It has been approximately a month since the plane landed in Narita, and I can definately say that the novelty of Japan has worn off. But before I get to that....its only necessary to talk about the weeks since arriving on my island. Mid-August I had the best 26 hours ever. One of my favorite people EVER (my sensei from gtown, who I can not explain in words how amazing she is), Tsujioka-sensei, was in town in Osaka visiting her family etc. Osaka is south of tokyo, north of hiroshima. Not really in the middle. So, I decided to go to Osaka. Now, let me explain something first. Tokyo is in Kanto, an eastern region. And Osaka is in Kansai, a western region (but I really dont think that it is very west). Anyway....I am a "kanto person" so going to kansai is a bit against my beliefs. The kansai/kanto relationship is far from the yankees/red sox, but in my head, I like to think it is the same. When I did arrive in Osaka, I almost cried because there were lights, people under 60, and buildings. In my opinion, there are just as many people in Osaka as tokyo, except there is like half the space. I had a sick time in O-town. Day 2 we went to the aquarium and it was pretty much every man for himself. It was so crowded you had to punch infants out of the way to see the fish. Lets just say we both left injured.
Osaka, amazing as it was, had to end. It is mad easy to get to. An hour bus ride and an hour bullet train, and then Osaka! Unfortunately the next day, I was forced to spend a week from hell in a little area called SAIJYO. We were told we were going to a city. We were greatly let down. How to explain. Britney Spears wrote a song: "Not a girl, not yet a woman." Saijyo then would be, "Not inaka, not yet a city." They stuck us in some building on the top of a mountain. It was white. With white walls. It was an asylum. They forced us to take Japanese classes. I bitched the whole time. In fact, its been two weeks, and I am still bitching about this experience. If we were late, in the halls, or not where we were supposed to be in terms of the schedule, a curly haired woman would come and warn you. We had to take surveys of Japanese people, and my friend and I did one about the Inaka (country side). And pretty they said its boring. And to make friends, you should give them vegitables. Yeah, no. (Consequently someone at work gave me cucumbers when I got back. Does that mean we are friends now?). The photo on the right is from a fieldtrip into the area where we saw traditional japanese houses (aka, really nice show houses of rich people).
When my train left Saijyo friday afternoon, I was so happy to be going back to my little island. And the weekend was acutally amazing. There was the end of the summer pirate festival: 水軍祭り. Saturday was full of traditional japanese "pirates" setting off guns that they had to light with matches or what not. But they stood in a row in front of us. Had they messed up in the slightest, I would be dead. Yeah. It was tons of fun, then on saturday we just went to the beach, swam, and saw the boat races. Innoshima definately rocked this weekend. But....
Last week. I finally had it. I bought a car before I got to Japan and it has been sitting in my parking space this whole time. I have no isurance. I have no keys. But its my car. Every week i told them I want my keys. And they smiled and said "no you cant have them you dont have insurance." But its my car. "No you cant have them you dont have insurance." Finally two weeks ago they took me to this guy who is going to transfer the car from the other owner to my name (they were suppsed to do this before, and acted surprised when I wanted to drive my car). Anyway....finally this week, every day I asked them for my keys. Upon speaking with Mrs. Perrone about the situation, she got me all pumped up. Thursday, last week. Before saying hello, I told them "Today I will have my keys, or I will have $2200." By 4:30, I had my keys. Now we might even be able to drive to work. And we got a color printer. Maybe if I keep bitching, we will get a train and a train station.
Since the saijyo experience, I have had the time to think about where I live. I am a city girl. I was not built for this. On my island, there are like one and a half main roads. There are no cafes. The clothing stores sell polyester/fiber glass clothing. The fashion consists of moomoos and plastic slippers. Everyone is either under 10 or over 60. Most people fish, yet there is one fish restaurant on the island. It takes 1-2 hours to get anywhere, and its wicked expensive. This place makes Celebration look like a bustling metropolis. On top of that, we screwed up the internet, so I dont get internet or a real kind of phone and tv service until the 13th, yet the other girl in my building gets it, and I get the bill. I really expected life to be nice after a year of hell at mustard last year. I expected life to be a little more convenient. But, now, the early 930 pm bus from anywhere, is my safe rides. I can't go anywhere, because there is no place to go. Unless they build a train to here, I can't see my feelings toward the island country side changing. I need a city. I would settle for fukuyama. I need Tokyo or Osaka. Or even a suburb. But not this.
On a side note, there are some good things. For one thing, its not as boiling hot as it used to be. I havent had to use the gas to heat my shower water. And now I can tell the difference between when I am sweating and when I am peeing. Before it was too hot to tell. The friends I have are super nice, and make it possible for this lifestyle to happen. I started taking calligraphy at the town center. And the bugs are not as big as they were last week.
So yeah. I am Eva Gabor in Green Acres. I think that I am going to talk to the welding center outside my apartment (that I can always herar every morning), if I can borrow some metal, to start building a train line myself.
Saijyo...is it in Higashi-hiroshima?
Posted by: mio | 09/05/2006 at 12:03 AM
Yes it is. Kind of between fukuyama and hiroshima city.
Posted by: アンちゃん | 09/05/2006 at 07:00 PM
I live in Saijyo.
I am a student of Hiroshima University. :-D
Posted by: mio | 09/05/2006 at 09:00 PM
Oh sweet. We were at the JICA building with the HIP thing. I dont remember. It was up a mountain.
Posted by: アンちゃん | 09/06/2006 at 06:20 AM