My apologies for the long silence.

Since I’ve been here more than a year now, time just passes faster and faster and it becomes less interesting to talk about daily life. Even the strange things don’t seem so strange.

But recently, I find my eyes wandering back to the prayer beads I have hanging on my curtain rail–the ones I was given my first month here, when I accidentally joined a cult.

“Japan is a really dangerous place,” they told me. “It’s more dangerous if you’re by yourself, and you are foreign, too.”

I was freaked at the time–anyone would be, being told to kneel on the floor and chant for 20 minutes to the sound of a gong.

But they didn’t contact me after that. They let me go, saying “If you’re in trouble, use that chant.”

After living here, I’m predisposed to trust the intentions of Japanese people–even if I find their methods of religious initiation to be somewhat shady. But thinking back, they seemed to genuinely have my best interests at heart, in the end.

So when Typhoon Hagibis hit, I found myself thinking of what they told me after it was over. I was in the eye of that storm, underprepared and panicked enough to pack a bag.

In the days before that storm, the grocery stores were running ragged with non-perishables like ramen and canned food, and the bread and water was completely wiped out entirely.

And now, we’re being hit by an epidemic.

The Coronavirus, huh? COVID-19?

It seems like it’s all anyone can talk about. I’d heard about it while it was still in China, but since the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama on February 3rd, the panic has been REAL real.

Being a foreigner is strange because I have no idea the extent of a problem until it’s in my face. I didn’t realize how bad the typhoon was supposed to be until the grocery stores were out of water, and now is no different.

Except, as luck would have it, I bought a pack of facemasks right as the epidemic started, wondering why 7/11 was suddenly over-stocking them. I figured maybe they had a special going or something.

Until I went back to that store the next day and all the facemasks were sold out.

And they have been sold out everywhere since, indefinitely, save for the scalpers on the internet taking advantage of the outbreak.

Even the toilet paper has dissapeared, with people suddenly being hypersensitive about paper products (though my students seem to think this is ‘fake news’)

Even the thermometers are sold out, and I’ve visited at least 5 different stores in search of one. Just in case.

---

In the weeks since all of this has started, I’ve followed the news about the ship and how that’s been handled, and honestly I don’t know much more than anyone living outside of Japan. I’m sure you can Google it and make your own opinions on it. We’re beyond that at this point.

However, I do have some insight into the general opinion on things. Every single day I talk to Japanese people about the various stages of the epidemic. I hear their thoughts and they share news with me I may have missed.

Here are various comments from students, paraphrased by me:

---

Woman: “I work in a pharmacy, and even the vendors don’t know when they can supply us.”

Salaryman: “I’ve just installed software on my computer in case my company asks me to work from home. But actually, until someone in the company actually comes down with the virus, we’ll continue to work at the office. We just have to wait for one person to catch it.”

Salaryman: “I went to 6 different stores today looking for masks. I couldn’t find any.”

Retiree: “I went to 9 different stores today looking for masks. I finally found some at a Don-Quijote.”

Salaryman: “My company is no longer taking business trips to China.”

Salaryman: “Yesterday, I met with a friend whose company is making him move to China, not too far from Bukan [Wuhan]. We had drinks and a long goodbye. I think he was really worried. I am, too. But he can’t tell his company ‘no’.”

High School girl: “My father went to many different stores to find masks, but the only ones he could find were yellow! Can you believe it! Yellow!” She shakes her head.

Retiree: “My friend and I were going to go to Nagasaki, but we’ve decided to cancel.”

Woman: “My mother was going to come up from Kyushu to visit, but she’s too scared to come now.”

High School girl: “I was going to attend the graduation ceremony this Saturday for the upperclassmen, but the school told us not to come.”

---

And then, last month it was announced that all elementary, middle, and High Schools will be closed from the beginning of March to the beginning of April. One month of closures.

Most of my High School students were ecstatic. Some had mixed feelings, and some shared news with me.

Here are some quotes from my High Schoolers, paraphrased by me:

---

Boy: “Katie-sensei, did you hear? All the schools are closing from tomorrow until the new school year! I’m going to take the time to finish building my tank with my 3D printer.”

Girl: “Today was the last day until April. I feel a little happy, and sad. I don’t know what I should do, so I’m just going to stay home and practice dance routines from my favorite K-pop groups.”

Girl: “Disneyland announced today that it’s also closing, with Puroland and the Ghibli Museum. I’m really sad, so maybe my friends and I will bake something together at my house.”

Girl: “My study abroad trip to France was canceled. I worked hard to be the top of my class just to get into that program, so my friends and I were crying this week. I’m really heartbroken.”

---

It’s been just over a week since all of that, and my own company has also canceled kids lessons for 2 weeks.

My company is even providing and REQUIRING us instructors to wear masks now–something they initially claimed they would not be providing after giving us permission to wear them if wanted.

I think even my company realizes that if it doesn’t cover its bases, it could be in a lot of trouble (not just with a bunch of sick instructors and staff) down the line.

But among the actually terrible disappointments that follow an epidemic like this (trips, concerts, and graduation ceremonies all being canceled), I have to say, there’s been a significant amount of positives too.

Each week, I teach a large number of salarymen who are consistently exhausted, working 12 hour days and 6-day weeks, with unreal commute times and even living away from their families on weekdays.

Except not this past week. This past week, many of my adult students are more relaxed and happy than I’ve ever seen them.

” I can go to work later and the deadlines have all been pushed back. “

A lot of them are talking about the outbreak like it’s a much needed break.

And I’d be remiss not to include the Japanese staff of my own company in this category of workers as well–the lovely branch staff who are notoriously overworked. One of the branch staff even told me,

“I actually think that this must be what it feels like to work a regular job, where I don’t have to stay late every day and feel constantly stressed about sales.”

I think back on something one of my higher level students once told me–“Japan is a great place to live if you aren’t Japanese.” And there’s truth to that, I think.

The people here–they’re taking their free time where they can get it, with not many opportunities in the way of work-life balance.

As for me, there’s actually a substantial amount of risk right now–and it’s actually more insane the more I think about it. I’ll address it in a separate post.

All this being said, I hope everyone out there is being safe. People are starting to act a little crazy paranoid over here, especially on the trains–Japanese politeness be damned, it’s all going to the dogs.

Take care y’all.

“One day you’ll find

that I have gone

but tomorrow may rain so

I’ll follow the sun” -The Beatles

The cherry blossoms have fallen now, Hanami season has finished, and spring has painted over winter in soft greens and pastels of every color.Even in Isehara, a place I feel is too industrial to ever be beautiful, life is spilling out of every gap in the concrete.Coral-colored poppies, particularly–the most persistent wildflower I’ve ever found–grow from every vacant space not regularly trodden by pedestrians. The street corners, the base of the streetlamps, and every alley you might look down is filled with them.You have to respect how ‘life finds a way’ in Japan. Because if you don’t, you won’t be able to fight it off fast enough.Still, the best part about spring has been the visit I recieved from my parents, who no doubt have never been so far from home.

I had been having a rough patch, frustrated by a lot of things and finding myself losing my will to even sightsee, which I had been doing to some extent every weekend since arriving here.

But then, they were here, and I got to enjoy seeing Japan again through fresh eyes as we explored together.

My Mom marveled at the ease of transportation by train with PASMO (though rush hour wasn’t their favorite) and my Dad appreciated the infrastructure and history.

There was also the mutual love for Japan’s Toto™ toilets. And I can’t blame them. A public toilet in a floor-to-ceiling stall with a heated seat, plays soft music or nature sounds when you sit, and the “washlet” warm water rise option is pretty damned fancy. And it’s also the norm.

And I think these small things about everyday life in a different country are just as important to experience and appreciate. For example, the system of sorting your trash in cafés (not to mention in your own home), the struggle of hang-drying laundry throughout your apartment and on the balcony after using what barely passes for a washer, the prevelency of vending machines anywhere you go, the actual convenience of convenience stores, service vehicles that talk to you, and my dad’s personal favorite–Japan’s pretty manhole covers on sidewalks, styled differently for every city and area.

Also, a bonus for springtime: obnoxious election campaigning, where campaign vehicles drive circles through the city, giving speeches amplified by a microphone mounted to the top of the car. I’ve never seen that in the states.

Then there are the cultural experiences. Eating chicken and beer at a noisy Izakaya. Washing your hands and paying your respects at shrines, no matter your personal beliefs. Removing your shoes for a traditional Japanese dinner on the floor.

Somehow, it was almost more important to me that my parents see and do these kinds of things than just sightsee. And it isn’t always comfortable and you will be out of your element, a bit, but to do these things is to experience Japan, and the style in which a civilization lived long before our own culture was born.It was all of these small, remarkable things that I had forgotten recently, as life here slowly normalized. Seeing it all with fresh eyes, I’m again reminded that it isn’t just the sightseeing and adventuring that make living in another country remarkable. To experience and appreciate life is sometimes just to live it.

But of course, the sightseeing is no doubt a memorable and phenomenal part of living here, and we did a lot of it.In one week, we visited TeamLab’s digital museum of art,a Yomiuri Giants baseball game in the Tokyo Dome,visited the big Buddha statue at Kotoku Temple in Kamakurawalked out to Enoshima Island at night,

saw Odawara Castle under the cherry blossoms,ate a life-extending black egg on the top of an active volcano at Mt. Hakone (with a bomb view of Mt. Fuji),explored Yoyogi Park and Harajuku’s famous Takeshita street,

ran through Shinjuku’s ‘Piss Alley’, hopped to Asakusa and the Tokyo Skytree,Then to Sensoji Temple,had Starbucks at Japan’s “Time Square” at Shibuya crossing (and gave some love to the loyal doggie Hachiko while we were at it),

and went shopping in Yokohama, where we saw China Town and then a park with a lovely spring flower exhibition, an old medical warship, Japan’s first western-style park, and had pie in the famous Red Brick Warehouse.

And then, about a week after their arrival, I said farewell to my parents as they boarded a bus to the airport, gone again as fast as they’d arrived.

I was left reminded of how far I’ve gotten, my family giving me the wake-up I needed as I began to undermine what I’ve worked so hard for. Left to my own devices, I could criticize myself to no end, but… In reality, I’ve done it. All alone here, I’ve built a world where I can thrive.

Stubbornly moving forward, I left everyone I care about behind to do this my way, on my own. Months of studying and then interviews, paperwork, working and saving…a frenzy that became a mania to prove myself to myself.

And I have not failed.

I’m here, and that’s kind of amazing.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

…incidentally, I found this apron in the Redbrick Warehouse for ¥500 (less than $5) and it came home with me.

2/21/2019

So, one of my followers (kidding, what followers? It was an “anonymous” message from my best friend) asked me to talk about food–what I’ve been eating, what I cook at home.

Well uh, to be honest I don’t know if what I eat is all that exciting…and to be fair, since arriving here I’ve had mega sensitive-stomach issues so most of my meals are pretty boring. Paired with that I also really don’t know how to cook, have very few cooking supplies, and am legit always working so the meals I typically eat are on-the-go and aren’t that exciting.

I can’t eat cheese here (had pizza once and never again, the cramps 😖) and apparently chips and snacks are out of the question (I don’t know what’s in them all but the severe stomach pain has me traumatized). I’m not too sure, but if the food seems overly processed it doesn’t seem to sit well with me.

On weekdays when I’m at work I’ll usually just buy a rice ball or a bento from 7/11 and call it good, thus contributing to the lack of interesting food I’ve been eating.

I’ve only just started cooking a week or so ago, now that I’ve finally gotten my first paycheck, visited IKEA and own some decent cooking tools–but even that has had setbacks…

Namely, the fact that my stovetop is an induction heat cooker (which uses a magnet system to heat your pot but nothing else) and the frying pan I bought doesn’t work on it (since it’s made of aluminum and thus, not magnetic). I ended up giving my pan away to my co-teacher, Scott, who will probably never use it since he’s lived here a year already without cooking supplies. Sigh.

At least the pot I bought works, though frying an egg in a pot feels wrong on some level, especially without vegetable oil or another non-stick cooking agent. Still, I can’t complain when IH cooking is actually the best. Water boils crazy fast, it’s super safe since it doesn’t heat anything but your pot, and if you want to lower the heat it happens instantaneously, giving you a lot more control. Plus if you remove your pot from the surface, it senses it and turns off after a minute or so.

These days I experiment with various flavors of ramen (of which there is no shortage, and the packs are crazy cheap) my favorite being Yakisoba (fried noodles). I usually throw an egg in for a little more substance and will add veggies as well as soon as I find a frying pan that works. My pot can only fry so much at a time.

My phone typically perches on the shelf above, usually playing “The Daily Show” or Trixie Mattel and Katya’s YouTube show “UNHhhh”.

The kitchen space itself is a work in progress.

Stuffed in the upper shelves are various cereals (Japan uses bags instead of boxes, and good luck finding your favorite sweetie puffs here. Cereal here is pretty much all granola-based pro-health food, unless you buy the few kids’ brands) along with ramen packs, bread, instant coffees and teas and a tiny vial of off-brand honey that cost like $5 (the normal brands in regular sizes are between $11-17 and honestly how much am I going to consume?). Same situation for peanut butter, though there is plenty of jam to choose from (just not grape jelly, never grape jelly).

Below the top shelves I’ve set my medicine and other odd ends. There is a medicine cabinet in the washroom but it is consistently too humid in there for me to comfortably store anything.

The wire racks were an easy and cheap buy at the dollar store, and I adore them. When I own more than 1 mug I intend to hang them all there.

In terms of dishes, I pretty much only have 1 or 2 of everything to cut down on washing (I am forced to do my dishes or not have any at all) and to save space. The only cabinets I have are under the sink–but I do have a floor-to-ceiling shoe closet by the front door which I’m using for linens and towels as well, but could spare some shelves for pantry use if need be.

My fridge stays pretty empty except for the store-bought smoothies I’m experimenting with (the banana carrot one was actually terrible, but apple berry was good. All the names are in Japanese so I’m just speculating from what fruits and veggies are pictured 🤣) along with water bottles and usually a box or two of pickled radish that I enjoy with dinner most nights.

Japanese people typically grocery shop every day instead of just periodically the way Americans do, so it’s normal to keep just a day or two’s worth of food in the house at a time.

I don’t have the space to do much else so I’ve taken up stopping by the store on the way home from work most nights to pick up fresh food. Namely I’m buying eggs (you can buy them in 4-packs here!) and my beloved pickled radishes.

Now I’ll just post pictures of any interesting-looking meals I’ve had while eating out. Most of these I had with my friend Liz, some alone and some at random cafés with my co-teacher Sarah. I’ll include drinks as well because why not.

Here is a sweetened milk tea with berries from Tully’s Coffee, Liz and I’s favorite chain café in Japan.

Good old fashion lattes from Graphic Coffee(?) with Sarah. She caught me being basic.

From the same café–

Valentines Chocolates. Sarah’s pistachio flavored ones were actually amazing.

Chicken katsudon and tonkatsu over rice with cold soba noodles. Liz and I actually came back here the next week, it was cheap and fantastic.

Before the meal we ordered chilled tomatoes. Bless

Pork curry at my favorite jazz bar. Bonus, Takaya-san and his crew playing an extra song for me (since I had to work and came late, so I missed the main show). Seriously so great.

This little place Liz and I found in Enoshima that served some eclectic, random foods from around the world. I went home and wanted to die, but it was worth it.

A salad with fries (heh) at a random café.

My favorite so far, veggie curry soup from CoCoCurry.

Yokohama with Liz–gyoza, rice, and melon soda. Later we found a Granny Smith’s and got some apple custard pie a la mode (with cranberry sauce!!)

Galaxy themed chocolates for Valentines Day. I didn’t buy these, though they were fascinating.

Something of an Italian restaurant. Salad and shrimp!

Have a bonus–just a little focusless shot of lunch break with my staff mates. It shows neither their faces nor the food but I enjoyed the snapshot in time, and that feeling when the whole offices closes for an hour and we can all feel comfortable.

*Edit 2/24/19*

Finally got a frying pan and figured I’d add some more pictures.

02/18/2019

So it’s time to talk about my work, and admittedly where I spend the majority of my time.

I work at NOVA, a conversation school for people all of all ages. It’s on the 3rd floor at both schools I teach at.

Sorry, the day view is an image stolen off google maps. It seems I can’t ever remember to take a picture of my building during the day.

Anyway, NOVA is an office setting full of rooms or cubicles for private lessons.

Each school is made up of around 10 teachers who work different days (I still haven’t met a few of the teachers who work at the same schools as me) and 1 Japanese staff member who works reception for the students and support staff for the teachers (they are the best, in general, and you can ask them about anything. I frequently bring my mail to work when I have questions.)

^This is my “home” school, the Isehara branch. I work at branches in 2 different cities.

Lessons are always 40 minutes each and are taught either 1-on-1 or in groups of up to 5 adults or 8 kids. Students who want 1-on-1 lessons pay 3x the regular amount, and get the “privilege” of bringing in their own materials to study or just free-talking with a foreigner for 40 minutes.

Depending on your fixed weekly schedule you’re given when you start at NOVA, you are guaranteed either 34, 37, or 40 lessons per week. I’m on the 37 lesson schedule, which means I make more ¥¥ than people with 34 and less ¥¥ than 40. Time off is more important to some than others, so most won’t complain about having only 34 lessons per week.

We are paid per lesson, even if we have no students. Our pay goes up per additional student in group lessons which is also kind of nice.

Students will book lessons online, either taking a slot with whoever is open or with a specific teacher of their choosing (our pictures are up for them to see) and if they like you, they will return, and you will have more bookings. They can also rank you which affects your student intake–and high rankings mean more bonuses later.

Thst being said, NOVA is run very much like a business. In training we had intensive practice on how to execute NOVA-style lessons, but once we began training in the school setting, the actual teachers who worked with us were much more flexible with their lesson style, and the system isn’t nearly as cookie-cutter as it appears initially because these are real humans after all.

Anyway, my “away” school is in Hadano, which looks a bit different than the branch at Isehara. While Isehara is a more modern school, Hadano branch is traditional, which means no shoes inside (yay) and we have cubicles instead of rooms (boo).

I like my work, at least. Days are long at times but I learn so much from my students, and I take notes all day on my schedule form as they recommend things for me to try. I try to help them at much as I feel they help me.

I also love that I can see Mt. Fuji from both of my branch schools. Even in my suburb in Iseahara, the sunset view is lovely.

Bonus: the train on a snowy day outside Isehara branch.

02/18/19

So a short interlude about the amazing Enoshima and its island.

With the intent to visit Kamakura but meeting a barrier with the subway construction, my friend Liz and I ended up here and decided to see the lights (Japanese people say ‘Illumination’) that are up for the winter/valentine season. What we found was a surreal and definitively funky experience on an island covered with light and sound.

It wasn’t just Christmas lights wrapped around the plant life either. Between the oversized, luminescent crystals that seemed to drip off of trees, strobe lights, and disco balls, the whole place felt utterly out of this world. The background funk music was near inescapable and left us further disoriented.

From here the trails that all ultimately lead to the lovely Sea Candle split, and we took our time following all of them. We couldn’t stand to miss any, as each path you went down sported a display seemingly more brilliant, surreal and otherworldly than the last. A glowing bush was filled with disco balls–

And this Frozen-esque crystal structure

This psychedelic flower with moving parts, a bit reminiscent of Alice and Wonderland

A dragon in a gazebo

Some wayward forest jellyfish

A fairy-lit succulent garden

A tunnel of light with a fancy flair

The view of the Sea Candle

And the view from it, as well.

The trek to the lights also included passing Enoshima shrine, which was a workout itself.

You definitely had to work to see the lights. And lastly, some bonus pictures from the island:

One regret is that the Enoshima caves were closed that day, which are usually also filled with lights. Still I have to say, while I’ve seen many a Christmas light display in my time, I’ve never seen one like this before. It was 100% worth the trip.

02/07/2019

So it’s become a tradition for my new friend (and previously fellow trainee) Liz and I to sightsee in Yokohama on Tuesdays. It was mainly because there’s a place that offers free Japanese lessons on Tuesday morning, but although Liz always makes it, I haven’t yet been able to wake up and get there 😂 but considering it takes her half the time it takes me to get to Yokohama station proper, I’m sticking with that excuse and meeting her around noon after the lesson finishes.

Last week we got to see (but not enter) cosmo world and its amazing clock ferris wheel,

found a big beautiful tree inside a shopping center food court,

and poked around inside an old warehouse-turned-shopping center, appropriately named the Red Brick Warehouse.

We also visited Rinko park which was lovely albeit freezing.

This week we continued exploring, deciding to wander through Chinatown the day after Chinese New Years. We got to see the Cǎi Qīng Lion Dance, where the “Lion” moves from business to business taking offerings of money in its mouth and celebrating the new year’s good fortune, while his procession follows him playing drums and cymbols and setting off fire crackers.

We ate “Xiao Long Bao” soup dumplings and mooncakes and took our time wandering. I’m sad we didn’t try the dim sum but the dumplings were filling and actually amazing (theres always next week–and considering there are more new years events to come, we may be back).

Then we went back into Yokohama proper and ran around Queen Square and CosmoWorld. There were lots of neat things to see, along with the opportunity to go to the top of the Yokohama landmark building in the country’s fastest elevator and get a 360° view of the city.

Considering Mondays and Tuesdays are our “weekend” days, I’ve quite enjoyed a lot of things about that–#1 being that everything is pretty much accessible straight away with no crowds or lines. It makes being at the branch office 9 hours a day for the rest of the week a little less grating.

Maybe I’ll make a post about my workplace another time, as it does have its pros and cons.

In the meantime, I’ll be putting myself on autopilot and waiting for the next opportunity to explore the world.

So, I haven’t really mentioned where I am. I live in Isehara City inside Kanagawa Prefecture. It’s mainly a suburb for Kanagawa’s largest city of Yokohama, and many people who live here commute there for work.

My company has a branch here in town I’ll be working at, and I’ll be commuting to another branch in Hadano (I believe). I’ll know more when I am through with training.

I haven’t been here even a week just yet, but already I’m feeling comfortable where I’m at. There are no big crowds to give me anxiety, I adore my apartment, and I basically know where everything pertinent is–ward office, post office, grocery store, department store, convenience store, work, train station, and done. And don’t get me started on the prices. The suburbs are the way to go.

And, if I DO want to go enjoy the perks of a city, you can be in one STAT for under $10. Yesterday I hopped on a train from my station and was in Tokyo in an hour, meeting a friend in Harajuku. The fare cost me 700¥, or about $7. I’m sure it would cost me even less time and money to go visit Yokohama.

The only thing about living in a suburb is that nothing is translated, and not a lot of people know English. As far as I know I’m also the only foreigner living in Isehara. The other teachers at my branch commute here for work and leave at the end of the day.

I haven’t lived here long enough to even begin to feel lonely, what with so much to do. I’m sure working will keep me busy as well. But I do foresee general isolation and culture shock becoming an hurdle for me in the future. There is an actual science to the way culture shock works–

All the graphs are a little different but some mention a kind of “honeymoon stage” after initial arrival that I’m most likely experiencing now.

I’m trying to keep my expectations and my mindset realistic, though. I’m enjoying my time where I’m at right now–but if I find myself discontented down the road, my lease for this apartment is only for 6 months. I will be able to move should I need to.

Though at this moment… I’m really loving this beautiful view.

Now day 4 in Japan, my time is spent mostly trying to figure out where to get stuff and set up my apartment. I spent the morning of my second day assembling a table that my company provided me–

And afterward, I decided that nothing could begin until I’d visited the city ward office (basically City Hall). All residents of a city have to report to the ward office whenever they move to update their address records. It’s also where you can apply for health insurance. Wanting to do both of these things, I googled the office location and headed off on my way.

My phone was dying but I felt assured, knowing I was carrying an external battery with me. Sure, the battery was kind of old–but it shouldn’t be a big deal. It’s only a 10 minute walk. I plug it in. No visible change. …That’s probably fine. Right.

So on my way I go. I’m chatting with my buddy Ryan, taking in the sights, and pretty much ignoring my battery life as I head deeper into a very foreign town that I only just began living in the day before.

Aaaand then my phone dies. Which is fine. I’m a big girl. I got this. I’m just going to step into this random building and ask where the ward office is. No big deal.

Except that the ladies behind the counter are looking at me like I’ve just fallen out of the sky and the entire office of workers behind them are not-so-subtly turned in their chairs watching the encounter.

“Ward office… doko desu ka?” Dear god, why didn’t I look up what ‘ward office’ is in Japanese before I left. I am an actual idiot. They’re staring at me. I’m staring at them. We’re all staring. This is normal.

And then one of the ladies seems to understand what I want. “Address-su?” She asks. Holy hell thank god.

The nice lady comes out from behind the counter and points to the exit, waving at me to follow. She apologizes in English for not being able to speak English. I do the same in Japanese, we laugh, and I feel the kind of wild gratitude that only appears in the face of real, true, unsolicited human kindness. She walks me down a block and across a crosswalk to the ward office, leads me inside and speaks to the desk workers on my behalf. Then she bows and waves goodbye and I can’t do anything but thank her as I’m immediately whisked away by two ladies who usher me into a seat and begin asking me questions.

45 minutes later I’m shuffling out of the office with my address freshly printed on the back of my residence card, comprehensive English instructions for trash disposal in my area (bless), a promise that my health insurance card would be in the mail in 3 days, and an “important paper” with a “social number” on it that was given to me by a man who seemed desperate for me to understand its importance and not to lose it.

No problem. I’m a competent human who definitely owns a file cabinet and doesn’t just tape important documents to her walls to keep from losing them.

Right.

I managed to get home after overshooting my neighborhood by a block and then seeing a store that “looks suspiciously like a store that’s a block from my apartment” and turning around.

I didn’t leave my apartment for the rest of the day. Just went and quit while I was ahead.

The next day, however, was more productive and I didn’t even get lost. Found my way to the “Seven & i Holdings” department store.

[will post a picture of the 7/11 department store here later because it honestly makes me proud, you did it little guy, way to glow up]

Bought stuff I needed, including a bunch of rugs that don’t match but I liked them because they were on the sale rack so that’s all that really matters.

So, the green rug is technically a bath mat. Fun fact, in Japanese-style washrooms (and other Asian countries) you can get the entire room wet. There’s a drain of course, and it’s not a big deal if you don’t have a shower curtain.

However, this means that the floor is almost constantly wet, so most people keep a rug outside the door and rubber slippers nearby. That way if you want to go into the washroom to brush you teeth or whatever, you aren’t walking through puddles in your socks.

My day ended with some much needed organizing. My 3 piece set of luggage was still strewn across the floor, all lying open and looking like they’d been disembowled with their entrails picked over. I hung up as many clothes as I could and compiled the rest into 1 suitcase. I then created a delightful trash table to set all my junk for which I have no place yet to store.

…Well. It’s better than having it all just on the floor, anyway. I promise I’ll buy a set of drawers. Probably.

At the end of the day, while I may never have won a prize for being the most put-together human, I’ve gotta admit that it feels pretty good to be in an environment that’s somewhat organized.

I’m getting there, guys. Slowly.