Settling in and class registrations!

Waseda's Okuma Auditorium

Hey everyone!

This time I want to talk about the settling-in process that we experienced.
This will be a long post so bear with me!

Before coming to Japan Waseda sent over some documents and forms along with the Certificate of Entitlement that we needed to apply for the Visa and schedules for our enrollment process once we arrive in Japan. One of the included sheets was an application to get a Japanese work permit.

Getting a visa

Getting a visa was not as complicated as I had thought. I downloaded the application form online and was able to fill it out in my own time and compile all the extra documents needed. When I was ready to apply for the visa my dad kindly went with me to the Japanese Embassy to do so. We went really early expecting a huge queue, but in the end it was only us and a group of  guys (probably also students) that were waiting for the doors to open. In order to get in you need to show your ID to a security guard and then put your bags on a conveyor belt to be scanned. After that you can go up to a counter and explain what you wish to do at the embassy so they can direct you to the right place. The waiting room for visa applications was through a glass door just to the side of the desk. There were chairs and tables and even little desks to complete your application in case you haven't done so beforehand. You take a number at a little ticket machine after pushing a button underneath for visa applications and wait until your number is called. Of course I faffed around and panicked a bit going through all my documents (thank you to my dad for putting up with me!), but it wasn't long until my number was called as we were the first ones through. We went through some wooden doors into another room which led into an area with a few counters. The process was quite quick, the guy behind the counter checked all my documents and took them along with my passport. He then handed me a slip with information of my application and the date that I could pick my passport with its new visa. The slip tells you how much the visa costs - you pay when you come to collect it. My visa only took 4 days to arrive, pretty quick! At the time I was desperately trying to organise a rather sudden trip to China so I really needed the visa to come quickly so I could apply for my Chinese visa straight away.
The webpages all advise to apply at least a month in advance - Which would have meant that my trip would have been impossible as I was leaving in only two weeks! But from my experience this really wasn't necessary, both visas only took 4 days to be ready for collection. Thankfully!
Before applying for visas you need to have your plane tickets and accommodation already organised as this information is necessary for the application form!
Although I was working with a really tight timescale, luckily everything turned out well! The process was also made much more bearable by my dad keeping me company so I didn't get too stressed! Thank you!!!

Arrival

As you know I arrived in Narita Airport on the 12th of September, where we were picked up by Waseda students and dropped off to our respective dorms.

As Waseda had sent me the application form for a Japanese work permit before I came to Japan I was able to apply for the work permit as soon as I arrived at the airport. After arriving Amy and I had to queue up to receive our foreign residence card - this is important ID that we must keep on us at all times while in Japan. While waiting for this to be issued we also gave in our application for a work permit. It was surprisingly fast! They take your fingerprint and picture and then print your card out straight away! And because we gave in the work permit form we were immediately given a stamp on our fresh residence card which gives us permission to work in Japan! How efficient!

If I want to go outside of Japan during my stay I will need to apply for a permit to go overseas. So I may still be applying for more permits in the future!

Dormitory

As soon as I arrived at my dormitory I was given an orientation along with the other new students.

We were given booklets with lots of information on how to settle into our new home. This included information on rules, payment dates and methods and other useful information and contact details.
Then we were shown around the building, told about how to use the appliances and introduced to our rooms.

I plan to cover my dormitory including my room in more detail in a separate post. So sit tight for that!

Settling into Waseda

We had a free day before we had anything else important to do so we were able to go and buy necessities and recover from the journey.

On the 14th We had General Orientation which pretty much lasted all day. We were introduced to some of Waseda's clubs and given detailed information on how to sign up for courses. They also helped us to fill out important forms for our Health Insurance and residence registration. We were given soo many books and pieces of paper that I still don't know what to do with them!

we were given this to guide us through registration

This book was pretty helpful in choosing courses but most of the information was in Japanese. Given that it was aimed for Japanese Language students it would have been great to have the course information in different languages. I mean, if we are on the language course then chances are we aren't fluent in Japanese!

This book informs about the Waseda computer system 

This book is really thick and written entirely in Japanese!!! I'm not sure how necessary it is or either if it is even useful but I haven't read it yet - and probably never will.

On the 18th of September we went with members of Niji no Kai to apply for our Health Insurance and register our addresses. It took a long time with so many students there but it was worth the wait to have the help of the Waseda students.

On the 19th of we had Academic Orientation. This was another day in Waseda where we were guided through the sign up process. We were given a chance to look at the text books for each level of the Comprehensive Japanese Course. There were also some advisers we could talk to that could help us decide which courses to take.

Before signing up to our courses we had to take a placement test to give us an idea of what level courses we should be looking at. The results of the test seemed to be really varied, with some people getting what they thought was accurate and others that seemed to get results that didn't quite match their levels. I was in the latter group. Out of 8 levels (8 being fluency and 1 being beginners) I was placed at level two. Now, I know I didn't do much revision over the holidays but this was just too far off. When I looked at the text book for level two I found that it was Minna no Nihongo - the book we started with in year 1 of university! I then checked the books for level 3 and 4 and we had covered most of the content in these books also. On checking the book for level 5 I decided to go into level 4, as I was worried about choosing a level that was too high. My test results had also made me nervous as to how difficult it would be. Now that I have been taking a few weeks of lessons I think I may have been able to go into level 5 but it would have been quite challenging. Luckily we didn't have to follow the marks we got in the test, it was only to be used as a guide.

There was a session for us at Waseda where they explained us the details of various banks and helped us to fill out the forms. It was pretty helpful because we were given an explanation in both English and Japanese and it meant that we could just take the completed forms to the bank without worrying about how to fill them out.

Registration

Our first registration was on the 20th. I used the blue book and the online Waseda Web Portal to search the different courses I was interested in and then select the credits I wanted. We had to choose a minimum of 13 credits up to a maximum of 14 credits. I am a JLP (Japanese Language Program) student so I picked courses from the CJL (Center for Japanese Language), If I wanted to choose credits from other departments I could have done so. If you take courses from other departments you can take more than the maximum of 14 credits, but it depends on the department. Next semester I plan to take a credit in Korean which will be from another department.
The results from the 1st registration come through on the 25th - the day before classes start.

On the 24th we had to go in to collect our ID cards. Mine unfortunately had a mistake in the name - even though I had given in a form on Orientation Day correcting the spelling of my name - so I had to go back at a later date to pick the new one up. I also had an orientation for the scholarship that I will be receiving so I attended that.

On the 26th we started lessons!

The second registration was from the 26th to the 28th. I found that this was a bit frustrating as we had only been able to go to a few of our classes by the time we had to have completed the 2nd registration. I felt that I didn't have a good idea of whether my current course choices were right or not by second registration so couldn't really feel like I had enough knowledge yet to be sure which courses I should drop and which courses to replace them with. I knew there were some courses I wanted to change but lots of courses were filled up to capacity so it meant that there were lots that were not possible to take. It was frustrating as there was one course I really wanted to take but it was full at the time. Although there were lots of courses I felt I wanted to change they were already full from the first registration so I didn't change much in the 2nd registration and waited to see if anything came available in the 3rd one.

the 3rd registration lasted from the 3rd of October to the 4th. Luckily some of the courses I wanted to take now had some spaces from people dropping them in the second period. However I felt that many people probably did what I did and kept subjects they didn't want because there weren't suitable alternatives for them in the 2nd registration meaning that places that would probably be dropped in the 3rd registration were still taken up! There were only very few places on the courses I wanted to take so it was risky!
When I got my results for the 3rd registration it turned out that I got all the courses except for 1 - such a shame! This meant that I had to go to the CJL desk in building 22 to fill out a form to pick out one of the left-over courses as I needed one more credit!

My final timetable for first semester!

Health check

Waseda was holding health checks from the 3rd to the 4th of October. It wasn't mandatory but if you want to use the gym or the pool then you needed to take the health check. For the pool it is necessary to take an ECG as well.
The health check tested things like your height, weight, eyesight and even your urine! There was also a chest x-ray and an interview about your health.



So with all this we were pretty much all ready to start our year abroad in Japan. The only thing we did not have guidance on was getting a Japanese mobile or an inkan (signature stamp).



Thank you for bearing with this long post!!!
 I hope it was at least a little bit interesting!

15th day - first day of class

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all well.

The 26th of September was our first day of lessons in Waseda.
We had already gone through our first course signup session (there were two more) so it was time for us to see if the courses we signed up for were suitable or if we needed to change some in the next sign up session.
I will go into the course selection and settling in process in another post soon!
Please don't hesitate to prod me if I don't get around to it soon!

We had our first lunch break at Waseda this day! Most of our lessons are in building 22 and just across from that building is a little shop that sells bento for around 400 to 500 yen (£2.55-£3.18).

We ate in one of the classrooms in building 22. If you can find an empty classroom then you can eat, sleep, study or catch up on unfinished homework in there.

This Bento was so good!

This bento came with fried chicken with egg mayonnaise. Under the chicken were some vegetables and pasta. The little cup of peas, sweetcorn and carrot was really nicely seasoned and boiled to a perfect softness for me. The rice portion was large and had a nice sprinkling of sesame seeds. The purple-pink stuff in the lower right corner was tsukemono (pickles). I actually really like Japanese pickles, they are salty with the right amount of sourness. The bento at this little shop are always really nice! 

After getting through some of my bento I got really thirsty. One of my friends told me there was a vending machine in the building so I ran down the stairs to the nearest one. I always like to try new things so I picked the most curious drink on offer. This one was called Real Gold, as I expected from the lightning on the can, it was an energy drink. The flavour was not that much different from Red Bull so I liked it. And seeing as that day was my first day of classes in months, the energy was well needed to get past the shock to the system!

This drink had added vitamin C, B2 and B6. It seems quite common for drinks in Japan to have added vitamins in them from what I have seen in vending machines and shops.

The view from building 22 in Waseda

After our lessons we decided to treat ourselves to some cake at the nearby cake shop. This shop is only 2 minutes from my dorm and I had been salivating over it as I passed it most days. We had also had a long day - we had all 5 periods!

This cake shop is so cute and looks like something from straight out of a Japanese drama!

The cakes all look so nice even though they are only 300-400 yen!

My cake all boxed up nice and safely... before I attacked it like a savage beast!

My cake!

I was hoping that they had strawberry shortcake but they unfortunately didn't have any! Japanese strawberry shortcake is actually a strawberry cream sponge cake so it doesn't actually have anything to do with shortcake! So instead I got this Fruits of the forest cake.
It was really nice but I wish the sponge had just been a bit softer and a tad more moist. The flavours, however, were great and the fruits on top were fresh.

Amy and I ate our cakes inside my dorm's common area. I am lucky that my dorm has an area where I can invite guests!

As usual, I always like to have a drink with baked treats so I ran outside to the vending machine outside my dorm to buy one. I am pretty sure in Japan you are never further than 100 meters from a vending machine!

As usual I wanted to choose something mysterious. Also I usually like to drink milk with cake and this bottle had a kanji from milk on the label so I chose this one. 

It turned out that it was similar to yakult which was good and after a check the kanji confirmed that it was a probiotic drink which made sense.

Well, see you for now!

day 42 - Classes and paying insurance

Hey everyone!
Just a quick post for you all.

Today was a pretty uneventful day.
I had my Comprehensive Japanese 4 lesson from 9am to 12:10pm.
We had a test (as usual) on Kanji at the beginning of the lesson. We then covered this week's grammar and finished with discussing our essays that we did for homework.

Last Wednesday's lesson was cancelled due to a typhoon which is why we spent some time going over the essays that we did for homework. I think the essay was supposed to be done in the lesson that was cancelled hence we were given it for homework. I thought I had gotten off the hook until our teacher on Saturday (yes, lessons on a Saturday!) told us that we had to do it as homework! What a downer!

I needed to pay for October's insurance so after my lessons I dashed to the post office.  You can pay for your heath insurance at post offices and I think you can also do it at convenience stores!

The health insurance booklet that was delivered to me in the post but all I needed to do was queue at the heath insurance window and then show them the book and they knew what forms needed filling out and how much needed paying. With very stunted Japanese I managed to convey that I wanted to pay the health insurance and was given the option to pay it all at once or just for this month. As tempting as it was to go nuts and spend all my money on insurance, I held off and paid for this month only.

I then asked them for some help (poorly) on how to check my balance for my Japanese bank account and eventually was told that I did have a PIN so I could check at a cash machine (I thought the card didn't have a PIN).

After checking my balance I returned to my dorm and gave them my bank details as they needed it so that I can pay my rent.

With all the boring chores done I could go back to my room and eat lunch!

Power Udon!!!

 For lunch I chose to have this Mochi (rice cake) Udon!

mochi, kayaku and the soup base

All the toppings added to the dried noodles

The finished ramen!

This ramen was pretty nice the kayaku absorbed the soup flavour and was a nice addition to the bowl. The mochi had a really nice chewy consistency but the flavour was plain (as to be expected). The noodles were thick with a good feel to them. This was a good bowl of instant ramen, the soup flavour was tasty and the additions made it more interesting.

After lunch I started my Kanji revision for tomorrow's test.

I was pretty naughty today. I had lots of Kanji to learn for the test tomorrow and I always snack when I am revising for tests! I bought this yesterday for only around 30p It was a nice snack. I'm not sure if it would be enough to eat for lunch on its own but as a snack or with something else it would be fine. 

The wrap had cheese and herbs on top and on the inside it had ham and the ever-recurring egg mayonnaise. And I know I am being judged by some of you but hey! The stomach wants what it wants!

For dinner I was naughty again! As I was studying I didn't want to have to take time out to cook so I heated up this pasta dish. It was pretty cheap from Don Quixote and the pasta I tried from this brand before was nice so I thought I would try a different flavour this time. 

Butter sauce with spinach and bacon

The sauce and bacon was really nice but I have never really liked spinach (and apparently still don't). It wouldn't stop me from getting the meal again though as it was pretty good aside from that.

Starting to feel guilty now, I shouldn't share my piggery with you all! But hey, the damage has been done. After dinner I had this special edition pumpkin ice cream (another Halloween special!). I had been waiting for ages to eat this in the hopes that I would find time to watch a film at some point during the one day I have off but alas it was not to be so I gave in!
The ice cream was really creamy with a pumpkin flavour. The pumpkin flavour was not really strong but there were pumpkin ripples inside which had a stronger flavour. Overall it was a really nice ice cream but I don't think that if I were to have tried it without knowing what flavour it was, that I would have been able to tell that it was pumpkin ice cream.

Well I best end things here as I have my test tomorrow.

See you later!

14th day - Akihabara (a short story)

Hey everyone!
My lessons are now in full swing and so I am finding it harder to keep up with posts as it seems as if I have tests every day!

On the 25th of September we had a rushed trip to Akihabara to have a look at the prices of electronic dictionaries. We were rushed as in the late afternoon we were going to an event at Waseda where we had the opportunity to try on Yukata and experience a traditional tea ceremony. 

When we got to Akihabara we were already hungry so we went on search for a restaurant. Brace yourselves! More food is coming!!

At first we found it hard to find the famous Akihabara that we had heard about after getting off at Akihabara station, however after the combined use of google maps and some guesswork we found it!

This was the restaurant we finally decided on, it was raining so we were glad to shuffle into the restaurant and out of the drizzle!

This restaurant seemed to mainly specialise in ramen.

This was Amy's choice -  her soup came in a separate bowl to the noodles and toppings

My dish - A pork ramen set that came with gyoza

Zoe chose a gyoza set that came with rice, soup and chicken karaage (fried chicken)

After eating we had a quick look around Akihabara. I had previously looked up some fun things to do in Akihabara.

M's was listed as one of the weird and wonderful shops that must be checked out when visiting Akihabara so we went in to see what all the fuss was about.

M's - It's HUGE!

Actually, M's is a many floored sex shop. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside so you are just going to have to rely on me for an idea of what it was like!

The building had 6th floors plus a basement.

As expected the shop was predominantly filled with men. It certainly wasn't small but given the numerous products and customers, it was quite cramped.

The first floor and basement were both cram packed with adult DVDs. There were even previews of select videos on little screens. They probably had pretty much any kind of porn anybody could possibly want. However the weird thing about Japan is that, although there is so much porn, sexual related imagery and products, genitalia in porn must legally always be pixelated. Maybe it is just me but I feel that there is something rather confused about that, but hey, what do I know?
 On the basement floor there were two of Japan's infamous used underwear machines! The machines were like the ones you use as a kid where you put a pound or other coin in, turn the crank and get sweets or a toy in a capsule. Except this time you get some lovely used panties!!! Oh the joy!!!! Underneath the machine there were empty capsules so they definitely sell! I had actually read before coming here that you couldn't really find these machines anymore but it certainly didn't take me long! Needless to say I decided to forego the chance to buy some random woman's used underwear as tempting as the opportunity was!

The middle floors had a variety of sex toys, sexual aids, condoms, lubricants (some even came in fizzy drink flavours!), and a plethora of other sexual related goods. There were even vibrators on display that you could turn on to feel the good vibrations! I feel our presence may have made the male shoppers rather uncomfortable!
One thing that was certainly worrying was that - although there were very few - there were (almost) full body sex dolls in with the size and shape of children. Yeah. I know. Disturbing as hell. I am surprised - and yet not surprised given Japanese law's perhaps rather weak stance on children and sex - that it is even legal to sell these things.

The upper floors mostly had costumes, lingerie and other sex-wear with the uppermost floor having the tamest of clothes - mostly anime character costumes. Up the walls where the stairs were, were photos of customers in the costumes they had bought. If they agreed to take a photo of themselves in the clothing they would get a discount on their purchase. I will say, they are braver than I!

After looking around M's we had a look at some other stores including an electrical shop to have a look at prices for electronic dictionaries.

A manga store! - books were piled high on tables!

Manga themed omiyage (gifts)

There were lots of arcades in Akihabara so we had a quick peek in one or two.

Look! More Halloween decorations! This shop even had a Christmas tree decorated with Halloween themed tinsel, lights and pumpkins!
The display was really well done, but I must say the odd use of a Christmas tree was rather amusing! I wonder do they decorate Christmas trees with hearts and doves on White day and Valentines day?
White day is also a romantic holiday which I will cover another time.

AKIBA! (affectionate shortening of Akihabara)

We then rushed back to Waseda for the free ICC event to try on Yukata!

This is one of Waseda's pretty gardens it was in front of the building were the event was held

At the event we found out we could choose to do the tea ceremony or try on Yukata and then if there were enough tickets left we could do the other activity in the next slot. (There were 2 or 3 slots for each activity).
There was only a limited amount of tickets which is why we needed to rush from Akihabara.

A group shot of those who tried on Yukata - can you spot me?

We really wanted to try on the yukata so we went for that first. We got tickets for the second slot as there weren't enough left for us to all go for the first session. While we were waiting there were snacks and refreshments and we could talk to Japanese students.

When it was our time, The ICC (another university club) students dressed us in the yukata and then took photos of us.

The yukata I tried on was really nice - a blue yukata with a red obi (belt). I really want to buy one while I am here but I think I will go for a black and pink or light pink yukata!

In the end there were not enough tickets to do the tea ceremony so we just watched. It was quite funny because one girl started snacking on her sweet before they had told her to do so. Big no-no!

I am glad we got to go to the event because Amy and I were invited to meet up with two of the Japanese students we met there. We are still in touch and meet up some times which is great!

That evening I ate the first proper meal I cooked in Japan! It was a corn stew with carrots, onions and broccoli! Yay! Vegetables!!

I'm sorry again for the late post, I will continue to do my best to post as much as possible!

See you later!

12th Day - Trip to Don Quixote and Karaoke!

Hey everyone!

On the 23rd of September Amy and I went to Don Quixote!
Don Quixote is a chain of shops throughout Japan that sell a huge variety of things for reasonable prices.

When I say huge variety of things I really mean it. They sell pretty much everything, from instant ramen and other edible goods to home ware and electrical appliances!

One thing that has really surprised me in Japan has been how much Halloween is celebrated. Previously thinking that Halloween is only really enjoyed in the West. How wrong I was, the proliferation of Halloween decorations and goods perhaps exceeds that in England if not matches it.

The whole front of the Don Quixote shop was dedicated to all that is Halloween, from Costumes and accessories to Orange coloured popcorn and other spooky snacks!

It does not stop there! The Halloween fever has hit most stores in Japan with most stores at least having a cute Halloween displays if not Halloween themed products too!

In fact the Halloween decorations were already in place in many stores by the time I had arrived in Japan which was on the 12th of September so they don't wait around either!

There are so many cute Halloween products around so be prepared to see lots more in future posts!

Some funny wigs - I personally like the sound of the Huwa Huwa Curl

Here are some very snazzy penis costumes! Oh - and some grandpa accessories

Creepy masks

Costumes!

More costumes!

Don Quixote has many different sections, one of them being a costume section. This costume section is separate from the Halloween one so I am guessing it is there all year round for all your costume party needs.
The section was quite big so there were lots of different costumes and accessories to choose from.

The Picasso near my house Also has a rather large costume section so there are lots of places to go to if you need to dress up! Picasso is actually part of the Don Quixote chain so it also has lots of different sections inside it. 

Kigurumi!

In the picture above are some shelves with some kigurumi stacked on them.
I. Love. Kigurumi.
Kigurumi are animal or character hooded onesies that are usually made from a fleece material. They usually button up at the front. They are sometimes described as pajamas. One thing I know for sure is that they are perfect for hanging around the house in.
I love my Kigurumi, its the best in winter because they are so snuggly and warm. I actually paid a lot for mine as I had to ship it from Japan but they have become more popular now so they are much cheaper to get hold of. Of course, if you are in Japan you can get them even cheaper still!
I really recommend them for winter and I will certainly be buying another one while I am here!

Hello Kitty cushions!

This was the bedding section, they had cushions, bed linen, special memory foam products, futons and more.

Stationary!

Phone cases

 They had a huge phone case section with moving rails that revealed even more layers of cases!

Hair care and fat busting electricals

This was a display of hair dryers, straighteners, curlers and a fat busting massager that looks like some kind of torture device. Around the Don Quixote shop there are lots of little video screens that advertise selected products. This display had one depicting the creepy fat massager, they showed it working on someones arm. It is like a spinning round disk with nobbles attached to a handle which they used to massage the arm fat. It looked pretty rigorous and the arm fat was rippling like water!!! The things people do in an attempt to slim down!!

I actually went back to this shop a few days ago and bought a two-in-one straightener and curler. It was a really good price and I needed both functions as I couldn't bring mine back from England due to voltage differences so to find a two-in-one for such a good price was great because it meant I didn't have to choose between the two. Buying too separate appliances would have been a bit too costly so I was glad I found it.

A fancy alcohol section. Lots of these seemed to be intended to be bought as gifts.

They even sell expensive branded bags and wallets in Don Quixote. I was quite surprised, they really seem to sell everything here!

Watches, jewelry and more!

My favorite section! Instant ramen!!

Some funny English in the accessory aisle

In the evening Amy and I went to Karaoke with a bunch of other people from the Waseda dorms.

Karaoke in Japan is really cheap compared to the Chinese style KTV rooms and Japanese style karaoke rooms in England.

It was really fun but I want to cover Japanese Karaoke in another post so I won't go into detail.

We spent ages in Don Quixote that day and the Karaoke was really fun. We were split into 3 rooms because we were in a large group and hadn't booked in advance but it was really great!
I hope to go to Karaoke lots more times in the future!

See you later!