Orientation week

Mar 31

From now on I will probably make a post once every week or so, and the content will be snippets from my personal daily notes and some funny photos. Enjoy!

月曜日・Monday

Running fingers. — I was actually on time and didn't need to run like this fellow.

First day of school. This week, we will have an intense Japanese language course, and some other introduction events. The art classes will start a few weeks later.

I already got to know some nice people in the class. We hung out with M and A after school and went to eat not-so-great & expensive Indian in Hashimoto. I felt happy to make friends.

In the evening I was trying to make a Japanese phone contract, again. I need it to use the city bikes, to get packages delivered etc. I’ve been trying different companies and I always almost have it, but then there’s another hoop I should jump through and can’t. And again, I couldn’t do it. Sigh.

For some reason, this evening is the first time I would’ve really needed a hug and somebody to hold me and say it’s going to be ok.

Why today of all days? Shouldn’t I be happy that school started and that I started to make some friends already? Is it all just becoming real now, that I’m here for some time? Am I letting go of my survivor mode since I met nice people, and now I’m starting to feel the stress I’ve actually been feeling the whole time? Or am I scared, because for the first time I have something to lose here - the friends I hope I made?

I’m not sure. But I could use that hug.

火曜日・Tuesday

Delicious fruity breakfast. — Somebody asked me what do I eat here. So here's my beautiful breakfast. Similar to what I eat in Finland, but here I use almond or soy milk. And the fruits are actually tasty.

Second day of the language course. It is quite intense indeed, a lot of topics covered really quickly. And even though they are familiar to me, I felt quite tired today. And somehow uninterested in talking with people. It’s silly, I don’t have that luxury here, and should definitely be interested in everybody now. But maybe it’s just the intensity of the first days.

I do realise that I already quite like some people just based on a few meetings. It makes me simultaneously nervous and excited.

Delicious lunch. — Aaand here's the lunch. Some delicious sesame udon. The school lunches are really cheap and tasty, this cost like 2.50 euros.

Toilet trivia. — On the topic of food, this is a トイレ at the uni. Guess how to flush it!

水曜日・Wednesday

Sewer cover. — Today I realised that the manhole covers have really beautiful patterns that are different in each part of Tokyo.

Third and last day of language course. I hung out after school with L and R, we went to check some second hand shops in 橋本 (Hashimoto). I didn’t really find anything and was feeling a bit hungry and thirsty, and low energy. But then I bought a snack and immediately felt better. I should always carry snacks with me, they are so cheap and healthy here - I love buying 🍙 from the konbinis.

Also, I finally managed to make a phone contract! Wohoo! So I should be able to start using the city bikes now. Double wohoo!!

木曜日・Thursday

Beautiful book. — I came by this Japanese-bound book and cover box in a workshop at school. It's the most beautiful thing I saw in a while. I spoke with one of the workshop people, and they might be able to teach me to bind things like this. Wow.

Today I biked to school from the nearest train station! Because guess what, I have a Japanese phone number so I can use the city bikes. Hahahaa!

We got a generic intro to the university in the morning and after lunch we went for a walk in 県立津久井湖城山公園 (Tsukuiko-Shiroyama park) with some fellow students. It was my suggestion - somebody in my house had recommended it to me, that there were beautiful sakura trees there. And it was just 30 min away from uni.

Well, the walk in the park turned out to be kind of a hike up a long hill. Slightly unexpected. Aaand we took some adventure routes - the alternative was the boring route and who’d take that anyway. We were a cozy group of 5 people, MtRLPJ. People seemed to enjoy it, even though P was complaining half of the time, but she said she wasn’t serious, it just seemed to give her energy. So it was all good.

Anyway, the day was very pretty and warm. We visited some beautiful shrines and saw nice views from the top of the hill.

Sakura stop. — We arrived at the bus stop next to the park and saw this. Not too shabby.

A field of flowers. — Yellow flowers on a yellow day.

Table and friends. — There were tables for (lunch) breaks. From left to right: R, Mt and P.

Haiku station. — I quite liked this concept. "Take a pencil and a paper and write a haiku in the park."

Temple. — Visiting a temple at the very top of the hill.

Route. — Some of the routes were fairly adventurous for a chill day walk in a park.

Looking. — Heading back to the bus stop.

On the way back R was trying to talk to me on the bus, but I was nervous of being loud since there were Japanese people sleeping right next to us. In the end, I acted a bit awkward - I should’ve told her straight up that I prefer not to talk, at least not too loud. The public transport here is

quiet

and I’m still learning what is an acceptable volume and amount of talking.

金曜日・Friday

Today, the university arranged a guided bus city tour for us.

I was quite stressed in the morning, since I had to find the correct exit at 新宿 (Shinjuku) station during the rush hour, and I had like 10 minutes to do it. There were so many people at the station dashing around, that I felt I was in the middle of a motorway with 15 lanes crossing each other. If you are not sure how that looks, just imagine crazy overwhelming organized chaos.

But once I found the bus, and the tour started, it turned out to be an amazing day. We saw many of the famous touristic spots in central Tokyo. Which is great, now I don’t have to see them again lol.

torii. — Entering the 明治神宮 (Meiji shinto shrine). This was probably my favorite destination, it was beautiful.

roofs. — Old buildings and nature don't look too ugly together.

prayers. — People could leave their prayers here.

Second stop, the surroundings of emperor's palace. All the "empty" space in one of the most expensive regions in Tokyo felt like a demonstration of power.

ocean. — Third stop...I think. We also had lunch at some point. But this is the ocean, on an artificial island in southern Tokyo.

fuji. — If this is not dystopic, then I don't know what is.

gundam. — Of course there are giant robots.

view. — Final stop, on top of Tokyo. It's not a smallest city I've lived in.

In the evening, after the tour, most of us went to an izakaya close to Tokyo central station. The staff felt a bit rude, and they threw us out quite soon to make room for customers with deeper pockets. But we just headed to a cozy bar in 新宿 instead. Afterwards I headed home with Mt, and we had a nice chat.

Today I felt I really got closer to many people. So, I’m ending this part of the week with friends: happy and hopeful. A warm feeling.

土曜日・Saturday

laundry. — An improvised solution to drying my bedclothes on a rainy day, while watching a film.

I woke up in the morning and soon realized that I hadn’t talked with anybody in 12 hours. That means that I’m really lonely and all the friends I thought I made are just my imagination.

Yeah, why does my mind do this again? Is my self-esteem lower than I thought?

It’s surprising and strange, like a yo-yo. The down that comes after the up of having so many amazing people around me. Suddenly, every moment without friends feels so long.

I think I’m just hungry for more, since yesterday was so amazing.

In the end, I tried to take this as a recovery day. I did laundry, I went shopping, I relaxed and napped and made food for the next days. I watched Tokyo Godfathers and really liked it. Now I’m charged for more social stuff!

日曜日・Sunday

ueno. — In 上野公園 (Ueno park). Yep, I like taking photos of these cityscapes by water.

Today, I did some more social activities. We visited the national museum with Mt, R and L. We also saw people picniking in 上野公園 under cherry trees. There were probably 2000 people under a single tree, so it didn’t feel like the most relaxing thing to do.

In the evening, I walked around 渋谷 (Shibuya) for the first time, and saw Hachiko and the famous crossing. I was expecting 渋谷 to be quite different, since I know it’s a trendy young area. But it felt very modern, clinical and expensive - I was expecting something closer to Sörnäinen, kind of dirty, old and alternative.

letters. — Saw some second-hand markets in 上野公園. These were for sale. I wonder if Japanese letter-press actually required like 20000 characters.

monkey. — Also came across a monkey performance in the park. It didn't seem particularly vegan.

painting. — I like how they painted mist here. Inside the museum it was like Swedish sauna with +30 C, even though outside was just +10 C. Do Japanese artworks preserve better in the heat?

sakura. — There was a cute little park behind the museum.

busystreet. — A busy street somewhere between 上野 (Ueno) and 秋葉原 (Akihabara).

quietstreet. — A quiet street somewhere between 上野 and 秋葉原.

I felt better after today. It was exciting to see people again and to spend more time in the center.

The fear of an empty calendar

Closing thoughts for the first school week revolve around:

the happiness of already having made friends
the work required for keeping them
the fear of losing them

I think the source of the fear is that we won’t necessarily meet each other again, since there is no common programme anymore. Soon we’ll all have our separate classes in our own majors. And there are some people that I would really like to get to know better, but I’m not sure how to approach them without being pushy.

That’s the exciting and nerve-wrecking part right now. Understanding who I want to be friends with. And who would want to be my friend. And then trying to do something about it, and match these things as much as I can, without ruining anything by doing too much.

Such is life. Scary and happy.