Dryness, a Precious Commodity: The First 8 Days

Day 1


Getting to Oita took 16 hours.
16.
Very.
Long.
Hours….

I am not Japan size and the flight over there is more than enough of a reminder of that. My legs barely fit in the seats and the reclining function of the chair was a laughable 10 degrees at most. Aside from that though, probably some of the best in flight food and movies I have experienced during an international flight (we flew ANA, All Nippon Airways). I was finally able to watch a few movies I had been meaning to watch; Monster’s vs. Aliens, Star Trek and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It was an unexpected pleasure to catch up on a few of my American movies as we flew farther from home.

In Narita where we landed we had to participate in what I like to call the “Cross Metro Airport Transfer”. This game can be played by anyone, all you need do is fly to Narita, book your connecting flight out of Haneda ( this was our only option at the time) and then connect to the both airports via an Airport Limousine Bus. Problem was we had to 1) get through customs, 2) get through airport security 3) get our tickets and 4) get on the damn bus to get to Haneda and repeat the process airport security and checking in our flight. We had 4 hours to do this, and the bus ride alone was 2 hours plus the hour and a half to clear security and flight check-in lines. We made it just on time. Life’s is funny sometimes though, for as we had been stressing about making this flight it was delayed about 20 mins. When we learned of it, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry. I chose to laugh. Hell, I was delirious from being tired and sweaty anyway, why not laugh along with it?

Upon arriving at Oita Airport (friggin finally) we were met at the airport by our friend Saori’s Mother and Grandfather. They smiled and waved at us through the glass. We had thought it would be hard to find both myself and Eva in the airport. However, finding to blonde foreigners in a airport the size of a large city bus stop was quite easy.

We ended up going to a Japanese style restaurant with Saori’s Mother and Father ( whom Eva and I affectionately refer to them as ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ respectively), and ate as much food as we could. It was good, I was so famished by that point eating made me feel reborn. We learned after the fact that it was sans cost; Mama and Papa wished to treat us to a meal, and that was just fine with us.

When we got back to their home, the Ando family dogs Su the younger brother and Seira the older sister greeted us. They had their own unique ways of doing this too; Seira would yip and run around and lick us to Oblivion and back, Su decided we were evil and must die. Thanks to Ando’s however, they separated blood thirsty little Su out of the building (Another point for Mama and Papa as far as I was concerned). After a quick bath, Eva and I crashed on borrowed Futons and got some much needed rest.

Day 2

We awoke at 8 to the smell of a delicious breakfast. Chiemi (Mama) had made me and Eva some rice, salad, little grilled sausages, cinnamon apple bread and our choice of Orange juice or Tea. It was delicious. After breakfast, Mama’s sister Noemi brought her 2 year old daughter Yuka over to meet the foreigners. The young girl was adorable, however convinced her mother was a mountain she must climb with great vigor. Noemi had a sense of humor about it though, despite the accidental ( or maybe not) choking by her daughter as she climbed up her mothers back.

When we were ready Mama took us to the station by foot, which was about 15 mins away or so, as Noemi graciously offered her help in driving our big Heavy luggage to the station. The walk over was pretty, we traversed up pedestrian bridges between large intersections and through shopping arcades until we arrived at a cell phone shop by the company SoftBank. We unsuccessfully tried to get a phone but were told we needed our alien registration cards. So much for that idea, we continued on to the train station in hopes our tutors who we were about to meet would help us get this most precious of items.

When we got to the station, we met Noemi and retrieved our luggage and went into the train station to find our tutors. After a quick phone call with help from Mama we found them all decked to the nines in cute clothes and big smiles. My tutor Kaoru ended up being a girl. The name Kaoru can go either way but I just figured I’d get a guy. Her mentioning an interested in cooking and piano dancing should have tipped me off. Oh well. Kaoru is if nothing else ruthlessly efficient ( if not too much at times , lol) and concerned with my well being. I was pretty lucky to get assigned to her. After some introduction we began the 20 min walk to the Kaikan ( The international Dorm downtown) by foot, hefting our heavy luggage behind us as we went, but this time with help offered by Kaoru, Ryoko and Rie ( Those would be Eva’s tutors, she ended up with two somehow). As we walked, the rain began and it would rain for many more days. I did not know it at the time, but the moments I would be dry the next week or so would be few and far between. The rain also lent a hand in making an already humid country super-saturated with moisture. Great.

We arrived at the kaikan, dropped off our bags and went back out into the city to get our necessary items: A bank account, Health Insurance, Hanko ( stamp used for signing documents with your name in Japanese), Alien Registration card and Cell phones. This whole process took 6 hours and involved much bowing, quickly spoken Japanese and numerous blank looks on both parts, but with the help from the tutors we somehow got through it all. Eva still needed to get her phone the next day however because she wanted a different color than my phone because the only one available was Dark Blue ( my phone) and she wanted the gold color which was to arrive the next morning.

We separated at this point and joined another group of tutors with their Chinese students in tow. Eva and her tutors went off to get soap and shampoo etc. while me Kaoru and Hirano ( a tutor from the other group with a car) went off to find bed sheets.

Finding bed sheets took two hours. Why you ask? Both Kaoru and Hirano were hell bent on finding me the cheapest sheets they could. This is where the “too-efficient-for-her-own good” comes in with Kaoru. We arrived at a large K-Mart type place called Home-Wide and look here for the sheets. But they had none, so we hopped back in the car and drove to a huge mall/arcade/small theme park called Park Place. Here we finally found sheets but a back and forth argument of cheap versus what I wanted began.

I sat with Kaoru and Hirano in the bedding section arguing over the cost and effectiveness of various sheets and blankets for a good 30 mins or so. I really wish that number was inaccurate but it sadly was not. They wanted me to get a comforter but I insisted I wanted to get a big soft, fuzzy blanket and a fleece none. They suggested this was bad, the reason? It was too expensive. Apparently 30$ for a good quality blanket is highway robbery. I finally got fed up and said these are what I want, we are getting these, with as stern a face I could muster. Their response? “Ok, good choice!”. I sat their shocked. I was unsure if they were serious or not. Hirano even threw the thumbs up to top off the moment. I suddenly felt very tired and wished to sit down.

We ended up getting sheets, a thin blanket, a fleece blanket a piece, a big fuzzy soft blanket each and Japanese buckwheat seed pillows which are indescribably comfortable. We drove back with some food and drink in tow and dropped off our stuff in our apartments. As I entered my place, I was greeted by a house guest; A big, ugly cockroach. Oh boy. THAT was a treat. The look of disgust on my face was enough to send Hirano at it with a newspaper. This tactic as I would learn later was a REALLY bad move. After this point I had no interest in going near my place and would stay at Eva’s place until Saturday of the coming weekend. I also later found mosquito larvae in my toilet and numerous broken parts to two of my pieces of furniture. This was going to be a fixer-upper indeed.

After my encounter with the gokiburi (cockroach) we went up to Eva’s place and together, me, Eva Hirano, Kaoru , Rie and Ryoko ate a hodge podge of rice balls, Japanese style fried chicken and lots of tea. The dinner ended at 11 or so, and then I showered and fell asleep. Thankfully, it was gokiburi free.

Day 3

We woke up early at v8 and got ready to meet Kaoru at the station at 10pm. We arrived about 10 and headed off to the campus to get oriented with the area and then go to a party thrown for us by Mine and Eva’s friend from SF State, Jun Sasaki. So we got to Oita station after a short 15 min train ride and began to walk to the university when we unexpectedly ran into another foreigner. He was from Oregon and had lived in Japan for 30 years. His English was slow but it was nice to see someone who could speak English. After we said our goodbyes to him we met up with Jun and our friend from SF state, who lived with Jun, Jesse. Jun and our tutors had a meeting for an hour, so Eva, Jesse and Me wandered about campus. It was much bigger than SFSU and had a lot more plant and animal life also. The most common animal we saw? Cats. Lots of stray cats. It seemed strange to me, but was definitely picture worthy.

We meandered over to a conbini (conveinience store) on campus and got lunch. It wasn’t long after we met up with Jun and the tutors and went on an unofficial campus tour, courtesy of Jun. When we finished our tour, me and Eva traveled back with Kaoru to pick up her cell phone before the party and to also pick up some beer. Returning to the cell phone shop ( it was AU kddi, a different Japanese cell phone company in Japan that we learned was cooler and cheaper than Softbank). Eva was thrilled to finally have a phone, and with the new keitai ( cellphone) in hand we picked up beer at a local conbini and got on the train to visit Jun at his apartment in Shikido, a stop before the University station and with his help got to the party. At the party were a number of us international students along with some Japanese. The part was a blast, we made Okonomiyaki and had snacks. There was much beer, brandy and whisky to be had and it was pretty fun. I spent some time with Jesse and Minami outside talking to them as they smoked their cigarettes. After the party we returned home in a slightly happier mood and I fell asleep quickly, the shower having quickened my eagerness for sleep.

Day 4

We woke up at about 8am again to (surprise!) more rain! It was disheartening. Me and Eva got to the train and boarded all by ourselves for the first time and made it to campus on time, and made it to the orientation room. By this time I was soaking wet and I wasn’t sure whether it was the rain or my profuse sweating from the super-saturated air. It was unpleasant to say the least.

Entering the room it became apparent for the first time we were not the only gaijin at the university. We were assigned seats on a seating chart and once we had all arrived 2 and a half hours of introductions and information about the university later we were required to take a Japanese proficiency test. The results would be available the next day, and they would decide which level of Japanese we could take. When we finally finished that it was time for lunch. I went to the gakushoku (campus cafeteria) for the first time. I finished early and got lost trying to find my way to the gakshoku, luckily for me, a kind soul offered to help me find it, and we ended up having lunch together. His name is Ryohei and after some lunch and meeting up with Eva we planned to hang out in the future and exchanged cell numbers.

Returning from lunch we had an oral interview to finish of the Japanese proficiency test and when we finished Eva and I returned to Oita city and went to the 100 yen store, called Daiso. We ended up getting some of our basic amenities their after an hour or so inside the store. We returned afterward to the kaikan and ate random conbini food and drinks. We talked for awhile and then fell asleep early, tomorrow was gonna start much earlier than we would like.

Day 5

At 6:30 the alarm went off and I swore internally. We had to be at the school by 9:15 and travel time plus getting dressed and ready took awhile. When we finally arrived at the school the weather was surprisingly rainy with a side of way to blanking humid. We found pour tutors on the way up from the station and then proceeded to the computer lab to begin our 2 hour orientation on the proper use of the Oita computer Lab. From there I went with Eva to the gakushoku again and had lunch. We had to get back to the Kaikan quickly because we had an orientation there from 4pm till 5pm. During our orientation, we learned the ins and outs of living at thee kaikan including the complex garbage system of Japan that is tedious to say the least. It was here at this meeting also that we go bug bombs and were told to set them off to kill the cockroaches. This was good news. I finally had a way to kill the little devils.

We concluded the orientation with a short (very short) field trip to the site where garbage is to be placed and then we broke off and returned to our rooms. On my way up to Eva’s I ran into some of the other Kaikan residents and we started talking. We all agreed the cockroach problem was lame and we all planned to set off our bug bombs in unison Saturday at noon, and then go out into the city for six hours or so to hang out. We were finally gonna start meeting new people at the kaikan, and I was excited.

Having made plans me and Eva went out to complete and extremely important chore: getting futons for our beds and Eva’s hair dryer. One place had both and if you bought two futons you could get free delivery. This magical place was called Don Quixote, or that Japanese nickname ‘Donkey’. We took a cheap taxi ride to it, and arrived through the rain into a wonderous place. This store has literally everything. Usually when someone says ‘everything’ its just to emphasize its size. But I kid you not when I say EVERYTHING. Its like a safeway, k-mart, home depot, toys r us, and mall all in one store. Its loud and colorful and crazy but a lot of fun. We took a little time finding the futons, and then conveying to the store clerks our intentions to by them and have them delivered. After buying them we were told they’d arrive 10am on Saturday morning, which was perfect, we would get them the day we were to bug bomb. I was excited. After Eva got herself a hair dryer we ventured to the large food court in Donkey and there were a lot of restaurants.

They had a Baskin Robbins with Japan only special Halloween flavors, a ramen shop, a taiyaki shop ( red bean cakes), a Mos burger ( EXCELLENT burgers!!), a giant buffet style bar and a takoyaki shop. We ended up going to Takoyaki and it was delicious! We went to Baskin Robbins afterward where I got a pumpkin ice cream smoothie and Eva got a specialty Halloween flavor which tasted like a mix between apple, grape and bubblegum. Sounds strange but was friggin awesome. We headed up to the second floor after food and played around in the game arcade, making purikura and then playing some Taiko Drum Master. Having shopped eaten and played around we returned home and sorted through our trash and put the proper trash into the 1 different categories. Exciting right? We ended up dropping off the proper one for pick up at the garbage site and went back to Eva’s room and we drank some beer and fell asleep. It was a nice cozy evening despite the rain.

Day 6

Friday was the first day we could sleep in… till 9am. It wasnt much but hey, beggers can’t be choosers right?

After getting ready we headed to the school, Eva and I had our first class “ Japanese Grammar and Discourse”. The teacher is a nice man but his English was confusing, and roundabout. I hope this problem will change in the future. ><;;;

It was at this class though that we met a lot of the international students, and after class we agreed to have a long lunch together. We needed to be back at school for the international student party at 5pm anyway, so what the hell right?

During lunch we exchanged #s and stories and we met some great people. Jon and Zack from North Carolina, Mike and Matt from San Diego, Sugi and Charlotte from Korea, Nora from Hungary, and Riika from Finland to name a few. It was great, talking and eating for a few hours, we started to connect with people from all over the world. We traded stories of friends, our experiences in Japan and our hopes for the coming year. In what seemed almost no time though, we had to leave and go to the party.

This party was the first of two planned for us, and consisted mostly of eating and mingling , with an introduction game at the end. It was interesting way to introduce everyone; the premise was to state your neighbors home country and their name. Then that person would state their name, and then THEIR neighbors name and home country and so on. This would go on until the last person named everyone’s place and name in sequential order. We all then sat down in our groups of about 5-7 and each group took a turn naming of all their group members. It was definitely a way of introduction I had never experienced before.

This party was followed by another more relaxed setting involving more mingling eating, and this time, alcohol. I did not partake however a number of others did. There was many a red face about in the room. It was super easy meeting people and I made a dozen or so new friends. This had by far been the best day so far.

Us international kids though, not satisfied with two parties, went off to a Karaoke bar downtown and decided to booze and sing it up. We sung such songs as “ Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Chop Suey”, “ Linda Linda”, “ Sk8r Boi”, “ Glamorous Sky” a Korean song and a random Japanese pop song. It was really fun. I was a lil uncertain of singing at first but after 2 mugs of beer that no longer became a problem.

We finished around 1 am and on the way back to the dorm, Eva, Mike and I stopped at a Yoshinoya beef bowl and had some excellent beef bowls. Cheap and delicious, my favorite types of food. Walking back there was a cool breeze and no rain. This is a rarity here in Japan, that I enjoyed greatly.

Day 7

Saturday was the first sunny day. It was so unfamiliar after the week of rain, I wasn’t sure how to react. Joyous was an idea, but I opted to kind of stare out my window like a small child at something brand new. Our Futons arrived (victory!) at 10am on the dot. That one of the many great things about Japan is how ridiculously on-time everything is. Its superb. When we unloaded the futons, we finished dressing and met our new friends in the lobby after all the bug bombs had been set off: We had time to kill, 6 hours to be exact and our first mission was lunch.

We met up with Jesse at the train station, and after only having lost communication with him for 10 mins or so. We headed off to a curry shop where the portions were huge and the taste was large. I had shrimp spicy curry and the rest seemed to have either beef curry or chicken cutlet curry. Most couldn’t finish the meal, except me and Mike. I was rather proud of myself actually.

After paying for the meal we wandered into the local high end department store, Tokiwa, and ended up buying ice cream on the bottom floor, which entirely made up of food stalls. I had blue berry ice cream and it was SO frickin good, and I’m not usually an ice cream fan. We went out of the Tokiwa and began heading to our true goal, first the castle and eventually the river.

The castle was large and old. It had a shallow moat where a variety of fish and turtles swam. The castle was like any other Japanese castle, except for the large modern building that took up the center of it. The Castle was hosting some sort of Construction technology expo there so we diverted over to the river side of the castle and watched the many large koi and turtles fight over bits of bread a group of Japanese kids through at them.

After taking many pictures we finally decided to continue on to the river and it was breathtaking, never ending both right and left and probably a quarter mile across or more. We walked along its edge for awhile till we stopped for a spontaneous photo op. on some nearby stairs. ADD took the better of us after awhile though and we walked back to the Kaiakan to prepare to go to that evening’s moon festival.

On the way back I bought a delicious new drink, its flavor? Candied Apple. It was one of my favorite new Japanese sodas and definitely deserves another try. Returning to the walk back, after we had cleaned up a little bit we went walking around for the moon festival and found a small town gathering at a local elementary school. There we were served free tea and local foods like soy beans, sweet potatoes, local flavors of onigiri and lots of alcohol. The alcohol was unexpected especially considering the source. Not as soon as we sat down, several of the older gentlemen came over and handed us big bottles of Sake and Shochu (potato alcohol). Both were great and the older guys seemed very happy we drank our fill. After eating a bit I got to talking with these 3 Japanese kids, ages 7 and 2 of 11 years. One was the older brother of the 7 year old. They were wearing baseball outfits and seemed to play on a local pee-wee league. The friend though had no such attire on, but he did have one sport he was good at, so he told me. That sport was running. I decided it would be fun to see how fats he was so I asked him to show me, all I can say is: Damn. That kid was fast, REALLY fast. It was staggering to realize how out of shape many American kids are. >>;;

We returned a little boozed up and with Eva and Zack I watched a few episodes of “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” on Zack’s computer, courtesy of Jon. Afterward I went off to sleep in my room for the first time with my new futon and I have got to say, it was incredibly soft. I hadn’t slept so well since the first night I arrived. The bug bomb seemed to work, but, do still see the occasional baby cockroach from time to time. It didn’t matter to me at that point because I could finally use my room properly. It was a turning point in the trip.

Day 8

Sunday was the day Chiemi ( Mama) invited us to an indoor soccer game in Beppu, a local town near Oita famous for its hot springs. We had no idea what to expect and it was definitely nothing like what I thought.

After getting on a train and then na bus we arrived at the stadium. We entered after buying some souvenirs and food and sat down near a section that defiantly looked like fans of the home team.

The team around Beppu is called “Vasegey Oita” and their mascot is a monkey with a staff, colors are orange, black and white and as we were to find out, this was no friendly game of soccer. As soon as the game started the fan section near erupted and for the whole game, with drums and horns and choreographed cheers in hand cheered ther team on. It seemed their were special and appropriate cheers for every occasion and it could be hard to keep up.

Indoor soccer is brutal. 5 guys were injured during the game, and 2 with broken limbs. It was really intense. I was actually excited about soccer for once. Maybe Eva and I will come back again for another game? Anyway, Oita lost to Machida, Tokyo 4-3. The last 30 seconds of the game Machida scored a goal and it was game over at that point.

After the game concluded Eva and I went searching for the mascots and managed to nab pictures with them. They’re pretty cool, pictures I must say. It wasn’t long after the pictures that a security guard escorted us to a back room to wait for our most generous of hostesses, Mama. She concluded her work after 10 mins or so and we hopped in her car and headed off to dinner. Before the restaurant opened we went inside a bakery and bought some delicious bread (courtesy and free of cost because of Mama). I got a donut and a hotdog quesadilla wrap. Then after that me and Eva jointly bought a hot water maker. We now have the ability to make tea and ramen. It was a very exciting moment for the two of us. I digress though, for the true treat of the night was the restaurant where mama was about to take us.

At 5pm it opened and we went in and sat down. After an appetizer or salted vegetables ( delicious) and a bowl of hot Miso soup ( also great) the main course came: ten-don.
Now Ten-don is NOT tendon as you may think, in fact its very different. What Ten-don is a rice , lightly soaked in a seat and salty sauce, topped with big pieces of tempura fried veggies and the crown on top of giant tempura fried shrimp which were at least 6 inches or more in length. The rice in this bowl was THE best I have had in Japan, and that is saying something because all rice in Japan has been cooked very well. The veggies and shrimp were so good, it was a food experience close to Nirvana.

When we got back to the kaikan, more and Eva and some of our new friends took a quick journey to the local grocery store, Maru-Kyo. I was finally able to get some milk, juice, ramen, drinks and snacks. It was very exciting. After the groceries Nora, Zack, Jon Eva mike and I piled into Jon’s room and watch some more Always Sunny and even some Aqua Teen Hunger Force were much beer and snacks were had. It was a great day!