Sunday 30 September 2007

4 Months In Japan and a Backpack

The time has gone quickly and it's hard to believe that I have been here as long as I have. It's now twice the amount of time I have been overseas previously.

No signs of homesickness yet. Japan is a cool place to live. The only thing I can really complain about is the monotony and crowding of the trains.

Instead of catching the express trains, I sometimes just stay on the all-stops to have a seat to sit on, and the timing isn't that much longer anyway.

Today was a very lazy day. It's been raining and neither of us was in the mood to go out. I watched "Superbad" last night until 3:30pm. As my eyes couldn't stay open, I called it a night and watched the rest this morning.

A very funny movie. Destined to be a classic for sure.

Later, we went to Shinjuku. I wanted to buy another bag. My old Contiki bag is starting to get a few holes and I think it needs to be retired before my iPod or something falls out.

I had seen a huge bag for 1050 yen at the Sanpei discount store, which is really, really cheap. Gf thought it was way too big, which it was, but it was cheap!

I laboured over making a decision which one to get. I settled on a nice looking backpack for 1290 yen. It was a little smaller than the other one I had in mind, but it had a few extra compartments I can use.

We crossed the road to Kinokuniya book store and I picked up a map of ALL the train lines in the Greater Tokyo area, surprisingly including little ol' Keikyu Tomioka.

It said 250 yen on the package, but when I paid for it, the cashier gave me 1 yen back. Huh?

I have a copy of Guitar Pro 5 for my Mac. I have used this program on a PC before and it's a great way to learn tabs. One of my goals here is to also become a better guitar player. Er, and maybe learn a little Japanese as well sometime.

2 comments:

purestateofmine said...

wowo... what a decision to be out there and survive... so far so good... i have the same perspective as you... wanted to out on my own... and JAPAN is one of the place i want to find out more... the culture, people and especially the fashion and design sense... I'm actually a designer... struggling for space and creative support... but i'm getting no where here...

well hope you can tell me more about the living in Japan...

;0)
niki

Jimmy In Japan said...

I sometimes wish I could speak the language, but it's not as essential as you might think.

I seem to have gotten by alright.

If you're thinking of coming to Japan, I say go for it! You have nothing to lose, right?

Japanese people are definitely open to western fashion. You might want to look at Shibuya or Harajuku, the more youth-orientated fashion areas of Tokyo.

You will definitely have a unique experience.

I have no idea when I'm going back to Australia. You will never see your home country the same way again.

Thanks for reading my blog Niki.