It is actually hard to describe what I was feeling that time - joy, happiness, concern, fear... a bit of everything I guess. The girl has left me as soon as we landed... she was in a hurry to get to meet her friend (I was actually counting that I might get help from her friend as he is supposed to speak Japanese really well) oh well, that's a bummer, but that way I could test myself. And once again it was so quiet and somewhat empty at the airport similar to Moscow I guess. Was it because of holiday season... not sure... I've gone through custody, passport control and other checks pretty fast. Even surprisingly fast I must say. However there was a funny moment when I was going through custody. I have not declared any goods like tobacco, alcohol etc, because the amount I was carrying was below the norm; however the girl has asked me about it. She was surprised because I were to stay in Japan for 8 month and it seemed fishy to her that I had no such goods with me XD To tell the truth I find it somewhat cute of her))) After that I've exchanged some currency and to be honest I am not happy with the exchange rate... I’ve brought US dollars with me, and unfortunately for me $ is losing its position on the market. But there is nothing I can do about it and it seems like US either XD I bought a bus ticket with newly exchange JPY and went out to the bus stop… Or should I just say – I went OUT!



contWhat was my first impression of Japan? I am not sure myself… First of all it didn't look like winter to me... at all... I saw some green trees, but grass was yellow. So dunno, smth like our autumn. I found bus stop easily and had to wait smth like 10 minutes. But during that time several buses going different direction has departed from my bus stop, so it was a bit confusing and I wondered whether I was in the right place to begin with). People would simply wait in order to get on their bus, no yelling, no pushing, just patiently standing in line. There were some helpers who would help to get your luggage inside the bus and give you a luggage ticket.
About luggage... I've mentioned before about buying another ticket for second suitcase. Indeed I was traveling quite heavy loaded - 2 suitcases, backpack and a purse – in total over 60 kg. I've taken my sister's new suitcase with me and my old one... well guess what, just as your butter sandwich will end up falling on the floor with the butter side down, the same situation happened with my suitcase, or I’d rather say with my sister's. The new suitcase got a huge crack in it, and the old one was perfectly fine. I didn't notice the crack till I was out of airport and waiting for the bus, so it was kind of late to go back and claim damage for it. But just as they say there is no evil without good. One Japanese lady started a conversation with me because of my cracked suitcase. That was my first real encounter with Japanese in Japan.

my poor suitcase

Everyone at the bus stop was simply looking my way and somewhat unfriendly (that's my polite way of saying hostile XD), but not her, she was really nice. I guess she took pity on me and later on I understood why. She advised me to take photos and later to claim the damage and bit by bit we started chatting. First in English and when she found out that I know some Japanese she switched to it, so that I can get used to speaking in Japanese. We sat across each other on the bus. As it turned out, she lives mostly in Germany because of work and that time she went back to Japan to visit her family for NY. Honestly I was really grateful to her. No matter how stupidly brave I might seem I still feel some concerns about my life in Japan (even now, when the entire month has passed). But seeing that even some total strangers are willing to help me and talk to me I've felt some kind of relief. I've presented my new friend with some ua choco and left my email address (but I haven't expected that the email from her would come, because I had similar situation before, I would give my email and no letter would come). Later on I received an email from her, so now we chat once in a while. She is back to Germany now, but in the beginning of the summer she is coming back to Japan and has invited me to travel to her region. So sweet of her!

traffic jam from Narita to Tokyo

I got off the bus before her and my journey was continuing. This time I had to find a taxi. The trouble with Japanese taxi is that you don’t really get to choose which car/taxi you want. Cars are lined up and once one is taken the other one comes and waits for the passenger. As I wanted to get to Tomioka asap, I had no choice but to take the first taxi in line even though I saw an old grandpa driver staring at me. He complained that my suitcases were too heavy and he had bad back so I had to load/unload them by myself. I have given him 2 maps (general and more detailed) and he had a map of his own, but he still had hard time finding the place I needed. Seriously? I was going crazy. First of all he did not drive faster than 40-50 km/h and was completely lost. Even I could tell which direction to go as I was told by hr most distinctive points along the road which are hard to miss (McDonalds, Large stores, Supermarkets etc) He stopped and went out to ask direction and finally we were able to reach our destination. Guards apparently knew that I was coming; they were much nicer to me than the taxi driver and helped me a lot with the luggage. A lady from administrative department came to greet me, but as she had to pick up her daughter from school, she left me for hr guy – SJ.
I wonder whether I should make a short intro about him, before carrying on with the storyline. SJ(age 28) has lived in the US for several years when he was young (grade school I think), so he speaks English well. So compared to others it is easier for me to talk with him as at least I understand what he means when using various English words XD. In general he seems like a nice guy, somewhat girly or childish, but the mere fact that he drives to Tokyo every weekend to meet his girlfriend says a lot about him.
So SJ has taken me back to the apartment, explained how to use shower, oven etc. We waited till a special package that company bought for me would arrive. That package consisted of: pot, tea pot, cup, spoon, fork, chopstick, frying pan, shampoo and hair conditioner, tooth brush and toothpaste body soap and hand soap, toilet paper, sponges for dishes and bath, washing soap and cleaning soap for dishes and bath, some hangers and even a pair of slippers. I might have missed smth, but the point is that it was really nice to get at least some kitchen stuff. Then we went to the supermarket and I basically bought smth for breakfast and some snacks. We also stopped by the 100 yen store. (I need to write about these stores later on, cause I luv the way these stores are organized))) And somehow I was being forced to buy the bowl for the bath, which I knew I wouldn’t use (at least for its main purpose), but actually I am using it now for keeping some water in my room, so that it won’t be too dry in there. But it wasn’t that much big of a deal as my main concern was inet - I was really hoping that inet would be working, but there were some troubles with it, so I had no inet afterall. So SJ left after several attempts trying set up inet and I was left alone with my thoughts. I must say that it was somewhat nerve-wracking. I had so many thought running through my head that I couldn’t fall asleep for sometime. Well, I was suffering from jet-lag as well. But anyways as I was lying on futon and thinking whether I should just keep my suitcases unpacked and go back home, I fell asleep. And that was the end of my first day in Japan…