September 2000:

It's been nearly two weeks since I arrived in Japan, so I thought I should really get going on this so-called journal. Chris and I had this big plan that we'd put together an online journal when we got to Japan. Well, here's mine. So far, all Chris has is his "page full of cuss words."

Chris was supposed to come with me on the 1st, but instead of sending the paperwork to his home near Orangeville, Ontario, Canada Post sent it to Brampton, and then to British Columbia, and then back to Japan, where it was never seen again. That made things somewhat inconvenient, since it'll be October before Chris gets here and he'll probably lose a month's worth of salary.

But who needs him, anyway. I can have my own fun in this country.

Another Waterloo co-op student, John, did come over with me on the plane. We were pretty enthusiastic about the trip until we were over the Pacific. At that point, there isn't a whole lot to look at except sky and water for about 10 hours. When we landed at Narita airport, near Tokyo, we had to catch a train to Shinjuku, and from there we took another train to Matsumoto. This was very difficult because neither John nor I know any Japanese; the tickets were basically incomprehensible to us.

About traveling in Japan: it takes forever. Tokyo is only about 180 Km from Matsumoto, but the train ride was nearly four hours long. This is because the roads and rail lines are very twisty, due to the mountainous terrain. It's kind of frustrating because we are used to straight, flat roads in Ontario that you can go 100 Km/h on. Although the landscape was interesting at first, I just didn't feel like spending the afternoon on a lurching train after such a long flight.

But at least we got to Matsumoto; not bad for a couple of guys who are functionally illiterate.

My first impression of Matsumoto was that it looked very modern and clean. We arrived at night, so there were lots of lights and animated ads and so on. I'll see if I can scan some of my pictures and put them online soon. The most famous aspect of Matsumoto is its castle.

I live in the Epson company dormitory in Hirooka, which is on the outskirts of Matsumoto. The dorm is fine; it reminds me of living in residence on campus. It's taking a bit of time for me to get used to the food, since I'm not used to a fish-and-rice diet. Also, my chopstick capabilities are severely limited. However, I don't have to cook anything since the dorm's cafeteria provides all my meals-- that means more free time for more important things, such as Karaoke.

Karaoke is great. You don't stand up in a bar full of strangers like I thought would be the case... You and your friends get your own room with a TV and a sound system, and you just pick and choose from a big book of songs. I went with the other co-op students working for Epson.

Speaking of which, the other co-ops are Paul, Miranda and Lou (here since May), John (from UW) and Moui and Guillaume (just arrived from business school in France). We've all gone out to Matsumoto a few times, and get together for badminton, Aikido and whatnot. I occasionally make up great stories about Chris; he's taken on a somewhat larger-than-life presence with the other co-ops. Hope he can live up to the legend when he arrives.

Aikido is this martial art that's sort of a cross between Karate and doing nothing. All the moves are based on just relaxing your muscles to overcome an opponent. This is a sport I can really get into-- athletic apathy. John, Moui, Guillaume and I went to our first Aikido class on Saturday. The age range of the class is quite large-- from 6-year-old kids to elderly folks. The 6-year-olds looked pretty tough, and I didn't mess with the older people.

Back in university I didn't do any sports-- there just wasn't any time-- but here I'll pretty much join anything. It's a good way to learn Japanese and meet real authentic Japanese people. I'm glad that everybody is so tolerant of the fact that I have no coordination.

I might as well join as much stuff as possible, since even though I'm here for a year, the time goes pretty quickly. Also, it's not like I have any pressing responsibilities: all I really have to do is feed myself, occasionally bathe, and try not to break anything at work. The rest of the time is for exploring and other leisurely pursuits.

All I'm doing at work right now is reading technical documents. When I look back on my term with AI Soft, I know I'll remember the good times I had reading RFC 2298, the Message Disposition protocol specification. Every chapter, especially Chapter 8: Guidelines for Gatewaying MDNs, and Chapter 10: IANA Registration Forms, will always have a special place in my heart.

I was feeling rather hungry on Thursday afternoon, so I went down the street to check out the local wares. I bought what I thought was chocolate-covered peanut butter balls on a stick. It ended up tasting rather nasty, kind of like waxy bacon fat sprinkled with cinnamon. Maybe it wasn't even candy, but who could tell? I can't wait until I'm not illiterate anymore so that I can actually read the food signs.

I reworked his budget to account for the fact that everything in Japan is about five times as expensive as it is in Canada. I wonder if people would pay to listen to me sing karaoke...

I picked up my "alien registration" card today, and a bank account at FujiBank. Trying to open a bank account in a foreign country without knowing any of the language occupied most of my afternoon. As a token of their gratitude, the teller offered him an official FujiBank pen and monogrammed Kleenex sampler pack. Apparently Kleenex packages are sort of a standard "thank you" gift in corporate Japan; every day there are people from cell phone companies, insurance agencies, etc., handing out Kleenex at the Matsumoto train station.