Arriving in Japan, there are a couple of things you should know.
First off, make sure that you do not watch the airplane movies in German or else you will not be able to effectively talk about the movie with the rest of the group that you will meet very shortly.
In terms of baggage claim, they are amazingly fast and efficient. As soon as you get off the plane and walk to the next room where the baggage claim is, it is more than likely that your luggage has already arrived. I was debating on whether or not I should put some kind of timer inside my baggage next time I go to Japan and see if I could beat it. It really is that fast.
Customs was a funny thing. The regulations now need fingerprints scan and facial photo, which is not too bad. The whole deal with the guy looking back and forth between my passport and me for good five minutes was weird. Especially when compared to the next station where you proclaim any dutiable stuff and how much money you have (is this like, Customs part 2 or something?). Yeah, it went something like this.
"Hai, kochira ni itte kudasai." (Please come over here)
I then put one of my suitcases on the belt, and then give him my customs form and passport.
He looks at the passport, and then asks me,
"Nanzan Daigaku desu ka?" (You're going to Nanzan University?)
"uh, hai." (Uh, yeah.)
He then closes the passport, looks around sketchily, and then does that thing where you move closer, hunch your shoulders up, and waves his hand to tell me to move on.
Confused as I was, I just did it.
Apparently, he didn't even need to check if I was carrying anything worth a duty, or if I was bringing anything illegal into the country. I could've brought a year's supply of Prozac to sell to the Nihonjin and he wouldn't have cared.
There's also a section on the customs form that asks if you brought more than ￥10,0000 ($1,000) or so in cash. Yeah, students obviously don't carry that much money. That's why I brought the Prozac.
So my unlock code never came. And T-mobile lied about how there was coverage in Nagoya. I have yet to get any service or Wi-Fi anywhere. It's terrible, especially with the lack of internet. There happened to be a single public internet at the hotel we stayed at the first night, so I sent an email out to T-mobile to let them know. Customer service said exactly 24 hours. The website says 24-48 hours, and sometimes up to 7 days.
Last time I checked, that's a huuuge delivery margin. I need a phone by the end of the first week, so hopefully, it'll come. I don't feel like renting a phone for just a month or so and get my code the next day. Anybody with a T-mobile Shadow code want to help me out?
At the hotel, the first thing I noticed (sadly enough) was the TV programming. There's a pamphlet on top of the TV called "Watch the Rainbow Channel." Any guesses on what that is?
Yeah, it's a 24 hour adult channel. The pamphlet was complete with sample pictures of topless Japanese girls. The front itself had a pic of two girls that were obviously naked going for the lesbian effect. XD
The next thing I noticed was that the bathroom was a pod. Seriously. The toilet was one of those high-end multifunction possible killing machine ones, and the shower was nothing more than a handle attached to the sink. It was hard not to think of myself as a dish being washed as I turn the handle to change the faucet flow. The water gets amazingly hot, amazingly fast.
I dislike hot water. I'm the type that tends to shower in lukewarm, maybe more on the warmer side, but that's it. Hot water is too much of a shock for me. I sucked it up though when we went to the ryokan in Inuyama where they have a hot bath.
I approached it like a regular pool. It's cold/hot when you get in, but once you submerse yourself, it gets a little better. It was a bit awkward with everybody being new to the whole 'nekkid while you bathe thing' but after a while, it became a meh issue. Needless to say, I totally forgot to bring my towels with me, including the washcloth-sized one used to cover up. -.-;
So in reference to the title. I've only been to the conbini (convenience store) twice, but I already feel like that is too much. Conbini are awesome. They're much more than your regular 7-11 or corner store. Prepared food is always plenty. There's a lot of drinks to choose from. And best of all, the clerk is always so happy and helpful. They say every single part of the transaction. From the irasshaimase (welcome!) to the price of every single item to how much change they'll give you back. I'd imagine it would get tiring after a while. Too bad we can't give tips because they do an awesome job. Damn the establishment for emphasizing how to perform their jobs well as a minimum requirement, so there is no need for tips. The same applies for restaurants as well, as I had experience in Maido!, the local Japanese supermarket near Haverford.
The food here is fishy. I think there has been, maybe, 4 pieces of non-fish meat so far. It's not too bad, but the ryokan that we stay at serves really traditional food. Even though I eat most, if not all of the food, I still end up really hungry a lot of the time. Hopefully, once I get to my host family, I'll be able to eat the good ol' plain stuff, like curry rice. Woo!
This is long for a post. The next post will focus more on the activities we've done so far.
