Cherry Blossoms.

I did a bit of exploring around my area today. It's definitely very surburan. I have about 3 hospitals in the area, alot of specialty shops catering for old fogeys (including a nursing home), a couple of kindergartens and schools. I just realised there is a Pizza Hut store just behind my block. And the dude delivering to my building rode his scooter. I mean, it will take him less than 3 mins to walk. I also found that I have a really cool variety store one block away called Donki Kingdom (they play their jingle in store back to back. It's catchy but VERY annoying!) and they sell everything under the sun. Plus they are opened until 2am in the morning. Poor sales people. I was at my wits end when Myer was opened till 12am during the sales. They have to do this every day. Anyway I saw this really cute mushroom stool - its looks like a round plushie but its hard so you can sit (more like squat) on it. I was really tempted but it was pink and I really have no where to put it. I'm trying to avoid buying things that needs to sit on the ground coz the humid season is coming up (yeah right! I'm freezing my butt off at the moment...so glad I brought my big coat with me). On the way back I saw this sausage dog being walked but he was carrying his own lunch in a plastic bag in his mouth! Come to think of it there are alot of dog owners around here, but I never hear the dogs bark. Must be very well trained. The stash I bought from Donki Kingdom (I keep typing DonkeyKong for some apparent reason!). Yeap! That's a pilates rubber band! I decided it will be too expensive to do pilates in Japan (it's still a new thing and they are charging a premium) so I'm going to do it at home. The Pretz (my fav snack) are wonderful here - crispy and crunchy. I'm intrigued with the hamburger and the panda thingys (btw panda is the 'in' animal in Japan. Even the City Office where I got alienised used a panda plush to focalise the services desk. There's also a real estate called Panda House) It's great brain workout for me, always trying to decipher the katakana. All signages here are a challenge! :)

OH yeah! Part of the reason why I went for a walk was that I had a sneaking suspicion that the Toda City Office was perhaps 5 mins away...and on the day I went to register myself I took Nova's directions and jumped on the train to the next stop where I had trek for another 12-15 mins ( I already had to walk 15 mins to my train station...and forked out for a ticket!) Guess what? it was 5mins away...by walking! It was closer to the City Office than it was to walk to my train station!!! ARGHHHHH! I am starting to get the hang of the addresses here and the way they are divided into wards and districts, so hopefully I won't have to go through something like this again. My apartment is actually equidistant from both stations. Handy.

Yes, tis the season of cherry blossoms and we have quite a number of them in the area. I always imagined them to be pink pink but in reality they are the most delicate shade of pink bordering on white. I can understand why they inspired so many poems and musings for thousands of years - the blossoms are truly exquisite. When they get blown off or just fall to the ground they don't turn brown..so the area around the trees looks like it has been carpeted.

This is moi with a view from the apartment's balcony - Look! Cherry blossoms!

Close up of the tree. It looks better when they are grouped together. I just thought of something. Back home if the trees were close to or touching the power lines they would most likely be amputated.

I'm also getting used to people wering face masks...in the beginning they were seriously spamming me mentally, screaming "I'm diseased! STAY AWAY!" I mean, after SARS, you can't blame me. Anyway, I now know it's because alot of people suffers from allergies and hayfever and by hiding under a mask nobody can see their snot run freely- and if they are truly sick -with an added on bonus that they will continue infecting themselves as opposed to spreading the germs like all good patient zeroes should do. The look is very becoming. Very mysterious. Kind of like a public masquerade ball. Phantoms of the White Collar Worker. I reckon it also hides their bad teeth. It's amazing, the amount of dentists in Japan. It rivals the ratio of hairdressers on Forest Rd in Hurstville with other businesses. (Last time I counted there were 23 hairdressers on Forest Rd. Just in Hurstville)Familiar? Everyone would hav seen Lost in Translation, right? There are quite a number of Hollywood celebrities spruiking local products - I saw Cameron Diaz advertising Softbank, a local mobile network company.

Ok! Due to popular demand, I decided to include food in most posts. This is what I just had for dinner. The eel was bought from the market, and the vegies came in a frozen pack. So the only thing I actually did was wash the rice and pop it in the cooker, and drizzle the vegies with a new-founded fav dressing (one of those jap salad dressing...and its in the stash pic above). Not bad.

Oh another amusing little fact is that the bread comes in either 8 or 10 slices (kinda 1/2 a loaf) with NO front and back ends. Talk about having a picky eating habit!
This was a snack I had a few days ago. No crust, just soft soft bread with noodles and mayo filling inside. It was absolutely delicious but I can imagine it to be quite fattening. (Not that I care.) Hey remember I said I'll come home thinner? Well I think I'd have to take it back. I'm not a particular junk person but the HUGE variety here is SO tempting! I think I've fallen in! Does anyone know if I can send these back to Australia? Just no egg right?

Omiya.

And the saga continues...previously on My Life at 30kgs...Charlene was busy cleaning and shopping while wondering when her flatmate will be showing up. Drama! Flatmate finally showed up late last night (not late enough to miss the last train). She's Asian American who's into photography. Your run of the mill, 20s, independent type. She gave me quite a few pointers on where to get a bike, (I'm going to get a bike!!), comfirmed I could use the other room (yah! I could actually fit another futon in there if people (actually one person) visits, general Nova goss (a Nova girl was murdered in a bathtub filled with sand. Kinky.) and advice (she said I should have spoken in English to that demoted suit yesterday. Apparently being spoken to in a foreign language is very embarrassing for a Japanese who had just been ranting at the said foreigner...because its impolite and it looks silly because the person you are saying bad words to don't understand you. I guess looking like an Asian gives Japs authority to yell abuse.)
So. I spent a good part of the day cleaning the other but bigger room - and this room was ickier than the small one. The girl who was living there before truly should get an lifetime's grime achievement award - she had left little toenails/fingernails presents everywhere. And I had to consistently keep vaccumming the floor because I didnt prioritise. I should have done the lights, windows, curtains (my god were they feral) hanging and storage equipment, then the floor. This is my apartment. Why, do you ask, is there no pics of inside? Well I'm still in the process of 'rearranging' so hold. on. I'm on the fourth floor, which is where I have kindly circled for your convenience. Yes, it's an alcohol shop downstairs (for those who can't read the kanji) but its not just an alcohol shop - it sells cheap snacks and food. Kinda like a 7-11 but with hardcore stuff. Pretty building yeah? On my way to the station...it's a good 15 min walk! That's why I want a bike. Coz eveyone has one except me :( Oh I took a pic of the flower store and the cute coffee shop next door because they are THE most proliferative shops in Japan. Being a green thumb while sipping green tea latte is very in.
My favourite store in Todakoen! This chemist has EVERYTHING! and its cheaper than the bloody supermarket. (and see if I had a BIKE I can park it there too!)

On a recommendation from a friend I went to Omiya to have a look see. There's about 3 different department stores and plenty of basement food levels. I really like Loft, kind of young designery with a price tag attached. It had my major work inspiration arianzi and aronzo there! They had a mini shop to boot! Can't help to make a small purchase... and of course it had to be from the slot-in-coins-and-turn-dial-before-plastic-ball-with-goodie-inside-falls-out. What on earth are they called?! I'm fanatical about them. If bleach and mops are bought like that I would love cleaning.
I tried to take a sneaky shot of the Food Theatre in Omiya- one of the ubiquitous and highly recommended basement food levels...only this one is inside the station! It was swarming with people. I'm too chicken to blantantly take a pic of the food...maybe I'll be braver tomorrow...

Alien.

Well it's well into the 2nd night in Japan and I still haven't seen a flutter of my flatmate anywhere. Millions of possible excuses flitted across my mind - from lying dead in a park to running away - but I've settled for staying over at someone else's apartment. Good on her for having so many friends - but it's causing minor problems for me - for one, trash day is coming up and I have no idea what to do. It's not like home where its either red bin or yellow bin. Over here the Japs are very particular and anal about how they separate trash, from burnable to unburnable, cans, bottles and paper. Plus they are all collected on different days. Geez. Anyway my gripe is the grey area of plastics. Some are burn and some are unburn. So what's a yoghurt cup? I know that's recyclable in Oz, but here it could be burn. Or unburn. And how about those take-away lunch bento boxes? They are piling up in the kitchen because I dont know which one to chuck it in. I haven't kinda unpack yet because I'm still waiting for HER to appear to let me know if the other room is free. It looks to me like it could be free (because an old unused oven is in the room) but there are also possessions in the room that suggest 'claimed'. What do you think guys? Should I just move in to the other room without consulting her? The apartment was kinda grot - the bathroom was mouldy with a feet mat that looks like it had been there since the Big Bang. I can't make out the original colour because its all grey. Needless to say I went shopping today for cleaning products and clean towels. I spent the whole of last night wiping down the kitchen (ergh) and this morning cleaning and wiping down my room (ergh ergh) I never knew I was so pedantic about this. I'm very suprised because my mum always tells me I'm so unclean, but I think I've worked out it's because I don't KNOW who had used it before me and WHEN the last time it had been CLEANED. Well mum, you should be proud that I'm cleaning like a mad woman.

Ok, it's looking a bit text heavy. I thought I'd balance it out with the FIRST meal I cooked for last night's dinner!!! The stove was a puzzle to switch on. It's a dial that you press in and twist but everytime I did it the flame will die but the gas continued to leak. Even though I press down for a few seconds before letting go. Anyway it's all good now.

This is ramen in miso with egg and spinach and honeyed little fish with walnuts. Very nice. The eggs here are cheap and they are pure white!!!! The shitake mushrooms are a bargain too. The fruit section in the local supermarket is so cool to look at but I feel so gulity about the overpackaging....they wrap everything in plastic - vegetables, apples, ginger, onions, garlic, everything! (Plus it will be an extra headache issue for me to decide if it goes in to burn or unburn..) The strawberries are perfect in shape and colour - and are almost identical to each other - no imperfections and lumpy, bulbous bits like back home - and they taste divine! Makes me wonder where all the rejects go. This is seriously John West stuff.

This is what I had this morning. 3 rye rolls (I ate one already before I remembered to take a pic for this special occasion), cherry tomatoes (yum) and spinach. Plus a small tub of apple yoghurt. Don't worry I won't be taking anymore pics of my dins and breakies..It's just the first (of anything) are fondly remembered :)

Alright back to the point of this post. Today I went to the city office to apply for a Alien Registration Card. Just the term alien irks me a little bit. Can they not use softer sounding words like foreigners? I wondered what they would call real aliens. The lack of communication on my part was keenly felt when trying to tell the officer what I wanted and what she wanted me to write on the form. I'm glad she was patient :P We were there trying to sound out my name in katakana. My chinese middle names kinda threw her off because Japanese sounds doesn't cover the weird tones and pronounciation of 'euk' and 'ing' of Chinese sounds. Then I went to Ikebukuro to see how much time is needed (my orientation is going to be there) and also because I wanted to find a 100 yen shop so while I was there I went for a spot of window shopping (spectacular!) and the cool basement food halls (droooooool...I had REAL sushi there! sorry no pics...I ate too quickly). I then scuttled to Akabane (the closest biggish city to my little Todakoen) and I stumbled into a giant 6 storey 100 yen shop. Holy cow! I think I would have to go back there for more supplies after settling in more. Apparently by the time I decided to go home with my goods it was peakish hour and the train was quite packed at Akabane (only for a stop, and then it was quite roomy afterwards) Anyway this suit saw me with my bucket and bags of stuff and started having a go at me. I really don't know what he was saying (an advantage to not understanding Jap) but I gathered he was probably annoyed that he had to share space with a girl and her bucket and her bags of stuff. Ha! Imagine if I lugged a bicycle in as well. Hope he gets demoted.

I've made it!

Hi everyone!
I'm finally bum to couch vertically in my new home after a very long and tiring trip (after a quick lie down on the said couch) I really wanted to actually sleep in those futony things but I don't know how to set it up and will have to wait for my flatmate(s?) to come back and tell me which one lies over what. At the moment I have the smallest room in the apartment but after some initial snooping around I realised I might only have one flatmate as opposed to two. (might upgrade myself to next biggest room...hmmm) Anyhoo, I'm ecstatic that I could go online wirelessly here so it almost feels like home. Online, anytime! (Take that, Alan!) Plus I'm only an hour behind Syd, so techically speaking I could still continue email conversations with Bec and Von :)
I don't think the concept of being in Japan has sunken in yet. There weren't any glitches to speak of (mmm actually, there was a minor thing...I left my information pack - which included a map and a key to my apartment - plus other important things as well.. like, err my contract - in the bathroom stall in a station toilet. I only remembered on the way back down to the platform and you should've seen me scuttle like a bug back in and did the charades with the bathroom lady. (I thought she picked it up because it wasn't in the cubicle...turned out I picked the wrong one and it was actually the stall next door) To make the situation slightly even more ridiculous, the train I was catching was arriving in 2 mins and yeaaah...sounds very Charlene. The Nova guy that was taking me to my apartment thought it was because the queue was long. It was, but I didn't bother to correct him. No one here needs to know. Oh, the Nova personnel's called Cookie. (Like, Oreo cookie) And he's a guy. I asked him why he name himself as a biscuit ("err, were you parents baking hippies?") and I found out it was actually a Chinese name to begin with (He's Chinese British) but alot of non Chinese had a problem pronouncing his real name so this was as phonetically close to it as he could get.
Hmm I might post some photos of the apartment afterwards. I need to go out and grab supplies while I'm wide awake.