EPTIt has been slightly more than one week since I arrived in Japan. Japan, as a country, it is most often associated with its capital city – Tokyo, but this is not where I came to. After arriving in Tokyo Narita airport, I, along with my girlfriend and another exchange student, took a bus to Haneda airport, and got onto an ANA flight to New Tottori City.
New Tottori City is consisted of Koyama and Tottori, and our university, Tottori University, is located in Koyama, very close to the airport. In fact, our dormitory, the International House, is about a ten-minute walk from the airport.
Koyama is a very small city. Much like Waterloo, Koyama’s existence is mostly due to the university. The university is very small and has only four faculties, and it is the smallest national university in Japan. I came on this exchange mostly for the cultural immersion, and so far, I think Tottori is a good place for this purpose. The people in the university are extremely helpful, even though most of them speak no English, and I speak next-to-nil Japanese.
Culture Shock…
Before my arrival in Japan, I didn’t think the entire country would be blasted with free wi-fi, but I also didn’t anticipate obtaining Internet would be difficult in any way. The dorms are not equipped with Internet, and we have to contact ISPs personally to get connected, and it can take up to one month for the connection to be established. As well, in our University, there are only a handful of spots where wi-fi is available, and this makes connecting to the Internet relatively difficult.
In Tottori, bicycles are the main method of travelling. There are probably as many bicycles as people. Their bicycles are generally old and barely functional, and they are used purely for commute, and nothing more; people don’t care about the colour, the size, or the target gender, as a result, some people look pretty funny on certain bikes.
Tottori is a city that rains every other day, as a result, umbrellas are extremely common. Just like the bicycles, people take very little notice of others’ umbrellas. The most common ones, used by both guys and girls, are the transparent type. It is very strange seeing guys walking underneath them.
Skinny jeans are loved by everyone here. Guys usually pair their skinny jeans with a pair of converse sneakers (also extremely popular) and some sort of blazer with a colourful shirt inside (purple and pinks are by far the most popular type); whereas girls usually choose a blouse with laces for tops. Majority of the Japanese girls I have seen are pretty ugly, but there are definitely hot ones if you are into the doll-looking types of girls.
UPS trucks are green! They are the ugliest trucks in this part of town. Losing their traditional brown colour, they have taken colours of green and yellow. Not saying that brown was a better colour, but this new combination is outstandingly ugly -.-
Cost of living in Tottori is “low” according to the Japanese locals, comparatively to Tokyo and Osaka. In Tottori, everything is about the same as North America. Meat is particularly expensive, beef and pork can go up to 1-2$ per 100 g (so…4.5 – 10$ a pound). In Japan, in addition to sushi, they have this thing called a bento box (or o-bento) that is very popular. A bento box usually consists of a portion of rice, some form of meat or fish, and some vegetables. A box usually go from 4-6$ depending on its contents and size. I don’t actually know how much Japanese people eat, but I could honestly eat 2-4 boxes per meal no problem. I find myself constantly hungry since I arrived in Japan. Perhaps it’s because of the culture shock, but more likely, it’s because of the difference in diets (I eat lots of meat, and they eat lots of fish -.-). Luckily, a lot of foods go on sale after 7 PM, and they go for half price. Shopping after 7 has become a habit already.
On Tuesday, my girlfriend and I took the train from Koyama (our city) to Tottori City (sort of downtown of New Tottori City). It was a sunny day, and we walked along the main bridge in Tottori City, called Hana-mi-bashi (Flower-See-Bridge). Along the bridge, there are countless Sakura trees; some of their pedals were still falling. It was a beautiful sight. We also went to a department store in Tottori City, I would classify its level to somewhere between Macys and Bloomingdale’s (so maybe Nordstrom). Coach is fucking unbelievably expensive in Japan. When I was in New York, I always thought Coach as something only spoiled teenagers would use, and people with real jobs would get something from Burberry, Fendi, Gucci, LV, Prada, etc. However, in Japan, Coach is maybe slightly more expensive than all the aforementioned brands (whereas in NA, probably 1/3 – ½ of the price). If you ever come to Japan, and want to impress Japanese girls, get some Coach, ASAP!
Vending machines are actually everywhere in Japan. From what I heard, it requires a nuclear power plant to generate the energy needed by all of Japan’s vending machines. The vending machines sell a variety of goods. Hot and cold drinks (from the same machine) are most common, obviously. Some of the odd ones I have seen include cigarettes (never) and ice cream (rare in NA). It is indeed very strange because there is an age limit for purchasing cigarettes (20), yet they sell them in vending machines (you don’t need to scan ID or anything, just pop in the coins).
Question to TL…
Golden week is coming up, and all of my Profs have been encouraging me to take some time off and travel. Tottori is relatively close to Hiroshima, Kyoto and Osaka, and I plan to visit one of those cities. If you have suggestions (regarding those cities, or in general), I am all ears!
