Say Hello to my Little Friend

Today is a good day. To begin with, it seems like Spring is finally about to arrive. Walking home from school, I enjoyed a beautiful blue sky with about 18c in the air! I can't wait until April when the Sakura trees will begin their blooming.

The second reason is that I finally got a perfect score on a kanji test in school. Memorizing them is truly a pain in the rear for a poor little European kinpatsu otokonoko like me, especially when we get 6 new ones each day... and considering they all have at least two pronunciations depending on which word they are used in, it becomes somewhat of a hassle to learn them!

The third, and most obvious reason for this day being counted as a good one is: My best friend from back home has finally left the evil clutches of the Jante-society that most people call Sweden, and is in this typing moment on his way to Asia. You can all follow his journey HERE.

My new tin can

So after two painful days of packing, cleaning and signing papers (sounds easy enough, but then again you haven't been subjected to Japanese beaurocracy) I've finally made it to my new place. This place is situated right beside the Kanda River (which actually flows a few metres away from my window!) in Nakano Sakaue, a district near Nishi-Shinjuku. It's about 20.000 Yen more expensive than my old place in Matsudo, but this place has the invaluable location: 10 minutes to Shinjuku Station, by foot! Some people would trade both of their legs to be able to walk to Shinjuku station! I really like this place. (Videos available at the end of this post)

The immediate neighbourhood is has that classic japanese feeling with low-level buildings packed together, forming small narrow streets in between. Add the aforementioned river, and wait for ｓpring to bring the Sakura into bloom and you have your ideal living place. However, craziness is only 10 minutes east from here. The Shinjuku centre!

When living in Matsudo I spent about 90 minutes on the train every day, counting both coming-and-going from school. Now I have the luxary of being able to walk to school! It takes about 25 minutes, depending on how many Japanese people are getting in my way.

The company which owns this building is Sakura House, probably one of the largest guesthouse companies in Japan. They, as the rest of the companies in Japan, are a big fan of paperwork. I think I spent two hours filling out information at their office before they gave me my keys. Then I got this funny little Japanese dude talking to me about the furniture in the room, and if I were to break anything I'd have to pay for it: Then I, being a fan of sarcasm, said something in the lines of "So if I take the chair and throw it through the window and down to the street I have to pay for it?" with a smile, the poor guy got all nervous and said "Yes... well, no... please call and inform us before you do that" and that's when I remembered that sarcasm is one of two "Japanese cryptonites", the other one being liquorice. (I told you about that before, didn't I?).

Anyway, I love my new tin can! I live right next to the kitchen/living room too! And wheras my view in Matsudo brought forth mental imagery of post-war Berlin, my current view is downtown Shinjuku!

Beats Matsudo

A big difference with this place is that it's crowded with Brits and Americans. Of course, there's plenty of Korean and Chinese people as well, although the Americans are by far the most prominent. Not because they are *that* many, but they do have the tendency to be utterly loud. And as we all know, God is an American so that's just their way of being. They're cool people though, and I'm not one to be bothered by noise. Oh! And today I found out that there's a Lawson 100 right next to the guesthouse! Lawson 100 is a supermarket where every item costs only 100 Yen (One dollar/9SEK approximately). Awesome!


What else what else... ah, going to Roppongi again today! We had the best time last weekend so we decided to go there again. We've found a very good formula to party there for a very cheap price (Roppongi actually has a reputation of being extremely expensive, which it actually is to the average tourist). I mean, most clubs have an entrance fee of 3000-5000 Yen (About 300-500 SEK) and that will only get you *inside* the club, which is usually extremely packed with people to the limit where you can't move. Add to that ridiculously overpriced alcohol and you have Roppongi in a nutshell =) Then you have the hostess clubs (also known as "Gentlemens' clubs". These places are usually frequented by tourists with thick wallets and a strong scent of desperation.

None of that! The magic word is... "Don Quiote!" ;) When you guys get to Tokyo we'll show you how to have a long, great and surprisingly cheap Roppongi experience! (Batteries not included)

Video 1 (Room)
Video 2 (Also room...)

And I just couldn't resist posting this video of "Suteki da ne?". There are not many people in this world with the voice of Rikki!

Level-Up

So I'm officially old now.

Even though I went to school completely without my birthday in mind, apparently my classmates found out about and decided to embarrass me throughout the day ;)

First the Swedish people gathered around my desk and sang Happy Birthday (The Swedish version) and moments later, the koreans started singing the korean version. Jack had bought me some strange Pokémon-themed candy, as well as some other stuff. Halfway through the day two korean girls gave me a strawberry cake and a chocolate pudding-like thing.

My classmates had also planned to go out to a korean restaurant during the day to celebrate with some good food and drinks, but my damn stupidity prevented me from joining. You see, about three weeks ago, I found a new place in Shinjuku which I immediately booked. Little did I know that the moving-in date was February 3rd, my birthday. So as it turns out, I must clean my current room: Floors, ceilings, the air-conditioner, the windows, everything... as well as move all my stuff to Shinjuku. Normally I'd postpone it for one day, but if I do that I have to pay rent for ANOTHER MONTH (which is about 56.000Yen, or 5.400SEK) so I'd rather skip my birthday.
Anyway, I'm glad I have such great friends who wanted to make my birthday a big deal ^_^

Some of my presents! The corn-like candy is actually reserved for February 3rd here in Japan. It is an old japanese tradition to throw them on people wearing a certain demonic mask. I don't know that much about the tradition, but it sure was fun to see the teacher throw a bunch of corn at Markus, who was the victim and had to wear the mask throughout the whole class.

Also there have been quite a lot of earthquakes recently; One of which caused a volcano north of Tokyo to erupt, spreading its ashes all the way down here. Now everyone's kind of waiting for a similar earthquake to piss Mt. Fuji off, triggering an eruption and thus ending her 300-year-long slumber.

Japan's volcanoes. As you can see, there's quite a lot of them. And nearly all of these bastards are alive and kicking.

I'm just glad that I'm moving out of this house, which has clearly been built with wet cardboard and ductape. Now that I'll be living in my new Shinjuku place, I might actually even survive 'The Big One' when it inevitabily comes knocking.

Alrighty then... I'm already behind schedule so I can't afford to spend more time on this post; I have to get this room good and clean so that I'll get back my 20.000Yen deposit tomorrow when I turn in the lobby keycard and room keys.