I seem to be making better progress in my first week than even I thought I would. I came to Japan with a whole big list of jobs I had to get done to be ready, and after today there are only a few items left to do.
Today was what I'd like to call 'important details day'. It involved meeting with a woman from a company who had been hired by my future job company to help with my preparations, and going to register with the local ward office and open a bank account. Registering with the office is a big deal. I've no idea of the specifics, but it has something to do with making sure that the government knows where you are in their city and making you officially ok to live in the country. This was pretty straight forward since I had the apartment sorted already, so all I had to do was smile and nod while the Visa lady, Asakawa-san, told me where to sign.
Going to the bank was harder though (as so many of my jobs have turned out to be). For some reason, the bank would not allow me to register without a Japanese phone number. Why? No idea, my english one works fine. I had planned on getting a Japanese mobile anywhere, this set back just meant I had to up my schedule a bit. Fortunately Asakawa-san was is an incredibly kind woman who agreed to help me buy a mobile phone as well. She's probably started a hate-me campaign by now for all the trouble I've caused today, but she was very nice and patient and explained all the forms I needed to sign and the different options blah blah blah. Long story short, I got the phone sorted. Then we went back to the bank and finished signing all the forms. And after turning down the option for a 'Mickey Mouse' themed bank card, I opened my new account and now have to wait on the arrival of a card. This is a big deal in Japan since you have to collect the card from the delivery guys yourself, and If you miss the deadline the card gets destroyed. So no pressure then.
The afternoon was free time/let my brain reflate time, and I decided to spend it touring some of the unknown Akihabara sights. I found all kinds of shops selling Anime Charagoods (character/anime themed merchandise) and got to take a good look around some awesome manga stores. The only downside is that I have to be responsible and not blow any money I have left until I can be sure it won't come back to kick me in the bum. But that didn't stop me getting an awesome cover for my new phone ;).
With the energy I had left this evening, I decided to try a couple of different things for supper tonight. 1st was a traditional ramen establishment. Ramen is effectively fast food here - and when I say fast food I don't mean Macdonalds super unhealthy burgers. You buy your meal on a machine before entering the restaurant at all, sit at a counter stool next to total strangers, and once you've finished you leave. Takes 30 minutes max.
Since I'd done so well the last couple of days I decided to treat myself for desert and went to a corner ice-cream parlour. In Japan these are semi-maid cafe's that are based entirely around nice, conversational staff in frilly attire and Ice-cream parfaits that will knock your socks off. Sure I mentioned before that sometimes a weird crowd comes to maid places, but tonight this wasn't a problem as I came at a quite moment and the nice waitresses were very friendly and chatty. It is probably in the job description, but I didn't mind because the only people I've spoken to so far here speak fluent english, and it was nice to practice some of my Japanese a bit more. And even if that weren't true, the chocolate banana parfait made it all well worth it.
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