-
Living Tall in Japan, part 43
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ *sigh* So, as I said yesterday, something terrible happened when I moved into the guest house. I’d moved out partly because I was changing jobs, but mostly because my roommate was absolutely awful. She smothered me, she insisted on smoking in the doorway just to annoy me, when smoking was expressly forbidden in the apartment by our company, and she was even hiding the toilet paper and stealing my food. When I moved out, I was sure that I was rid of her, once and for all. But no. One day, I came into the common room,…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 42
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ So, I finally, finally moved into a new place. It was my first time finding a place to live on my own in Japan, and so painless that I had absolutely no, no, no idea how hard it is or how much it costs to rent an apartment in Japan, doubly so for a foreigner. I had it so easy, and I had no idea! Not that I’m complaining. 😉 As I wrote before, I basically asked my coworkers if they knew where I could look, and they suggested that I ask about the same guest house…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 41
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ JUMP was coming. But first I had to sign my contract for the new job, and then I had to pack up. After work, I rushed over to finish one, and then went over with my friend Andrew to sign up for Japanese lessons. Some wards give free beginning Japanese lessons to foreigners, taught by volunteers, and, well, this was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I had been studying on my own, but it still wasn’t cutting it. Surely, this would help me advance more quickly! And then, the day came. Wednesday, April 27th, 2005.…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 40
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ Oh, JUMP. Jumpy Jump Jump Jump. The publisher of some of my favorite manga of all time– Hunter x Hunter, Prince of Tennis, Death Note… How in the world did I get a chance to tour the JUMP offices, way back in 2005? It was all thanks to my student. 🙂 In NOVA, I had a student named Yuko. She was a higher-level student, with fairly good English, and she caught me drawing. “Wow, you’re really good!” she told me, even though it really wasn’t. It was just a stupid little doodle, some guys from Tenimyu. Yuko…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 39
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ My very first Sakura. To celebrate, I participated in my very first hanami, too. Hanami, or 花見, literally means “flower looking,” and that’s what hanami is. Sit under blooming sakura trees, usually on a tarp, and eat and drink and look up at the pretty flowers. The people that I worked with decided to have an impromptu hanami after work, and I decided to go for it. Who doesn’t love sitting under pretty flowers, even though it’s really, really cold? Tokyo’s weather is really similar to Chicago’s, and in April, it’s very cold still. But it was…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 38
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ The Penis Festival. *coughs* I mean, The Kanamara Matsuri. Kanamara means, um.. literally means “metal penis.” Matsuri means “festival.” So, yeah, Festival of the Metal Penis is what it means, and that’s pretty much what this is. A crapload of people write about this festival, and if you don’t believe me, Google it. Lots and lots. I’ve been twice. Why, you ask? Because, seriously, when else in your life are you going to get a chance to go to a Penis Festival? I am not myself overly fond of that organ, but there are also vaginas paraded…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 37
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ The roommate situation hung in the air, making my home life tenuous at best. Downright frightening at worst. But I didn’t let it stop me from exploring Japan, my new home. Lecherous men on the street, drunk naked boys in karaoke, knife fights on the train, driving cold, not even the awful roommate could diminish my love of the country that spit out all of the manga and anime that I could get my hands on. So, while the roommate situation was still unresolved, I went out and met more cool people. Specifically, Eda and her friends…
-
Living Tall in Japan, omake!
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ Oh no, the Living Tall in Japan series isn’t over yet! Not by a long shot! It’s just that I mentioned that I’d actually had a roommate worse than Cersei in college, and I wanted to talk about that whole experience. It’s a long story, so brace yourself! It’s been more than 10 years, but yanno, the story of Brenda is one that I’m never going to forget. It was the beginning of September, 2001, and I had just started college. I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in an apartment with three guys– my boyfriend Ron (I…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 36
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ Yesterday, I introduced my new roommate, Cersei. Cersei was in her 60s, loved to drink and smoke, and to mother me. She didn’t appear to much like Japan, though. I wasn’t sure why she was here at all, really. Meanwhile, I was sick of living with people whom I had nothing in common with, and I was sick of my job with Nova, so I started asking my coworkers about how to get an apartment of my own, and where to look for other opportunities. There are a ton of websites out there, but I didn’t know…
-
Living Tall in Japan, part 35
☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ A few days ago, I mentioned that we were getting a new roommate at Casa del NOVA. When I’d moved into that company apartment in September 2004, my two roommates, Rachel and Ang, were from Florida and Australia. We didn’t interact all that much, as we had very different interests, it seemed, but that was fine for us and we coexisted on friendly terms. And then, Ang moved back to Perth. Rachel was also leaving, but right before she did, we got a new roommate to fill Ang’s spot, and that was an older lady, whom I…
