Sunday, June 17th, 2007: My first day in Japan
Yesterday was fun. ^_^
We got to the airport and went through a customs area before we retreived our checked luggage. I was surprised about that. I filled the form out wrong, I missed the word "disembarkation" at the top of the second side of the form. The first side said "embarkation" ... so I filled the entire form out for leaving from SF and arriving in Japan. Oops. I also didn't have my host family's address in my carry-on things, and the form wanted to know what my address would be in Japan. ....... so........ I asked Erin if I could write down the address for one of her host families, because I knew they just needed something, but that it didn't have to be accurate. Plus, if something happened, the family would be able to give the customs offers contact information for Mukogawa.
So, after that we went to baggage claim. Erin and Elizabeth got their bags fairly immediately, but mine took a long time to come through. I was one of the last left waiting, hahaha. (But, I am glad it was there at all!.)
After that, we went through customs point 2, and it was SO easy. He looked at our passports, asked if the three of us were together, and then waved us through. Wow. On our customs form, there had been 5 questions to answer... the basics like did we have any weapons or drugs or had we been convicted of a felony. Those questions were all that they asked us. I suppose that makes some sense, since we don't speak Japanese well, so it would be difficult.
After that, we came to the main area where everyone was waiting for us. We met Jun, one of the employees from the Mukogawa International Exchange Office (IEO). He greeted us and then we went to meet the people from our host families who were picking us up. I met Eriko, and she was all by herself. She told me that her family was still at home. I went and exchanged some of my traveler's cheques into yen and then Eriko took me to buy a phone card. She talked with Erin's host sister as they looked at the vending machine, and I believe she told me that they were too expensive. I know that Erin didn't buy one and when I asked Eriko if it was "takai" she nodded. Takai means expensive. (it also means tall, like a building is tall, but not like a person is tall. I forget what that word is.)
So, we left and went to the bus. Eriko purchased our tickets, which is good because it was a mystery to me as how to do so.
The driver took my bags and stowed them, and we climbed aboard. It was very fancy inside, which I suppose was fitting since the bus was called "Airport Limosine."
The drive took about an hour, which wasn't bad. We drove on the freeway, so that was a neat experience. They have clear wall panels lining the side of the entire thing. Maybe that helps keep the area below the freeway clean? And, if you didn't already know this, they drive on the left here... so that was kind of fun since I've never experienced riding in a vehicle travelling down the left side of the road. ;-)
Sometimes it was kind of disorienting, like when making turns and such.
So, we finally got to our stop. We got off and waited for Eriko's father, Hideshi, to pick us up. He came and his car was very small, but I totally expected this. It reminded me of some of the Scion cars we have... just in the design. Here is a picture of the kind of car they have (Subaru Pleo):
I felt bad because he had to lift my heavy suitcases. They weighed something like 50 and 65 pounds. >_<
I also felt bad because they were big and the car was small... but I felt good that at least my bags were not as big as Erin's or Elizabeth's. Then again, they did not have as big of a carry-on bag as I did... so I suppose it all evened out.
So we drove to the Shintani house. As should be no surprise, the roads are very narrow and the city is on a bit of a slope in spots. The roads are so narrow that many streets in the residential area are one-lane one-ways, and still very narrow at that. The buildings come right up to the edge of the street, and there is very little space in between them... maybe 1 or 2 feet.
To get to their house, we turned down an alley. This is the normal way to get to one's house here. My host-father dropped us off at the door and went to put the car away. I am not sure where it goes, but it must be nearby.
We went inside and were greeted by Eriko's mother, Kozue. She was so nice and a very good hostess. She kneeled on the floor by the entryway and gave me some slippers. I was surprised that they had special slippers just for me. I took my shoes off and stepped in. I was confused as to where to go at first and was directed up a flight of stairs. When we got to the second floor, Eriko showed me the living room:
dining room:
and kitchen:
Then we went up another flight of stairs to my bedroom. I was very surprised to have my own bedroom. Eriko's bedroom is also upstairs.
I love the Japanese style windows. Both sides slide open, and nice and easily too. The screen also slides so you can choose which side of the window to open, and easily "get rid of" the screen if you want. In this fashion, windows can be doors when they are large enough, and several are set up to be used exactly that way. I have one in my bedroom like that, the large window in the first photo. There is a small patio outside of it.
My bed is sort of a mixture of a futon and a western bed. It is a futon, but it is on a frame with another, more firm cushion built onto it. I think it's very interesting.
Afterwards, we went back downstairs and she showed me where the bathroom is. Japanese bathrooms are split up. The toilet (o-toire) is in its own room (and btw, in case you didn't know, there are a special pair of bathroom slippers. Don't wear your regular slippers in the bathroom and especially don't wear the bathroom slippers out in the house because that is considered gross), and the sink is in another room.
The Shintani family has a modern style toilet (o-toire).
It has a control panel on the right side there. This lets you control a variety of functions. I am not sure if I know all of them, but I at least know the basic ones. There are two bidets, one for o-shiri (the bottom), and one that I can't read, but the picture is of a woman. There is also a blow dryer to help you out after using the bidet.
The flush lever has two options: up for a low-water flush, and down for a higher-water flush. I am glad I can read the kanji for chii[sai] (small) and oo[kii] (big). I actually encountered the same flush option at the Portland airport and was fascinated by such an option.
On the top of the o-toire you can see a faucet. It automatically spurts out water when you flush, so you can wash your hands.
The shower/bath is off of the sink room.
(Yes, the second photo is of the washing machine which, amazingly enough, runs from a normal outlet. If I recall, that is 100 V, and is less than the voltage in a normal outlet in America.)
Here the bathing room is it's own room. It's pretty neato. The tub is larger than ours and filled with water to be used by the entire family. Therefore, you need to shower off before you get into the tub. Instead of having a seperate shower cubicle, the entire room is water-ready. By that I mean the walls are all plastic and the floor is plastic and has a drain in it. They have a shower nozzle on a... hose? ... like some homes do in America... and there is a large faucet, but you can move it around so it's more like a sink faucet than a tub faucet. They have two brackets for it, one at the appropriate height for a shower, and a lower one... probably right for sitting beneath. On that note, there is also a plastic stool in there. You see, you're traditionally supposed to sit while you wash. And there is a bowl, which you traditionally fill with water from the tap and pour over yourself to rinse. I tried that, but it's difficult to get all of the soap out of my hair, so I just use the nozzle. ^_^
Along one side of the room (in this case, the left side), there is the tub. It has a nice cover on it when not in use.
I took a photo of this, but there was no water in the o-furo, so I decided to wait until I can get a photo of the real setup.
After a little while, my host-father brought my luggage upstairs. I felt so bad for him because he had to haul all of my heavy things up the stairs... up lots of stairs. And, they are narrow, curving stairs, and he had to keep his balance too. I was very impressed with his ability to do all of that.
I am getting sleepy now, and my memory is fading.
So sometime after this, it was time for dinner. There was lots of food and my host mother wanted to give me more and more and more. ^_^
I tried many things and loved all of them, naturally. I don't remember the names of anything though. :-(
Also, the dinner was extra special because my host father had gone fishing earlier in the day and caught many fish that we had for dinner. I think that was really neat, and an excellent first dinner. ^_^
Oh... something interesting, my host family put mayonaise on their zushi (ok, so I remembered one name). I was not surprised by this, but I had not expected it.
After dinner I was getting sleepy. It was around 8 or 9 o'clock though (and 4 or 5 am back home). I "entered the o-furo" (ofuro ni hairu). It was fun. There is a mirror on the wall in the room and I think that's nice. I can see myself for cleaning my hair or my face or my back.
It was after my bath that I asked my host mother for some water, like I mentioned in a previous post. After receiving some water, Eriko came downstairs and found an American movie for me. It was AI - such a good film. ^_^
I watched it for perhaps 30 minutes but I was so exhausted that soon I said oyasumi-nasai and went to bed. I tried to write a post in bed, but as I said, I couldn't keep my eyes open, litereally!
And now it is again very late, so I will go to bed and write about today tomorrow.
Oyasumi!
We got to the airport and went through a customs area before we retreived our checked luggage. I was surprised about that. I filled the form out wrong, I missed the word "disembarkation" at the top of the second side of the form. The first side said "embarkation" ... so I filled the entire form out for leaving from SF and arriving in Japan. Oops. I also didn't have my host family's address in my carry-on things, and the form wanted to know what my address would be in Japan. ....... so........ I asked Erin if I could write down the address for one of her host families, because I knew they just needed something, but that it didn't have to be accurate. Plus, if something happened, the family would be able to give the customs offers contact information for Mukogawa.
So, after that we went to baggage claim. Erin and Elizabeth got their bags fairly immediately, but mine took a long time to come through. I was one of the last left waiting, hahaha. (But, I am glad it was there at all!.)
After that, we went through customs point 2, and it was SO easy. He looked at our passports, asked if the three of us were together, and then waved us through. Wow. On our customs form, there had been 5 questions to answer... the basics like did we have any weapons or drugs or had we been convicted of a felony. Those questions were all that they asked us. I suppose that makes some sense, since we don't speak Japanese well, so it would be difficult.
After that, we came to the main area where everyone was waiting for us. We met Jun, one of the employees from the Mukogawa International Exchange Office (IEO). He greeted us and then we went to meet the people from our host families who were picking us up. I met Eriko, and she was all by herself. She told me that her family was still at home. I went and exchanged some of my traveler's cheques into yen and then Eriko took me to buy a phone card. She talked with Erin's host sister as they looked at the vending machine, and I believe she told me that they were too expensive. I know that Erin didn't buy one and when I asked Eriko if it was "takai" she nodded. Takai means expensive. (it also means tall, like a building is tall, but not like a person is tall. I forget what that word is.)
So, we left and went to the bus. Eriko purchased our tickets, which is good because it was a mystery to me as how to do so.
The driver took my bags and stowed them, and we climbed aboard. It was very fancy inside, which I suppose was fitting since the bus was called "Airport Limosine."
The drive took about an hour, which wasn't bad. We drove on the freeway, so that was a neat experience. They have clear wall panels lining the side of the entire thing. Maybe that helps keep the area below the freeway clean? And, if you didn't already know this, they drive on the left here... so that was kind of fun since I've never experienced riding in a vehicle travelling down the left side of the road. ;-)
Sometimes it was kind of disorienting, like when making turns and such.
So, we finally got to our stop. We got off and waited for Eriko's father, Hideshi, to pick us up. He came and his car was very small, but I totally expected this. It reminded me of some of the Scion cars we have... just in the design. Here is a picture of the kind of car they have (Subaru Pleo):
I felt bad because he had to lift my heavy suitcases. They weighed something like 50 and 65 pounds. >_<
I also felt bad because they were big and the car was small... but I felt good that at least my bags were not as big as Erin's or Elizabeth's. Then again, they did not have as big of a carry-on bag as I did... so I suppose it all evened out.
So we drove to the Shintani house. As should be no surprise, the roads are very narrow and the city is on a bit of a slope in spots. The roads are so narrow that many streets in the residential area are one-lane one-ways, and still very narrow at that. The buildings come right up to the edge of the street, and there is very little space in between them... maybe 1 or 2 feet.
To get to their house, we turned down an alley. This is the normal way to get to one's house here. My host-father dropped us off at the door and went to put the car away. I am not sure where it goes, but it must be nearby.
We went inside and were greeted by Eriko's mother, Kozue. She was so nice and a very good hostess. She kneeled on the floor by the entryway and gave me some slippers. I was surprised that they had special slippers just for me. I took my shoes off and stepped in. I was confused as to where to go at first and was directed up a flight of stairs. When we got to the second floor, Eriko showed me the living room:
dining room:
and kitchen:
Then we went up another flight of stairs to my bedroom. I was very surprised to have my own bedroom. Eriko's bedroom is also upstairs.
I love the Japanese style windows. Both sides slide open, and nice and easily too. The screen also slides so you can choose which side of the window to open, and easily "get rid of" the screen if you want. In this fashion, windows can be doors when they are large enough, and several are set up to be used exactly that way. I have one in my bedroom like that, the large window in the first photo. There is a small patio outside of it.
My bed is sort of a mixture of a futon and a western bed. It is a futon, but it is on a frame with another, more firm cushion built onto it. I think it's very interesting.
Afterwards, we went back downstairs and she showed me where the bathroom is. Japanese bathrooms are split up. The toilet (o-toire) is in its own room (and btw, in case you didn't know, there are a special pair of bathroom slippers. Don't wear your regular slippers in the bathroom and especially don't wear the bathroom slippers out in the house because that is considered gross), and the sink is in another room.
The Shintani family has a modern style toilet (o-toire).
It has a control panel on the right side there. This lets you control a variety of functions. I am not sure if I know all of them, but I at least know the basic ones. There are two bidets, one for o-shiri (the bottom), and one that I can't read, but the picture is of a woman. There is also a blow dryer to help you out after using the bidet.
The flush lever has two options: up for a low-water flush, and down for a higher-water flush. I am glad I can read the kanji for chii[sai] (small) and oo[kii] (big). I actually encountered the same flush option at the Portland airport and was fascinated by such an option.
On the top of the o-toire you can see a faucet. It automatically spurts out water when you flush, so you can wash your hands.
The shower/bath is off of the sink room.
(Yes, the second photo is of the washing machine which, amazingly enough, runs from a normal outlet. If I recall, that is 100 V, and is less than the voltage in a normal outlet in America.)
Here the bathing room is it's own room. It's pretty neato. The tub is larger than ours and filled with water to be used by the entire family. Therefore, you need to shower off before you get into the tub. Instead of having a seperate shower cubicle, the entire room is water-ready. By that I mean the walls are all plastic and the floor is plastic and has a drain in it. They have a shower nozzle on a... hose? ... like some homes do in America... and there is a large faucet, but you can move it around so it's more like a sink faucet than a tub faucet. They have two brackets for it, one at the appropriate height for a shower, and a lower one... probably right for sitting beneath. On that note, there is also a plastic stool in there. You see, you're traditionally supposed to sit while you wash. And there is a bowl, which you traditionally fill with water from the tap and pour over yourself to rinse. I tried that, but it's difficult to get all of the soap out of my hair, so I just use the nozzle. ^_^
Along one side of the room (in this case, the left side), there is the tub. It has a nice cover on it when not in use.
I took a photo of this, but there was no water in the o-furo, so I decided to wait until I can get a photo of the real setup.
After a little while, my host-father brought my luggage upstairs. I felt so bad for him because he had to haul all of my heavy things up the stairs... up lots of stairs. And, they are narrow, curving stairs, and he had to keep his balance too. I was very impressed with his ability to do all of that.
I am getting sleepy now, and my memory is fading.
So sometime after this, it was time for dinner. There was lots of food and my host mother wanted to give me more and more and more. ^_^
I tried many things and loved all of them, naturally. I don't remember the names of anything though. :-(
Also, the dinner was extra special because my host father had gone fishing earlier in the day and caught many fish that we had for dinner. I think that was really neat, and an excellent first dinner. ^_^
Oh... something interesting, my host family put mayonaise on their zushi (ok, so I remembered one name). I was not surprised by this, but I had not expected it.
After dinner I was getting sleepy. It was around 8 or 9 o'clock though (and 4 or 5 am back home). I "entered the o-furo" (ofuro ni hairu). It was fun. There is a mirror on the wall in the room and I think that's nice. I can see myself for cleaning my hair or my face or my back.
It was after my bath that I asked my host mother for some water, like I mentioned in a previous post. After receiving some water, Eriko came downstairs and found an American movie for me. It was AI - such a good film. ^_^
I watched it for perhaps 30 minutes but I was so exhausted that soon I said oyasumi-nasai and went to bed. I tried to write a post in bed, but as I said, I couldn't keep my eyes open, litereally!
And now it is again very late, so I will go to bed and write about today tomorrow.
Oyasumi!