Zaru Soba (With hand made noodles)

Hi,

My house mate had mentioned earlier last week that their was a very very good Soba restaurant near our house. So last night we decided to visit the Soba restaurant for dinner.

It was quite small maybe only seating 10 people but was very nice; after looking at the menu we decided to order the Zaru Soba (Zaru basically this means that the Soba noodle is not in the soup; you move the noodles to the soup gradually whilst eating your dinner)

Upon our dinner arriving I noticed that actually the Soba noodle was all actually hand made!!!

It was very tasty and only cost 900 Yen (Currently about $10); I think I will be visiting this restaurant again soon. But I was quite full by the end and was not able to finish it all.

Cya later

Snow

Hi,

Well last night I was out rather late having dinner and drinks with some of the my colleagues; it was a really good night even if I did wake up slightly worse for wear.

But when I did wake I kept hearing something fall outside my window every so often; I didn't want to open the window to look as I could tell it was really really cold outside. So once I actually went outside I could see snow everywhere so I think it must have been chunks of snow falling off the roof. I am pretty sure it is the first time in my life I have seen snow or at least in my memory, well I did see a little in Edinburgh one time but when I was there it was so little I think it had dissolved by the time it hit the ground.

Whilst I was outside walking around I kept hearing a strange noise every so often; eventually I worked out that all the buses and some trucks had put chains on their rear wheels to help with grip. The funny thing was even the tiny postie bikes also had chains on their rear wheels; but that makes sense considering the size of the rear wheel.

Actually while I think of it; their was an Earthquake the other day; I think it was a magnitude 4. Honestly I hardly even felt it and went back to what I was doing whilst it kept going.
I know that is definitely the first Earthquake I have ever felt.


I took a few photos, but they are all with my phone so the quality is not very good.

Panorama from the road outside my house

Street near my house

Street near my house

Some place near my house that looked nice

Hanko/Inkan

Hi All,

Some of you may be interested that in Japan for all large purchases or important contracts such as purchasing car, starting new job, getting bank account you often do not not use your signature like we do in Australia. Instead they use an Inkan.

So what is an Inkan? Well an Inkan is actually a stamp that has your name carved into the bottom; but their are certain rules and restriction about the stamp such as the how it is to be written and the material used to make it. But most importantly you need to visit the local council office near your home with your Inkan and have the stamp officially registered in your name.

Whilst at the local council office they can also give you a registration certificate; so when you then go to visit a bank you fill out the forms as per usual and then stamp the paper with your Inkan and also give the registration certificate.


But you will notice the heading says Hanko/Inkan, what is a Hanko? I had no idea either when a colleague in Australia mentioned it. I asked one of the staff here and he said that they are effectively the same thing, but typically people say Inkan in more official situations.

Their are also Inkan`s that can have your business name on the bottom; but I have not learnt about these yet.

Also if I have got anything wrong please correct me.

Getting myself organised

Hi All,

Well I arrived ok into Japan; slightly problems with the luggage that Cathay Pacific would not accept the 55kg limit for the second leg that Qantas gives me for the first. Basically they wanted to charge over $800 but it all worked out by being a little inventive and I didnt have to pay anything.

I got to my house ok and dropped my things off then had to quickly go down the street to buy the bedding and sheets and things; good thing about Japan is they loves sets; so I brought a bedding set and covers set. Came back home set it all up and then went straight too sleep as I had not slept on the plane.

Lunch time the next day (Wednesday) I meet with a work colleague who helped me immensly with getting everything setup.

Council office:
The first stop was to go to the Council office to register myself as an Alien, then I also had to register my Inkan or Hanko (I will explain another day what that is).

Mobile Phone:
The next stop was to get a mobile phone (Japanese: Keitai). I had decided to go with NTT Docomo. They are the equivalent of Telstra in Japan. Any the work staff member was very good in helping with this and the translation.
Their were some problems because I wanted to use my own phone but the lady said it would cost ￥11,000 per month to use my own phone or ￥10,000 per month to buy the same phone from them. I decided to write everything down and think about it over night.
Yesterday I went back to a different Docomo store and they had a translator available, eventually they found another plan that I could go on that would only cost about ￥6,000 per month with my current phone.

Bank:
Next stop was the bank; again thanks so much to my work colleague this was extremely easy, maybe even disturbingly easy. The forms were completed and in progress within 1 hour and they will post everything out too me.
For those who might be interested I went with Shinsei Bank; they are smaller but their internet banking is in English and you can store money in your account in different currencies. Also their transfer fees are very low.
One of the problems with a small bank is very few ATMs; but with Shinsei you are able to use the machines from UFJ which is  a large bank in Japan for no fee.

Laptop:
Yesterday I went to Akihabara to get a laptop; now that was an adventure. I went too BIC Camera which is one of the 2 very large electronics stores in Japan (similar to Harvey Norman). They had a model on display that I liked and I asked to purchase it which they agreed, I also mentioned that I would be converting it to the English version of Windows which was ok. Then the hassles started, first they could not find the power adapter and their only option was to give me a discount and then ask me to buy an after market version which was ok for me. Then they could not find the box which I think then took about 30mins to find.
All in I think it took about 1.5 to 2 hours for all this to happen. But then just as I am about to pay he then says if I change windows to the English version I will not have any warranty; firstly this does not make sense because that is just software but anyway he would not budge. So I had no choice but to go somewhere else.

I went to the other big store Yodobashi Camera; I found what I wanted (Asus N55S) and was in and out of the store within 20mins.

But it is a Japanese layout keyboard with English and Japanese characters; that is fine I actually wanted it this way. But it is taking some time to adjust to the different layout because many of the keys are in a different place or I accidentally hit the English/Japanese switching button.


So today I am not doing a whole lot just getting things; just getting organised, setting up my laptop, going to Seiyu to buy things for my room etc.

Cya
Brad

First post

Hi Everyone (Whoever the everyone is),

After months of discussions, waiting, organising and then finally waiting again for my working permit I am now off to live in Japan for the foreseeable future. Who knows how long or short it will be.

It will definitely be a big change and challenge as I have lived in Australia for all my life; despite many trips to Japan my knowledge of the language is very bad and something I definitely will need to practise.

I know my mother and father are a little sad that I am moving to Tokyo but they are happy for me to go. But I am sure they will come to visit (They better come to visit!!!!!).


Living:
Currently in Perth I have my own apartment that has 2 bedrooms and a large living, dining and kitchen area. Well in Tokyo that just isn't possible for any normal person to afford so I will be downsizing considerably. But also I have decided to stay in a share house for a year, my thinking is this will definitely help my Japanese language skills but also to meet some people outside of work.

Later on when I arrive at the house I will hopefully put up a video.

Getting organised:
The more and more I research what I need to have organised the more confused I got; but eventually I have figured it out by putting together a flow chart for the order I needed to get things done in. But even then I had a number of catch 22 situations.
But I am very lucky that the people at work in Tokyo have helped me immensely and really gone out of their way to assist with many things for me. We have actually organised to meet one day after I arrive and he will help with banking, Keitai (Mobile phone/hand phone/cell phone), ARC (Alien Registration Card) and he has also organised to have an Inkan (Official stamp that is the equivalent of a signature) made for me.

Anyway that is it for now, I have some more packing to do before I fly-out on Monday.

Cya
Brad