Tonight Tomo and I went to dinner at “La Table” by Joel Robuchon here in Nagoya. “La Table” in Tokyo is a Michelin one star restaurant but I don’t think it has any stars here in Nagoya. It doesn’t matter. It is nice to be able to walk to such a fine restaurant. I’m really enjoying the urban lifestyle although I’m not sure my wallet enjoys it so much. We started with champagne, had a nice white with our appetizers, and then a fine red for the mains. I chose the lower price Menu de Saison, while Tomo opted without any shyness for the Menu de something. Since we are not really foodies, I didn’t take any pictures or notes, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was really our first celebration dinner here. Yum! It was nice!
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Well, it’s here. The rainy season, accompanied by hot and humid temperatures has arrived. I was hoping that if it finally started to rain today, the air would cool down. Nope. It just made it worse. Sticky, sticky.
That’s all. For those that know hot and humid Japanese weather, you can understand. You can imagine how comfortable the fast walks from the office to the train station are, the walks through the station, etc. But anyway, that’s part of the adventure, right?
Starting to get to the details
I had a Saturday off! Thursday my boss told me to take Saturday off. Can I argue with that? This time I quickly said, “OK†and took today off. Well, I mean, it IS the weekend after all. I got to catch up with a few people in the morning and then sleep a little bit more. It was so nice to sleep in. Having a two day weekend is kind of like what a three day weekend feels like. I still have all day tomorrow!
First of all, I wasn’t anywhere near the 7.0 earthquake in northern Japan. Don’t worry about me there.
The couch arrived with no complications. It is bigger in the apartment than it was in the store. It is fine – no problem there. It is rather modern. Low and square. It fits the apartment. Some might find the apartment a little cold but I like it. Just need to get some black and white photos on the wall to dress it up a little bit.
As for my monitor and printing … I can happily say that my 23 inch Apple monitor is so darn close to the color test card that I really don’t need to update the color profile. Yeah! We’ll see how the black and white come out but I suspect they should be good.
Today was spent looking for more things I think I need in the apartment. First and foremost on the list were toiletries. I needed shampoo, toothpaste, and shaving cream. I have determined that I have very extreme brand loyalty. If I find something I like I just don’t deviate. At all. I brought two brand new tubs of Sebastian Molding Mud with me so I wouldn’t run out. Unfortunately L’Occitane in Japan does not sell shaving cream. Arm and Hammer do not seem to be present in the dental market here. And you can forget the usual shampoo. I think I shopped for about 1 hour in a specialty store just trying to find the things that I buy without even a thought in the US. Try to find deodorant in Japan. I don’t think I have!
I got a little seat for my shower / tub. Very Japanese. On the weekends I can take a leisurely shower sitting as if I’m at an onsen. It is really quite effective. If I did that on weekdays I’d never make the train. I also got a humidity gauge and thermometer for my office. It gets hot in here and so I’m trying to determine if I should turn on the AC. I bought lots of little things to help organize the office (mail sorter, coin boxes, bookends, …) I added coffee mugs and some placemats and coasters to the kitchen. And I finally bought another light! It is very simple. An aluminum ring with a white globe. Muji of course. I’ll buy one more light for the guest room. I need to decide what to get. Hopefully tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Well, I’m out of energy. Maybe more tomorrow.
Would someone please take my money?
Busy, busy day today. I started my “Alien Registration Card†process today with help from an Office Assistant at work. Things went quite smoothly for which I am grateful. I registered at the Ward (Naka-ku) administration building and then we went to Immigration to get a re-entry permit. When I was living in Mito I neglected to do that which caused some problems and made me get multiple gaijin cards (or Alien Registration Card). The staff was courteous and efficient at both locations. There’s no sneaking through the system now.
Unfortunately, sandwiched between the Naka-ku office and Immigration was a frustrating attempt to open a bank account. We went to three banks, and each had a reason for turning me down – some faster than others. UFJ barely let us in the door. I had to have a 判㓠(hanko), which is a personal seal or a stamp. And then I needed to be living in Japan for 6 months. The post bank said a signature was fine, but after we got the paper work filled out they were unsatisfied with my passport and declared a need for my alien registration card. Sigh. SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) were much friendlier and explained that I need both a Hanko and my alien registration card. But they were helpful and friendly. So once I fulfill all my requirements they will get my business and probably the rest of the company’s business since the Office Assistant went through all of this with me.
As always, an adventure is life. I shouldn’t let these difficulties frustrate me so much. But that’s easier said than done.
On a good note, I got a ton done in my apartment. I have destroyed the cardboard boxes now. I have drapes up everywhere as well. Tomorrow I might take a break, but Thursday I should do dishes and get the office set up with my new monitor yeah! More pictures to come!
Back from Germany
I had a successful but whirlwindish trip to Germany. I spent Friday morning and early afternoon just hanging out in Heidelberg, walking around the city, taking a boatride, and having lunch. Then, of course, I had to begin my travel excursion. My plane was very late leaving Frankfurt for Paris due to weather at CDG. When we arrived it was about 20 deg colder than Heidelberg and I had 25 minutes for my connection. An Air Chance (France) agent met me at the stairwell. Yes, it was a walk off the plane on to the tarmac and into a bus kind of situation. So we’re standing out with the sideways rain, the roar of jet engines around us, and she’s yelling, “Tokyo? Hong Kong? Buenos Aires?†It was like a scene from a movie. She shuttled us to the confusing terminals (made complicated by the collapse of a wall a few years ago and the resulting repair work http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/28/europe/cdg.php ) and informed us that our flight was delayed by 30 minutes. Still, me and another guy ran to our gate, through immigration and security. We made it to confirm that the flight was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Once we finally got going we were running about 2 hours late. Instead of arriving at 6:00 pm I would be arriving at 8:00 pm on Saturday. Narita is one hour from Tokyo by train. That meant that the train schedule had to be perfect for me to catch the last 新幹線 (shinkansen) to Nagoya at 10:00 pm. We landed at 7:51 pm and I was through immigration, baggage claim, and customs by 8:15 pm. HOW DO THEY DO IT?!? Amazing! There was one train to Tokyo that I could take at 8:45 pm to catch my train to Nagoya. I got home no problem and was quite glad to see my hotel room.
Sunday was a non-work work day since we had a community function that we sponsored. As a result, we were somewhat obligated to go. It was fine.