Tokyo Time

My Japan trip kicked off yesterday, so my blog kicks off in earnest as well.
Leaving for Japan started very poorly. When the check-in computer at RDU asked for my passport, I rummaged around in my backpack and couldn't find it. This sent me into a wild panic. My parents ended up calling a neighbor/friend who cat-sits for us, and we guided him to various locations where it might have been. It turned out that it had been left in the scanner. He was kind enough to drive out to RDU to bring me the passport, so I owe him big-time. Like, really cool kimono big-time.
After a fairly standard hop to Dulles, I got on a Boeing 777 (lucky sevens?) for Narita airport. The food was meh, but they did serve ramen once, which was awesome. (Later in the flight, I asked for it instead of pasta or a turkey sandwich.) Thirteen or so hours later, I was at Narita airport.
Now, some people were supposed to meet me and take me to my dorm. After I cleared customs, I hoped the assigned people would recognize me from the photo I sent, but nobody spoke up. There wasn't anybody holding a sign with my name on it, either. So, I wandered around the airport in a bit of another panic. Fortunately, I eventually met up with a girl named Hina (thank you, information desk), who has since proven invaluable in helping me with...well, everything.
For starters, she helped guide me to my dormitory. This required a very long train ride with at least one transfer thrown in. Narita airport, you see, isn't quite in Tokyo, but neither is my dormitory. Hence, we rode - or, more precisely, stood, since the train was crowded with rush hour traffic.
The trains themselves are completely different than anything in the U.S. For one thing, they are clean, which is more than can be said for many of our trains. There are also a ton of public and private lines in Japan. The Japanese put us to shame in terms of public transit. Finally, the amount of advertising on the trains is incredible (as a friend noted, and as I concur). There were even TV screens (separate from the ones displaying information pertinent to the train) running ads.
After we got to the station, there was still a bunch of walking to do. To make it worse, my guide (bless her heart) didn't quite know where we needed to go. This actually isn't that strange - addresses are really hard to find in Japan, particularly with the bizarre street layouts. There are even maps at several points in the city where I'm staying, and Hina herself has used them. (A friend remarked on the maps, too.) In any case, we finally got to my dorm, and I got somewhat-settled in.
This dorm is quite different from what I'm used to back in the states. You have a single room, but it is very small - about 8.6 square meters. It's actually not too bad, though, once you're used to it. You're supposed to take your shoes off in the tiled part of your room before entering the main, carpeted area. The bed is a futon. There's a dining hall downstairs (like in Granville Towers) that serves traditional Japanese meals at breakfast and dinner time. Unlike UNC's dining hall, though, it's open until 11 PM, which is awesome. The only things that suck are that the halls and bathrooms aren't air-conditioned, there are only showers on the first floor, and there's a midnight curfew. And no girls. (Oh, hell, who am I kidding - that won't be an issue.) It's also an off-campus dorm which is pretty far from International Christian University, where I am studying.
At dinner, I met a bunch of fellow gaijin (or, as is said officially, gaikokujin), which is cool. One of them is American, one is British, and one is Belgian who goes to college in England. (At breakfast the next day, I met another American.) We all agreed to meet for breakfast and head to the matriculation ceremony together.

That was yesterday. Today I went through the matriculation ceremony, which was tough in an un-air-conditioned chapel for a guy wearing dress pants and a dress shirt and undershirt - and for everyone else, really. (It's as hot and muggy here as one could experience in North Carolina.) I got to feel the heat even more walking to the local ward to register as an alien and join the national health insurance; this walk also pounded my feet, which were shod in dress shoes. I had Hina to help with translation, fortunately.
Tomorrow I have to take a placement test to determine my proficiency in Japanese. This apparently means that I should study. The main thing for me (and everyone else) will be kanji, the Chinese picture-characters. My ego's probably about to be sliced to bits and reassembled.
One last thing - despite all the negative stuff I've written about, this is a very worthwhile experience. It's good that I'm getting to see the culture up close. I'll have to describe the people, the buildings, the advertising, the cityscape, and everything else later. This is all quite enough for one post.