Connected At Last

8/11/09

Today I was determined to get on the internet, no matter what it took. Being cut off from the web for a whole week was so strange, almost a form of torture, but I suppose it was good for me to be fully focused on adjusting to life in Japan for the first week. I had been building up to today, knowing that I was going to have to take the bus across town to get to the internet café. Andy and I had taken the bus once before to get to the same area, to go to Nitori. Nitori is the closest thing we have found to a Target here, and we feel very at home walking down the aisles there. Nitori sells all your basic housewares: bedding, kitchen wares, curtains, and even furniture. I would actually liken the second floor of the store to an Ikea. Upstairs you can amble around the giant space looking at living room and bedroom replicas set up with Nitori’s couches, beds, and cabinets. You can move from model room to model room and imagine each one as a possibility for your own home. This kind of consumerism is a nice escape when you need to zone out. That’s one thing I have in common with the Japanese…. we are all consumers.

Leaving the house I was strangely nervous. I imagined all the worst-case scenarios of the day in my head – getting on the wrong bus, not having the correct change, not being able to communicate where I wanted to go. To boot, I was carrying a giant closet rod, probably 5ft long, that I would attempt to return to Nitori, as it had been to big for our closet. I rehearsed the word for “return” over and over in my head; luckily there was a section in my Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook that addressed this situation. So I walked down to the bus station wielding my weapon-like metal rod and my umbrella (I had gotten rained on the day before and wasn’t about to leave the house unarmed). I had gotten instructions from a worker at the bus station on how to get to the stop closest to Nitori the last time I’d gone, so I planned to follow the same instructions this time. Luckily, within a few minutes after I arrived, the proper bus pulled up and I got on. Having watched several other buses pull in and depart, I realized that the electronic window on the side of the bus actually showed the upcoming stops. I began to realize that I didn’t need to stress out about getting on the exact bus, that any bus that listed my stop would suffice. This made me feel at ease. So at the transfer, I hopped on the first bus that listed my next stop and sure enough, I arrived!

My Nitori return went as smoothly as could be, so again I had no need to worry in the first place. I even asked the clerk, successfully, where I could find the internet café; it’s called Super Freaks. I set out to walk the few blocks between Nitori and Super Freaks and immediately began sweating. It was the first beautiful, sunny day in awhile, and of course I had worn jeans and was still carrying my umbrella. Figures. The only time it rains is when I forget my umbrella.

Super Freaks advertised itself on a giant orange sign, calling out all its amenities: internet café, video game center, karaoke, comic books, movie rentals, and food. I walked in not knowing what to expect and was greeted by a clerk at a counter in the front. To my left was a room lined in glass in which I could see digital dartboards and other arcade games and a sign for karaoke. As I approached the desk, the clerk said something about a membership card and I shook my head. She managed to communicate to me that there was a membership fee, but that once I was a member I could come back anytime and use any of their services. I nodded and she pulled out an application form. Once we managed to fill it out together I indicated that I would like to use the internet and she showed me to a little cubicle that contained a big flat screen monitor, an office chair, and a pair of slippers. She launched Internet Explorer for me, and once I was sure that I could type in English, she stepped out and closed off my cubicle with a small sliding door.

Ahhhhhh, the internet!! Finally! I had been waiting for this moment for so long. It took me a good two hours to check and return all my emails and pay my online bills. After finishing and paying for my time, I wandered back to the bathrooms, and on the way passed rows of private cubicles dedicated to playing video games, watching movies, or reading comic books. How ingenious! I would have loved to have a place like this to come to when I was a teenager.