Edojin : Rémi's life in Japan

Edojin is the journal of Rémi's stay in Japan. He obtained a working holiday visa with a plan to stay in the country for up to a year, moving in October 2009. Everyday, he will explore the culture, meet the people, and learn the language while sharing his experience with the world in writing, photos, and videos. This site is presented by Rémi's personal site, Rémino.

Enjoying Ikebukuro

Sat, 2009-11-28 12:30

35 days

Shibuya at 5AM

二週間東京都池袋に住んで、新しい生活を始めました。彼女のおかげで、携帯電話と外国人登録証明書を持てました。私はフリーで仕事をして、彼女が埼玉県にアパートを見つけて、もうすぐ引越し出来そうです。みんみんさん、ありがとうございました！自分で日本に定住は可能かな・・・

I’ve been in Japan for a bit more than a month now, and finally back together with my girlfriend since a few weeks. I can’t tell you how happy I was after my lonely week in Tokyo when I arrived in my girlfriend’s hometown Toyohashi and met her, in person, after she moved back from Ottawa 13 months ago.

After travelling a bit, having spent a week and a half at her parents’ home, where she’s been living for all that time, obtaining my cellphone and my alien registration card, staying at our friends’ apartment in Gifu, and staying for a week in Osaka at another friend’s place while visiting Kyoto and Hiroshima, we finally moved together in a weekly apartment in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

I wonder if it would have been possible for me to live so easily by myself in Japan for this long. Without my girlfriend’s help, the carrier would have never sold a cellphone to someone expecting to stay here just for a year and finding an apartment would have been a huge hassle.

Staying for a few days in Tokyo without a cellphone, after having one in Canada for two years, helps you realize how useful it is to have one. While visiting my girlfriend’s hometown, after I returned by mail a cellphone I rented online and received in Tokyo earlier, we went to Softbank and she bought me a new phone which she registered under her name. I’m now the owner, by proxy, of a black 32GB iPhone 3G S, a phone considered to be “foreign” by most of the Japanese, but has proven to be really handy for me in many situations. Carrying a cellphone when living in Japan is an absolute necessity.

In Tokyo, since renting apartments in Japan is often done with the help of an agent, my girlfriend found an apartment renting agency who deals with foreigners. Even the agent can speak fluent English, though my girlfriend did most of the negotiation. We found an apartment with the agent’s help, in the city of Saitama, the capital of the same-name prefecture. Landlords typically ask for a guarantor, and our agent asked we try to hire a guarantor company by divulging any information, including bank account statements, that may prove our ability to pay our rent. The guarantor didn’t accept us despite our proof. However, in our case, the agent will rent the apartment and sublet it to us. (We’re lucky that this agency deals with foreigners and couples like us, since most agencies wouldn’t go to that extreme.)

While the preparations are done for the apartment, we’re staying at a “weekly mansion” in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. It’s a cross of an apartment and a hotel room. In lack of better names because toilets and bath tubs in Japan are typically set in separate rooms, the “toilet room” is too small, while the “shower room” is too large. One of the kitchen chairs broke when I sat on it, there are not enough power outlets, and the faulty configuration of our Internet connection prevented us to upload or send any photos or videos for days. But, this is our home for now, and considering the price and coziness, it’s not that bad. Besides, being able to walk for only a few minutes to get to a major station on the Yamanote line, the busiest train loop line in Tokyo, is always a big plus.

Despite the few rain falls, the weather here has been quite fair. For a typical Canadian like me, temperatures higher than 10, and even 15, degrees Celsius (50 to 60 in Fahrenheit) is quite warm for late fall. The Japanese, and some Americans, are baffled when they notice a Canadian wearing a t-shirt walking on the street at this time of year.

The Christmas illuminations across the city somehow makes me expect snow falls, although I know this year will be my first time without flakes during the holidays. Maybe just a few, at most. It’s also the first time I noticed calendars having December 23 in red instead of December 25, to highlight the Emperor’s birthday. Needless to say, Christmas here is not a national holiday, and is considered by stores to be an “imported” festivity celebrated by romantic young couples in gorgeous restaurants, and families with “Christmas cakes” and KFC chicken, a trade-off for the lack of large ovens in Japanese homes. In other words, the shopkeepers want everyone to buy more. People arguing that Christmas is a religious and sacred day probably shouldn’t come here right now.

Yes, Japan is quite interesting…

Pictured: Shibuya at 5AM. Even at this time, there’s still traffic. Most of the pedestrians stayed in the area after partying for too long.

First week in Tokyo

Wed, 2009-10-28 17:00

5 days

新幹線に乗っています。もうすぐ、愛知県の彼女の出身に着いて、彼女の家で十日間泊まります。

After a few days of grey skies and pouring rain, the sun came back brighter than before, making Japan’s fall feel like a summer in Ottawa nearing its end.

I’m writing this while riding the Shinkansen, Japan’s bullet train, bound for my girlfriend’s hometown in the prefecture of Aichi, located practically midway between Tokyo and Osaka. It’s been 13 months since I’ve been with her, if I don’t count her short two-week visit in Ottawa and New Brunswick during last summer. It was a nice break from our long-distance relationship, but it was too short. Since she went back home after her vacation, I was looking forward to see her again in Japan, and today is the day.

My days in Tokyo were mostly spent by reflecting about my move. I didn’t need to rush anything since I know I’ll come back in the city next month where I’ll spent the rest of my time in Japan. This is unlike my trip back in 2006, when I just had two weeks to spend in the country, with the first week in Tokyo.

I had the chance to meet some people, mostly some I haven’t met in person before. One of them is David, an American who has been living in Japan for seven years. In August, he was looking for someone to work on a project with a framework I’ve been using for a while. One morning, I saw a post about him looking for someone to start working in October for a project due next January. Immediately, I thought that opportunity is for me. Now, after a few e-mails overseas and a few beers face-to-face, it is!

The rest of my time in Tokyo was spent sleeping at the ryokan, playing with my rental cellphone, buying food at the local 24-hour supermarket, and riding the train with my new Suica prepaid card. Nothing too exciting so far, though I’ll say the prepaid card is so convenient, it’s hard not to waste money with it as I used it quite a bit to go visit other places in the city.

My train will arrive in the train station in my girlfriend’s hometown where she will come pick me up. Time to relax before meeting her family, with whom I’ll spend the next ten days.

Why did I come here?

Sun, 2009-10-25 07:00

1 day

「どうして日本に来るかな。」やっとそれを自分に聞きます・・・

Before yesterday, the good friend of mine who invited, welcomed, and supported me in Ottawa gave me a ride to the airport. I was up until 3 AM that morning, making sure about my way to the ryokan once I arrive and renting a cellphone for next Monday. Waking up at 6 to leave soon after was quite a challenge. We planned to go at 6:30, but only left a bit after 7. The flight was at 10, so we had plenty of time.

I was getting stressed, nervous, excited, more and more every minute. Another friend was supposed to meet us on time at the airport, but when I noticed he didn’t make it yet, I just went straight to the security gate, thinking I may run out of time. How useless that was. I just ended up waiting for a few hours in the secured area. When my friend arrived, I ordered my last sesame bagel with cream cheese for breakfast and spoke with him over the phone while we looked at each other through a glass wall above.

Waiting to board the plane, I spent my free time doing some phone calls. I notified my bank and credit card company about my move to Japan, with a change of address, and I contacted my parents, sister, and my grandmother, knowing that it may take a while for myself to get settled and finally give them a phone call once I’m there.

The flight to Toronto was short. We didn’t get a lot of turbulence, and it was more than the flight to Narita. I sat next to two young girls with a style typical of subcultures in major urban areas in Japan. Although their looks and casual attitude toward each other may seem slightly rebellious towards the monolithic culture us foreigners are taught, they’ve been really polite and tolerant every time they had to move to let me out when I needed to go to the washroom. Since flying always makes me nervous, that makes me go more often. Or, maybe it was all the water and tea I drank with the ration food we were served.

Flying for 13 hours may seem long, but it took me 16 hours by bus each time I went to New Brunswick. So really, would you rather spend travelling 16 hours riding a bus to go to a maritime province or spend the same time to fly to Japan? Besides, when landing in Narita the next day, you feel like you deserve to be there after having waited for so long. Arriving in New Brunswick, on the other hand, usually just makes you feel like you wasted hours of your life you won’t get back.

Our plane arrived at the Narita airport at 3:12 PM JST. After having walked inside on moving sidewalks for a while, I passed the immigration agents, picked up my luggage, and passed the customs without a problem. I thought the personnel at the airport in either Ottawa or Narita would have asked me to open my luggage, or turn on my notebook, but nothing. With all the horror stories I’ve heard previously, I suppose I was surprised that my entry in Japan went so smoothly.

Despite the Narita airport also being called the “Tokyo airport,” it is not in Tokyo, but rather in the prefecture of Chiba, which is at the east from Tokyo. When my friend and I travelled in Japan three years ago, we took the Keisei Skyliner from the airport to the Keisei Ueno station in the east of Tokyo. We stayed at Toukaisou and it was a 20-minute walk from the station. This time was no different — same train, same ryokan. Although, finding my way was a lot simpler than three years ago.

I was happy when I made it to the ryokan. It was past 6 PM. I was tired, exhausted, hungry, dirty. I had a little chat with the young lady at the reception who showed me the room, introduced myself to the other people on the same floor, even bumped into an Australian who I met here three years ago. Too bad I was too tired to talk or to go out. I didn’t even want to think. I only went out to grab some food at a convenience store, came back, ate, took a shower, and went to bed at 8. Everything was good.

Then, I suddenly woke up at midnight, with a thought that finally sank in…

I’m here for a whole year. Not just two weeks, but 12 months. What did I get myself into?

I’ve always been nervous, or at least, cautious, during big changes. My move to Moncton and my move to Ottawa were nothing like what I just did. Although, for the first time in my life, I also had a voice offering a sense of comfort. I’ve been here before, I can speak the language, I have friends in the area, and I’m meeting my girlfriend soon. Everything will be alright.

With all these thoughts in my mind, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I got out of bed, stayed on the washroom balcony, and simply took a short walk outside. It was really quiet. A man was walking by with a cat in his hands. A young couple were riding their bicycles back home. A police car was doing its rounds. Other than that, nothing. One could have heard a pin drop. Absorbing the silence was truly amazing, considering the ruckus one has to deal with during the day.

Getting tired once again, I went back to bed at 2, looking forward to face my first complete day in Japan.

Nihon e youkoso!

Sat, 2009-10-24 07:22

0 days

昨日、成田空港に午後３時１３分着きました。５日間東京の西浅草に泊まります。新生活を始めます・・・

“Nihon e youkoso!,” or “Welcome to Japan!” I arrived at the Narita airport yesterday at 3:15 PM JST. I’m staying for a few days at the ryokan Toukaisou in Asakusa, Tokyo, before meeting my girlfriend in her hometown in the prefecture of Aichi. A new life begins…

I’d like to write more, but the battery of my notebook is about to run out, and I haven’t got a spot to both charge and use the computer at the same time yet. I suppose I’ll have to look for a better place to update my journal tomorrow and write all the details of my flight and my arrival.

Leaving Tomorrow

Thu, 2009-10-22 14:33

-1 days

準備をして、疲れて、眠いですけれど、明日やっと日本に行きます！

It’s 1 AM, around 9 hours before my departure to Japan. It’s been raining outside this evening.

Just a bit more than an hour ago, a friend and I arrived from my apartment, just after he helped me at my last preparations by getting rid of the rest of the useless junk in my apartment while I was finishing my packing. A few minutes before we left, I took at last look at my apartment, now empty, dark, lifeless, and left. (See the picture above.) We walked downstairs, I slipped an envelope in the mailbox of the landlord’s office with my apartment keys, the laundromat key, the mailbox key, pass card, and laundry card, and finally left without looking back at the place I lived in for at least 12 months.

The past few days have been filled with emotions. People who were both happy or sad about my departure. I even had arguments with a few. I organised a farewell party last Saturday at a local restaurant where both my girlfriend and a good friend from Osaka used to work at. At least 20 people came. I was happy to see all of them for a last time. I’m usually not a big fan of parties as I prefer meeting people individually, but I thought, even if I just say a few words to each person, it’s better than nothing.

The next day, a few friends of mine generously gave me their time to help me take everything out of my apartment. Since I started a moving sale a week before and I was running out of time, I decided that day would be the final day of the sale and it will become a give away. A few people took a few things home, including my friends, who took the most. I was glad to give them a favour in return with all the useful things I was giving them.

I only have one bedtime to go before I leave. Yet, I still don’t think I’m ready. I haven’t got time to get in touch with all my friends in Japan and I haven’t shopped around for cellphone rentals like I was supposed to.

One thing that was lingering and had to be rushed at the last minute was the shipping of my boxes, like I mentioned before. My girlfriend gave me the name of three Japanese shipping companies in Canada. Two in Toronto, and one in Montreal. One of the companies in Toronto was only offering commercial services. The other two didn’t offer pick up services, although the one in Toronto made an exception when I surprised them by saying I live in Ottawa. Their personnel was willing to come pick it up, at an extra charge. The price to ship five small boxes of an average of 7 to 8kg each varied between $650 and $1500. Quite expensive! Then again, for example, people who used the company in Toronto are using business men whose relocation, if applicable, is paid by their company.

Funny enough, one of my girlfriend’s friends came at my place to pick up furniture she was interested in. When looking at my packing, she made me remember some wise words from one of my physics teachers in high school. “Bring more money, bring less laundry. That’s the key to a happy traveler.” I’m paraphrasing, but both the lady at my place and that teacher were right. Nothing in those boxes will be needed immediately in Japan. My final decision was to ship all my five boxes for storage in New Brunswick, instead. It only cost around a fifth of what I was thinking of paying with international shipping. This is a lot easier to deal with, especially because I won’t have to deal with customs.

I’m dozing off as I’m writing this entry. I’m excited, but sleepy. Time for my body to rest before the big leap!