So, Here We Go!

Day 1 – 8/3/09

So here I sit, on the floor of my Japanese apartment in Hacninohe, in the northernmost region of the big island of Honshu, Japan. I just put my first load of laundry in the Japanese washing machine…. it’s making the strangest noise; it literally sounds like someone is hand washing my clothes in a tub of water with a soap board next to me. I’m praying that I pushed all the right buttons and that the machine doesn’t revolt against me or my laundry.

I’m a little frazzled from my full day of travel yesterday: a 10+ hour flight from LAX to Tokyo’s Narita airport; a 1-hour train ride on the Narita Express to Tokyo Station; then a 3 and a half hour bullet train up to Hachinohe. Needless to say I was and still am exhausted. My anxiety about navigating several forms of Japanese public transport once I arrived had kept me from some much-needed shut-eye on the plane. Luckily everything seemed to go rather smoothly. Tokyo’s not so hard to get around, but the further and further you get away from Tokyo, the fewer and fewer English translations there are to guide you.

Andy met me at Hachinohe station at 10:17pm (trains arrive and depart EXACTLY on schedule here) and we hopped in a taxi back to the apartment. Andy pulled out what he refers to as his “idiot card”, which is just a piece of paper with his name, address and telephone number written in Japanese, and handed it to the driver. The cab driver had a little trouble figuring out where we were headed despite his handy little touch screen navigation system, so he had to consult another cabby quickly before we were on our way.

Andy had picked up a few things to nibble on once we got to the apartment; a sushi sampler, some self-cook yakitori and gyoza and of course a couple of Sapporo tall boys from the nearby Kon-bi-ni (Convenient store). There were a couple of questionable varieties in the sushi sampler, including nato, which is chopped up fermented soy benas and smells like dirty feet. We both passed. Most Americans do not have a taste for the stuff, and even those who have been here awhile and have mastered Japanese cuisine otherwise often don’t come around to appreciate nato.

The laundry machine just beeped and everything seems to have gone as planned….of course there’s no dryer, so everything has to be hung around the apartment. I’ll be weaving in and out of hanging boxer briefs for the next couple of hours.

Our apartment is small, but nowhere near the uninhabitable little pillbox I had imagined. It’s actually two floors: kitchen,



living room,



shower room



and toilet



on the first floor (the toilet seat is heated!), and two tatami style rooms (with straw floor mats) connected by sliding screens on the top floor. When the dividers between the upstairs rooms are opened up, the space becomes somewhat of a master suite. We’ve essentially made one room the bedroom and one the closet, to my satisfaction.

The apartment gets a lot of light compared to some Japanese houses I’ve been in. Any of the windows can be opened up to just a screen, and there’s a nice breeze that comes through from the upstairs hall window. This window is by far the best spot in the house. On a clear day, if you gaze at the horizon, you can see ocean! Yes, the ocean! Our humble little apartment has an ocean view! We’re up on a hill, so there’s a great spread of city below us that provides a nice panorama as well.

Today I met Andy at the high school where he will be teaching, Hachinohe High (Hachiko for short). It’s about a 10 minute walk, just down the hill from our place. The grounds are beautiful; it almost feels like a small college campus. The office workers and teachers I met were so thrilled to be meeting Andy’s wife they could hardly contain themselves. I was immediately told how cute and good at Japanese I was and promptly handed a cup of coffee and a cookie.

That's Andy on the left in his "Cool Biz" attire.