Don't buy milk, it doesn't save!

That is what I read on some girl's purse on the subway the other day.  Just one example of the many ridiculously funny things you can find here. Japanese writers create these phrases and words with the intention of making them meaningful and thoughtful. Whether it's a literal translation of Japanese or an attempt at writing from scratch, they think that this "Engrish" really means something deep and profound when really it makes absolutely no sense. It's fantastic.  See attached pictures for more belly laughing opportunities.

  

So...life in Japan. The only word I can come up with to describe life here as opposed to the United States is just--different. Sure, all cities are essentially the same...pavement, lights, tall buildings.  But add in a culture that is a 180 degree flop from what I've known and been living in my whole life and the result is something different.
A few oddities include:

-heated toilet seats that talk to you while you do your business and equipped with a bidet and high speed fan

-an unhealthy obsessive fetish of all things "cute." and that's an understatement

-no piece of fruit in the supermarket is under $2 a piece yet fish can be bought for .75

-the most polite and eager-to-help people this side of the Ritz

-fashion expression that would put the 60's, 70's, and 80's to shame

-sushi for .95 a plate (should be considered the 8th Wonder of the World)

-one balcony for every single apartment in the city for the purpose of drying laundry as dryers are rare and expensive

-one of the easiest ways for a foreigner to get arrested and kicked out of the country is to steal a bike which are commonly left unlocked on the streets

-no shame in any job whatsoever...example: young Japanese girl outside the busy Yokohama Station promoting a bar and wearing a full-head-covering mask shaped like a beer can

-public drinking and drunkenness allowed

-if you heard Japan was expensive, you heard right

-despite boasting those helpful people, sometimes it only applies if you ask for the help first; they claim they are so "shy" that they avoid helping a mother on an escalator carrying a crying baby, a carseat, and several bags of groceries for fear that their offer of assistance might get turned down

-a society so conscientious of not bothering others around that talking on cell phones is banned on public transportation, no washing machines can run after 10pm and all trains stop running at midnight despite the booming profit they could make leaving them running until clubs and bars close

-as wonderfully efficient as almost everything is here, a post system that is most inefficient I have ever experienced in that they will not deliver your mail if you are not home to answer the door even though the mail box is right next to the call box

-communication for simple things like directions or shopping are reduced to single key words, hand gestures, and grunts. And you can forget about normal conversation

-and even though they stop running at midnight, trains that arrive every 5 minutes and at the time posted on the board, on the dot


And as for work, my first three weeks at my company have nothing less than eventful. The students, adults and kids, are great and I really enjoy teaching them. Some of them are hilarious, intentionally and unintentionally. But, if you haven't heard, Nova is under some financial scrutiny and things like people getting paid late, not getting paid at all, and being evicted from company-run apartments are
all too common and far too nerve-racking for me to just sit and wait it out. I have been searching and applying for new teaching jobs at other companies here, most with better reputations than mine. I just need to get through the interviewing process. I have already found
another apartment independent of Nova and plan to move there at the end of October in Fujisawa, about twenty minutes south of where I am now and closer to the beach. I think I'm moving in with two friends of mine along with another already living in the apartment--all guys. The plan is to share my room with one of them to split the cost of rent and save money for a few months since funds are low right now. Could be fun or could be really inconvenient to share a room with a guy...hopefully it's the former. And apparently, it's almost impossible for foreigners to find and rent apartments here since Japanese think all Americans are gun-carrying, burger-eating pigs and the down payments and first payment of four month's rent are exorbitant so I really lucked out with the connections I've been able
to make.

Clearly, all this has tested my sanity and independence further than I ever expected when moving here and I've considered picking up and moving back to Boston a bunch of times since coming. But I think that I definitely haven't seen all that Japan has to offer and so I plan on doing what I can to stay here.