5th Oct 2006

I start the day trying to figure out how my Japanese microwave thingy works and if it will actually toast my bread or just nuke it…there is a button on the front with a picture of toast but I’m not entirely sure what you have to do with it…I argue with it for a while, as it tells me I’m doing lots of things wrong by beeping and flashing it’s little digital display at me…apparently I’m using the wrong plate thing at the oven…eventually I get toast. It comes out with a criss-cross pattern on the bottom and an evenly browned topside…how pretty…anyway it’s actually been toasted which is a bonus, and I haven’t turned on the microwave function by mistake…well it doesn’t look like I have anyway.

Toast is good…it makes me happy…and it’s raining outside which I would enjoy more if I were going to be staying indoors but I’m actually meeting someone. I head off to meet a stray English girl in Hibiya…I discover it’s very easy to locate fair haired and skinned people here…and we spend the morning wondering around aimlessly…which is nice and relaxing…we discover that Japanese shops rarely open before 11am…boulangeries (or at least the Japanese versions) open really early at 10am.

We sit in Hibiya park watching turtles, colourful fishes and processions of school children in their uniform hats parading around the pond…until I have to head to college to meet Lan for some more administrative joy.

I attempt to buy lunch at a takeaway shop outside the entrance to the agriculture department part of campus by pointing at a picture then handing over money. Then before I get time to eat it, Lan takes me to pay for my accident insurance for college, open my bank account and buy a mobile phone…all of which goes right over my head… including most of the information about any contract I’ve signed. Banks, interestingly enough, in Japan value the name chop more highly than a signature when opening a bank account and also have a nasty habit of shutting at 3pm every weekday…which is a bit of a bummer and also the reason why my bank account wasn’t opened yesterday. Although Japan is at the fore front of technology, the type of phone I can get is severely limited by the need for English language…and the need for cheapness, which leaves 2 phones to choose from…which makes things a lot easier…

We go back to department. I have lunch. Then after a while of faffing decide to venture to Ueno to look for a 100 yen shop… at which time the weather has decided to take a turn for the wetter and winder than you really want when walking anywhere, let alone somewhere you don’t know.

I’m a little disorientated about where I am in campus and how it relates to the rest of Tokyo and back track a few times until I think I’m going the right direction…on the way I pass older more traditional looking houses…and temples…and a strange car parking structure with cars stacked on shelves either side of a lift…with only enough space for 6 cars in total…

I get drenched from the knee downwards as I walk though Ueno park and round the lotus plant infested lake…eventually I reach the bright lights and busy streets of Ueno and walk around fighting the gale force winds which are trying to batter me and my poor little umbrella…after walking around most of Ueno I’m about to give up and start to look for the JR station to get me back to Iidabashi then home when just as I’m about to reach the station I see the 100 yen shop. Hurrah! Or not. As I proceed to waste money on junk which I try and convince myself is essential to my existence…this stuff probably isn’t even all that cheap…not for what you’re getting anyway. I pile up 2 baskets of stuff worth and launch an assault on the till.

Getting home was a bit of a mission, but it serves me right for buying so much stuff because now I’ve got to negotiate 3 interchanges and evil ticket barriers with heavy and cumbersome bags of things…foolish child.

There is still the issue of the student travel pass for the most expensive part of my journey…which is a bit of a communication issue, but the lady behind the counter doesn’t have a problem with the discount or my lack of speech. She efficiently makes my pass for me, filling in the form on my behalf and it’s a lot easier than the attempt yesterday…