Day 3 Japan

We Get by with a Little Help from New Friends:
This morning Jim and I went into Kyoto University (aka Kyodai) to Jim’s new lab. Since his advising professor (and the only one in the lab who speaks English fluently) is at a conference Wednesday-Friday, he has given Jim the days to get settled. For today (Wednesday) it was decided that the department secretary and an undergrad would help us get some things done. The to-do list: buy used bikes, investigate cell phone plans, get our alien registration cards, and open a bank account.

At 10am we met Yasuko and Satoko and decided on a plan of action. (Satoko speaks some English and with the help of an electronic pocket translator we were generally able to communicate with effort). We first headed to a bike shop where Yasuko wheeled and dealed on our behalf. There were only a few used bikes available and Yasuko bargained for cheaper ones to be sent. (Also we needed a larger size than most of the bikes there…) So, in about a week our very own used bikes should become available. Check: pending.

We then stopped at a cell phone store and stood there while Yasuko discussed all the different options. When the salesperson finally gave her a monthly number I could tell by the panicked look on her face before I even saw the number punched into his calculator that it was high. I also realized that the complexity of cell phone plans far surpassed our small group’s language exchange abilities. Fortunately, Jim and I had found a salesperson in another cell phone carrier’s office yesterday who spoke English pretty well (!) and knew we could get a better deal there, so we were able to tell Y and S that it was okay. Besides, we needed our alien cards before we could get cell phones anyway, so this had to wait. Check: delayed.

Next, we headed back to the university to borrow bikes for Jim and I to use that day (Yasuko and Satoko were walking their bikes at this point). After some giggling in the lab with other students (I think about whose bikes would be big enough for us) two guys graciously (and bravely) gave us the keys to their bikes. [CORRECTION: I realize I made the “no one locks their bikes” statement (yesterday’s entry) too hastily. It seems that the bikes DO lock around the back tire. It is very small so we missed it initially. However, even then we do still see some bikes not locked…]

Although I am an avid bike commuter at home I was slightly terrified biking here. First, the bike I was on (even though borrowed from a guy not too much shorter than me) was so short that my legs were fully folded while riding. I must have looked like one of those clowns on a tiny bicycle, knees popping up everywhere. In addition to this, bikers and walkers are everywhere and it is a small miracle that there are not collisions every moment. Bikers are all over the side walk and manage to squeeze through any gap in pedestrians with little pause or hesitation. My only solace is that the bikes are all cruisers that don’t go too fast—and being lower to the ground makes it easier to touch ground if needed!

It was nearing lunch time and I was relieved to hear Yasoko ask if we were hungry. Something was decided on and we obediently followed Y and S. (Ah, the old “I have no idea where we are going because I don’t understand the language but I am following and trusting anyway” feeling!) We all headed down to a University entrance where several women were selling Bento boxes for 500 yen (about 5 dollars). We selected our choices and after a battle trying to pay for Y and S (which we lost) we all headed back to the lab to eat.

Ah. Japanese food is SO GOOD!!! My bento box had a battered chicken breast, rice, a cabbage salad, a spaghetti salad that tasted just like a US macaroni salad, pickled eggplant and yam (I think?) and some pickled radish. Everything was absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to have more Bento!! Yasoko showed us that the little packets included, when added to hot water, make miso soup. (I don’t think I would have figured that out on my own.) Yasoko was very concerned that we were happy and she kept asking if we liked the miso soup and the food. She needn’t have worried: we were happy as clams. (If clams can actually be deemed happy—what a funny expression.)
Anyway, we ate with Y and S and two other female students and when we insisted on eating with chopsticks, they were all very determined to teach us the correct way to hold them. Hmmm, I thought I was perfectly functional holding them in my self-taught way, but upon correction I could hardly get the food into my mouth. Oh well. I will have to practice more.

After lunch we realized that we needed to retake our photos for ID cards because the ones we brought were too large. (Ha, imagine something American being too large in Japan.) Yasoko had an appointment, so another student, Reiko took her place. She and Satoko took us (on bikes) to the student center where, after many confusing gestures and silliness, Jim and I got our pictures taken and poof, the pictures were ready and in our hands. Check: done. :)

We all then biked to the registration card office. It felt just like a DMV in the States, except that everything was in Japanese, of course. We filled out paperwork and then were informed that it would be a month (!) before our cards were ready. Fortunately there is a temporary form we can get for opening a bank account and getting cell phones, but we had to fill out more paperwork for this and we have to return to pick those up on Friday. Ah, government red tape is the same everywhere. Check: delayed.

By this time we had pretty much exhausted what we could get done that day without ID cards, so we decided to reconvene on Friday for the temporary cards and bank account opening. Before we left Yasuko wanted to introduce us to a Canadian at the University so we followed again. [Note: If you haven’t gathered this already, Y, S and R spent a good part of their day helping us and would have spent many more hours with us had there been any more we could have done. I can only hope that international students without English skills receive some similar support when they study in the US. We are so thankful to our new friends for the incredible graciousness and kindness they have showed us!]

Once we arrived at another lab, Yasuko poked in and saw her friend (who looked Japanese—huh) and then the friend took us all to two white men in another office. Jim joked to me that Yasuko was saying “We brought our white people to meet your white people.” Ha. We then met two guys, French and French Canadian who were working as researchers. They were very nice and told us about the Japanese language courses offered by the University and how to get to the appropriate office. After chatting with them for a while we headed to this office to see if we could enroll in the language course. It turns out that the language course has been running for a month and is not supposed to admit late applicants but we were taken to a professor’s office and she (speaking perfect English) gave us permission, primer books to start learning characters and a list of books to buy at the bookstore. Wow! (It turns out the University allows spouses of researchers to take a semester of Japanese language. I imagine them realizing that makes for happier spouses (and in turn, happier researchers!)

So, Jim and I are both enrolled in a beginning Kanji class (characters) and a Japanese language class. This means we will spend 5 hours in class--all on Wednesdays. Whew. At least I don’t have to go back to another Kumon center (see Day 1 post)!! ;)

If you are half as tired reading this lengthy thing as we were doing all of this, then I apologize. It was a very busy and full day!!