April 1-5: Arrived in Tokyo during one of the happiest and most sacred periods of the Japanese year: Sakura Festival and Hanami (cherry blossom blooming). Stayed in Ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn) near Arata Sakamoto’s (family friend) home. Spent a lot of time with Arata and his family, as they helped us settle into Tokyo. We filed for our alien registration cards, bought prepaid cell phones, set up our ATM situations, and de-jetlagged…
April 5: moved into our home in Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Although my roommate Justin and I share a closet sized room, we don’t mind because we live in the best location in the heart of Tokyo!
April 5-12: Spring Break. Settled into our new apartment, went to Japanese “pic-and-saves” and “100 yen stores” to buy our towels, linens, school supplies, kitchen supplies, etc. Bought used bikes and expanded our mobility in the city. Met a new friend (now one of our best) Kanjin Ogawa, a Japanese-American guy from UC Santa Barbara who has already been studying at Sophia University for a semester. Kanjin has been a great help showing us the city: like bars where you can get $ 1.00 beers and teaching me good Japanese pick-up lines (like anata wa kire: you are beautiful, and amerika ja zettai moteru no yo ne: you would be super popular in America). During this time before school started, we had picnics under the Sakura (cherry) blossoms, sang some karaoke, and drank with Japanese “sararimen” aka suited salarymen. Also, I found a hotel that was converted into a skateramp, art gallery, and bar, and I made friends with many Japanese skateboarders.
April 13: started Spring Semester at Sophia University, a “Japanese Ivy League” Jesuit university in central Tokyo. I am taking three economics classes and one Japanese language class.
April 13-30: continued classes Monday through Friday at Sophia. My economics classes, though interesting, are relatively easy. However my Japanese class is insanely and unreasonably difficult. From Monday through Friday, 90 minutes per day, I am learning Japanese. In the first 4 days of class we were required to learn the entire 52 character Japanese Alphabet of Hiragana. In the next four days of class we were required to learn Katakana, another 52 character Japanese Alphabet for western (roman) words. At first I was having a lot of trouble and I went to every office in the university searching for a way to drop the class. But now I have stopped whining and am enjoying the challenge and benefit of studying Japanese for over 3 hours a day. I can now write some text messages (in Japanese) to my friends and am starting to communicate more in Japanese.
Today is May 1, 2009, the beginning of the Japanese Golden Week: a time where a series of holidays form a week long vacation for the Japanese. Tomorrow Arata-san and his family are graciously taking Justin and I to the mountain town of Nikko, near Mt. Fuji. There we will stay at a Japanese Ryokan (traditional Inn) and sip sake in onsens (natural hot springs) overlooking the beautiful landscape. Believe me, I am not complaining one bit!
I apologize for flooding you all with extensive rantings about my life in Japan. Please delete this from your inbox if you have no interest, and I will not be- offended. These writings are equally for my own benefit as they are to share with my loved ones.
I would love to hear from you all soon. Domo Arigato Gozaimashta.
Love,
Ajay
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1 comment:
Ajay,
I hope you remember me. I am a good friend of your mom and dad. I have met you many times, the latest one at your or Tara's graduation party (that is a senior moment not to remeber the exact event). I love your writing. I also enjoy your stories about your day-to-day experince in Tokyo. I spent 2 weeks in Tokyo, visitng when we were in Saudi Arabia. Have fun. Be carefull with those japanese girls. They can be very aggrerssive especially with a handsome, Indian Irish American!
Sharan Nandi
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