私の東京にある部屋

Have a look round my room :)

In other news, I've just finished packing up everything ready to come back to the UK! Tomorrow at 5am I'll get up, before going to Narita and flying home...so my next blog post will be from England!! It doesn't feel real that tomorrow evening I'll be back in my house..! Looking forward :)

James

A Busy Day of Pre-Flight Preparation

What a busy day it's been!

After having morning classes, I took the train to Tachikawa Station, before hopping on a bus to the Immigration Bureau to get my re-entry permit. I was going to write a step-by-step guide to acquiring the re-entry permit for anyone else who needs to go for one, but I really can't top Miles Davies' blog post which helped me no end when I was planning my trip. One thing I will add is that the Sunkus konbini right by the 多摩車検場前 bus stop sells the special stamp you need in order to get re-entry permit. Oh, and Miles said he had a two hour wait before being dealt with, but my wait was only about five minutes! I didn't even have time to complete my form before I was called up to the desk!

I was with Ashley, an Australian girl in my class (well, she was in my class last term), who went to get her work permit from the same bureau, but she only found out when she got there that she needed to have her passport with her in order to get it! Oops....

After sorting out my re-entry permit stuff, I got the bus back to Tachikawa Station, from which I went straight to Kichijoji Station and bought my ticket for the Limousine Bus, which will take me to Narita Airport from Kichijoji at 6:30am on Wednesday!

I got back home at about 5pm, and then had lots of work to do for uni! As I'm missing the last two days of classes, I'm getting all my deadlines sorted and ready to hand in tomorrow. After doing my work, I put some of the clothes I'm taking back in the wash, and started packing my main suitcase. It's now 3/4 full of other clothes I washed yesterday, and Christmas presents for everyone! 

Two more sleeps! Looking so so SO forward to coming home :)

James

JASSO Scholarship!

Whooop so I found out today that I have been awarded the JASSO Scholarship between January and March next year! It's such a relief, what with the ridiculous price of everything around here!

I'll receive 80,000 yen each month, automatically deposited into my Japanese bank account (Mitsubishi UFJ), so over the three months I'll be given around £2,000! I'm going to have to work hard and get good grades this year though, as it's a scholarship, not simply a grant! But of course, I was going to work hard and get good grades anyway ;)

Now that I have the money to do so, I'm hoping to travel outside of Tokyo during the Easter break in March and April. I'd love to go down to Osaka and Kyoto; that sort of region. It would be lovely to see some of the Leeds people during the year! And Kyoto in particular looks amazing; it oozes with traditional culture.

Happy days!

James

I'm Going Home for Christmas!

Finally, after wrangling with various booking companies and airlines, I've managed to book some tickets back to the UK! It's such a relief! Quite possibly the best Christmas present from my parents ever...

I'm going to fly with JAL (Japan Airlines), leaving from Tokyo Narita Airport at 11:45am on Wednesday 21st December (2 weeks from the day I'm writing this, eeee :D), arriving at London Heathrow at 3:25pm, before switching to a BMI flight to Manchester, leaving at 6:40pm, and arriving at 7:45pm! I'm then going to get the Transpennine Express train to Leeds, so I should arrive there between 9:30 and 10pm. From there I'll get picked up by my parents and Ayu and go back to Otley :)

I can't properly express just how excited I am to be going home! As much as I'm enjoying Japan, I still feel like I need a couple of weeks back in Blighty as a little respite from this crazy, crazy country! It'll be so amazing to see everybody again, too. I don't have loads of plans crammed into every day, I just want a nice, quiet Christmas with the people who mean the most to me :)

I'm flying back to Japan on Sunday the 8th of January, leaving Manchester at 4pm, and eventually arriving in Tokyo at 4pm the next day (it's not a 24 hour flight; time difference...).

うれしい〜!

James

Back at ICU

So today was my first day of the Winter term! And goodness was it cold...about a week ago or so the temperature suddenly plummeted from pleasantly mild (for late November, at least) to bloody freezing! It was about 6 degrees and windy, but for some reason it felt so much colder than I remember that sort of weather feeling back in the UK...maybe it's because I'd got used to the humid subtropical climate here since Summer.  Whatever the reason for it seeming so cold, I still can't feel my fingers after the bike ride back from university.

I had my first J4 class this morning, and the level has stepped up from J3 considerably. We went over the first kanji (Chinese characters) to learn, and there are so many! I will be spending a lot more time at my desk this term I imagine. After 35 minutes of lunchtime, I had my first Japan: History, Art and Literature lecture. The professor said that the name was misleading, and we'd be studying more the modernity and relevance of Japan from an anthropological viewpoint, and using history, art and literature to see how those aspects were founded, which to be honest interests me more than I had expected the course to do so, based on it's title.

So that was my first day, and now it's the weekend! I've not really been blogging as much recently, but I'm going to make an effort to do it more from now on, starting with a proper post about Kichijoji, as well as a proper one about ICU, too. These are the two places where I spend pretty much all of my time when I'm not in my room, yet I've only mentioned them in passing so far in this blog, so I thought it was about time to write some dedicated posts. The Autumnal colours on campus at ICU are beautiful at the moment, so I'll take my camera in on Monday. I'll be doing the Kichijoji one very soon as I am in fact going there tonight! Stay tuned :)

James

Photo of the Day

People have been asking me what I cook in Japan so there you go; my standard meal

Another Term, Another Course Registration

Wow, December already!

This morning I cycled into ICU to register for this term's modules.  Having passed Japanese level 3 last term, I enrolled in J4 (I'm now officially an intermediate!), as well as Japan Studies: History, Art and Literature, which should be really good.  I've got the same hours as last term; Japanese for periods 2 and 3 (10:10-12:40) every morning, and then my other module takes up a super 4th period (1:15-3:00) on Wednesdays and Fridays.  This means that I can keep the shifts my job exactly the same!

Speaking of my job, I FINALLY opened a bank account with Mitsubishi UFJ in Musashi Sakai today, with the help of Ayaka.  I'm looking forward to getting paid within the next two weeks!  

Tomorrow I start my Winter term!  A blog post will be sure to follow over the weekend.

James

Picture of the Day

Me working hard in my new job