I’m finally here, and so far I’ve been having a wonderful time. (Click photos for a bigger version)

I arrived at the airport around 11am for my 2:35pm flight. I got to hang out with my wonderful parents and my wonderful boyfriend for about an hour before going through security. I managed to stay strong up until the point where I kissed and hugged everyone goodbye - then the tears started coming. I smiled passed it, and somehow managed to not cry too much. As Chris described it, the moment was bittersweet.

We made it through security without any issues whatsoever. And we managed to switch seats with people to sit next to each other. Neither of us slept even a second on the entire flight. I watched one Japanese movie and played a lot of Bejeweled and Solitaire. I was thrilled when I was browsing through the “World Music” second and found AKFG’s WORLDWORLDWORLD album as one of the music selections. So I listened to that.

This was the very first sight I saw of Japan. I have to admit, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Haha. I had the stereotype in my head that the land was nothing but concrete and skyscrapers. In fact, it’s not really like that at all. I’ll be adding more pictures and making a video shortly of the area where I’m staying. It’s quite nice. When we got off the plane and through customs - which was also a painless process - we were greeted by two Asia University students.

One of them had stayed at CWU and became friends with Chris while she was over there, so she was the one to help us with everything. Asuka is her name.

The first thing I did was exchange money. Then we took our bags over to a delivery service counter and handed our bags over. Asuka took care of the paperwork for us to make sure it got to the right place. With our carry-on baggage in hand, we headed off to the trains.

I don’t quite recall how long it took on the train to get to Musashino - I think it was about 2 hours. We had to transfer twice after the initial train. We discovered that Chuo line is quite popular and… squishy. Haha. If you have claustrophobia or have issues with people being in your personal bubble, you’ll probably have a lot of problems with that train.

After we got into the city, we got into a taxi and went to the school. We met up with our main contact here, Yukio, and he walked us over to the dorms. I was shown my room briefly and got set up with the entry code/fingerprinting (more on this later), dropped my stuff off, then left. I met Asuka’s and Chris’s friend Megumu, and together we walked over to Chris’s dorm. After he got set up, we walked over to a nice little shopping area to eat Yakiniku.

This is probably going to be my favorite meal style. Nothing but meat meat meat meat meat and more meat!! We got to try tongue for the first time (I’m pretty sure it was cow), which was a bit chewy but very delicious. The way yakiniku works is you get a plate of meat, and in the middle of the table is a sort of cauldron of coals with a grate over it. You put the meat on the grate, let it cook for about 45 seconds to a minute, then put it on your plate and eat away.

I’m really not quite sure what all we had really. I know we had some beef, pork, and chicken. But there might have been other meat on that plate that I didn’t know about. The yummy drink was a cocktail of OJ and mystery yummy alcohol. In any case, it was freakin delicious for my first Japanese meal. By time we had finished eating, or maybe even in the middle of eating, both Chris and I were extremely tired. Afterward, we both went back to our dorms and promptly went to sleep.

Actually, I went to Megumu’s room to email my parents, since I had forgotten to bring an ethernet cord with me. After that, I went to my room and fell asleep around 11:30pm Japan time, or 7am PST (I had been awake nearly 24 hours).

I woke up briefly around 5am, then again at 8:30am. Finally I couldn’t sleep anymore, so I got up. My room was absolutely freezing, both in part because I couldn’t figure out how to work the heater/AC and also because there was a small window thing left open on my sliding door. I got up and sat around, wondering when my luggage would arrive. In the meantime, I started making a list of stuff I needed, unpacked my carry-on stuff, and took a picture of my small room.

I came to the realization somehow that the bags wouldn’t be delivered to the dorm - instead it would be delivered to the international office on campus, since that was the only address we had. I went to Megumu’s room and asked her if she would help me figure out where my bags were going. We walked over to the international office and luckily Yukio was there. He said he would call when they arrived.

At about noon, I got a call from a lady who didn’t speak barely any English, but I somehow was able to understand what she was saying (how awesome is that?). Chris’s and my bags had arrived at the office. I wandered over to the boys dorm and grabbed Chris, and together we got our bags. On our way out of carrying 100+ pounds of luggage each, we ran into an American teacher who had just came to Japan two weeks prior to us. He was there to teach English. He gave us some of his information and offered to be a sort of friend if we needed it, which was really nice. He was also super nice in the way that he helped me carry my bags down a flight of stairs.

After we got back to our dorms, I was able to take a shower and arrange some stuff. Then we met up with Megumu. While we were outside figuring out where we were going to go, we met up with another American girl named Chloe, and one other Japanese girl (I can’t remember her name unfortunately ). Together we walked down to a place called Donki Hote (pronounced Don Quixote. How fucking cool is that?). On the way there, we walked over a natural creek and saw these HUGE koi. They were awesome. I wanted to keep the orange and white one, which we dubbed Frank.

I managed to get an ethernet cord and an extension cord that had three prong sockets (the wall sockets are only two prong). After we shopped and got a bunch of stuff, we dropped off what we had and went over to an awesome Ramen place. I didn’t have ramen - I had gyoza, pork and rice. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me to take a picture of the meal before I ate. But Chris captured me eating some gyoza. We wandered back towards the dorm, where all but Asuka left Chris and me. We wandered around a bit, getting lost trying to find the equivalent of a dollar store (Asuka lives in another area). Eventually we met up with Megumu again and found the store. I bought a bunch of hangers and other misc stuff.

Chris and I were looking at cups and found this AWESOME Engrish cup. “I can hit and run!” We had to explain why it was so funny to Asuka. I also found some finger condoms. Again, unfortunately, I did not have my camera to take a picture. After we were done shopping, we wandered over to AU and sat in their sort of dining room area. Asuka brought us some Takoyaki, Octopus donut-type balls. Chris JUST told me they were octopus - I had no idea when I ate it. Either way, it was very good. Haha. I would have ate more except I was still full from our earlier ramen excursion. We came back just before 6, and I spent an hour trying to organize my clothes and such. The dorm had a meeting for all the new students to the dorm - there are two Korean girls, one girl from Mongolia, and the girl who translated for us is from Malaysia. Quite the diverse group.

In this city, there are very strict recycling laws. Everything must be sorted. I’ll make another post about that in the next few days.

After the meeting, I came back to my room and finished organizing. I got caught up on all my twitter posts, and then decided to write this! Tomorrow we have a meeting to do Alien registration. Once my room is completely decorated, expect pictures! I’ll also be making a video of the area, as well as a post and/or video of the mundane everyday things for my Kevin.

Ja ne!

I have only SIXTEEN days left before I head off to Japan. TO TOKYO. It’s still surreal for me that I’ll actually be doing something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was 13. How exciting! How scary! I’m beside myself right now.

To help myself become better prepared to leave, I’m making this list to make sure I don’t forget anything. Some of this list is borrowed from here.

Things to do:

1. Get international health insurance from here.
2. Call any credit or debit companies to let them know when you will leave (don’t want any accounts frozen)
3. Make list of addresses, phone numbers, emergency contact, etc.
4. Make copies of credit cards, debit cards, id, passport or anything else. Make copies for you and or parents (just in case).
5. Register at U.S Department of State to let them know you will be out of the country.

Things to buy:

1. Rechargeable batteries. (2000 mAH or better)
2. One or two simple picture frames with pictures of family and friends.

Ah, class time! I’ll finish this later. I will add onto this list as I think of more things.

ETA:

Before you leave the country, make sure your electronics can convert power, and that you have the correct plug converter. This site is useful to find out that information.

Once you get to your new country, try to find all miscellaneous items you need at a dollar store. If you’re not staying for a long time, this is a good alternative to use for easy stuff, like a trash can, laundry hamper, tissues, paper, and more.

More tips later.

I received my visa in the mail yesterday. I forgot to mention that when I turned in my visa application, I didn’t have to pay a dime. Even without having to pay for the it, I got a multiple entry visa that doesn’t expire until 2014. That is freakin’ sexy!!

Now all there is left to do is clean out my apartment and pack. And finish this quarter at school…

Well, I have to admit that part two of the Visa process is almost not worth writing about. Chris, the guy also attending AU, and I drove down to Seattle early in the morning. We got to the consulate at 9:30, which is when they open. We went in, turned in 1 visa application, 1 photo, passport and the Certificate of Eligibility. I filled out a Fedex form to have our stuff mailed back to us. And that was it.

The hardest part of the whole process was finding parking and figuring out which elevator corridor to go to in the 60 story building.

We returned home just minutes before noon.

Our financial aid short-term loan went through, so we bought our plane tickets.

All that’s left is to get our returned Visas, pack, and go.

So here’s my fancy new countdown:

I’m very pleased and happy to announce that I am now in possession of my Certificate of Eligibility from Japan!! (Ignore my shitty picture.) What exactly does a Certificate of Eligibility do? Well, it speeds up the Visa application process by a lot, supposedly. When you apply for to study abroad in Japan, your school of choice should give you a fancy form for you to fill out. They then send it to the Ministry of Justice. Several MONTHS later, you receive this fancy certificate. I understand now why it took so long to get all my acceptance paperwork - we were waiting for the Ministry of Justice to issue my Certificate of Eligibility. We sent the form to the school way back at the end of October. The date on the certificate shows January 20th. Obviously, it takes a while.

As part of my very small acceptance package, I also received my Admissions Certificate. It comes on fancy, easily voidable paper. Now, supposedly, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan’s website, I will need the following items: passport two 45mm x 45mm passport-type photos taken within the previous six months (stateless persons must submit three photos) two official visa application forms, available at the embassy or consulate documents certifying the purpose of the visit (see the accompanying table)

The “accompanying table” says:

College Student

1.) A copy of a certificate of admission from the educational institution where the person concerned intends to study. In the case where he or she intends to study as a research student or an auditor, documents certifying the substance of the research or the subjects and the number of lessons from the educational institution concerned.

2.) Documents certifying that the person concerned can defray all expenses incurred during the stay in Japan. In cases where the expenses incurred during the stay in Japan are defrayed by another person, documents certifying the income of the person who intends to defray all expenses and documents showing why he or she intends to defray all expenses for the person concerned are required.

Now, I called the consulate yesterday to get verification on some of the questions found on the Visa Application, such as “What do I put for ‘Address of hotels or names and addresses of persons with whom applicant intends to stay’?” and other questions that are found at the bottom of the application. Well, here’s what you put:

Click to see full image

Also, I was trying to ask about the #2 piece of additional documents, but the guy I talked to insisted that I just needed the basic essentials found in the first blockquote. I don’t really trust what he says, so I’m going to bring everything with me anyways.

You can count on me blogging my Visa application process. I’ll be going to get it on Friday. Stay tuned.