I was reading the box (I've not bought a bowl and spoon yet, so I've not bought milk for it and eaten any), the smaller packet on the left is a pasta coleslaw and on the right are sweet potato croquets with sweetcorn and carrots. I also had an onigiri from a Sunkus convenience store (135 Yen ¬_¬ ) that was saltier than any onigiri I've had before but the filling was a nice flaky salmon.

Righto, all for now. Freshers' Fair-like thing tomorrow where the clubs and circles (as they call them here) that are keen on inviting foreign students will have booths/tables where we can find out about what they do and sign up if interested. There's also an opening ceremony for all the students entering Waseda this semester (it's taken me until orientation here to work out that semester = term) at the fancy-shmancy auditorium. Will post about that tomorrow. Goodnight!