Iris – Page 113 – goinggaijin.com

Pet

Tonight, I was chatting with one of my housemates in our kitchen for a while. He has told me that today, he had seen his first cockroach of the year (I haven’t so far, but I am sure they will become more numerous soon). Having finished our conversation, we left the kitchen, through a small corridor, one side of which is essentially one large shelf, currently mostly empty. I don’t know what exactly caught my eye, whether it was movement, or just an odd shape… Anyway, I took a closer look – and then I started running, because from the corner of my eye, I saw this:

I hate spiders. The photo does not really do it justice, because it is hard to estimate from it the real size of the spider. Believe me when I say that from toe to toe, so to speak, it is about the length of my hand, probably around 12 – 15 cm, which makes the body alone around 4 – 5 cm long. Have I mentioned that I hate spiders?

My housemate told me that it has been on the shelf for several weeks, but this is the first night I have seen it too. He is quite relaxed and claims it eats all the mosquitoes and we should just leave it.

I have relented so far, although I really hope the thing will not climb up to my bedroom. And if it does, it’s fair game. We had an equally large spider around the kitchen last year, and I only saw it once, thank goodness… Why can we not have nicer pets? I wouldn’t mind adopting any of the geckos from outside the house that sometimes – but only very rarely – find their way inside. They would eat mosquitoes too and are much less scary…

Hairy

When I was in Tokyo this week, I spent quite some time in the trains and subways there. Whether it’s a bus, a train, a subway… any type of public transport in Japan is covered in advertisements. They are placed above the windows, next to the windows, hang from the ceilings across the aisles, and I am sure the only reason they do not cover the floors is that public transport is popular and usually crowded. Most ads come als old-fashioned posters (these days often with QR codes for them ubiquitous smartphones), but in Tokyo’s subways there are video displays above the doors announcing the stops – and in between the stops, they show little clips – advertisements, of course. Sometimes, however, we get something with a more educational value though…

With great interest I watched a little comic that went like this: A young woman with long hair sits in front of a computer, typing away. The hair eventually falls into her eyes and she brushes it back. The second time she has to do it, she flips it back more violently, her boss, who stands right behind her, gets the whole load smack into his face. Afterwards, we get to see a little instruction of how to tie your hair up and out of the way, and the clip finally concludes with a row of woman happily typing away, undisturbed, and a boss, obviously equally happy about all that increased productivity.

So far, so good, but for somebody not educated in proper office lady etiquette, it does raise a few questions:

Why are only women targeted? Surely, there are men with long hair too. I do admit that they won’t be working as typists though…
It’s all about productivity, right? Pity I did not get to see that clip where the chaps are invited to take fewer smoking breaks…
Why is a woman’s hairstyle anybody’s business? As long as she adequately, professionally dressed for the job at hand and gets it done at the end of day…
If my boss stands so closely behind me to get my hair into his face when I move – he may consider himself lucky I don’t wear extensions with steel reinforcements…

I am glad I don’t have these type of problems. Even if I was an office lady in Japan, I have had a short haircut ever since I moved to Asia for the first time. And it seems to get shorter every year. The only thing I regret about this is that now I need to have it cut more often…

Skytree

I am back from my trip to Tokyo, and I’m rather tired now. I got everything done and even had some free time to do some sightseeing. Tokyo is a very modern city, and instead of historically and interesting sights you have in Kyoto, you need to go into another direction to find interesting things to do in Tokyo. So, I chose the most modern sightseeing spot you can find Tokyo right now to spend a few hours there yesterday afternoon and early evening.

I went to and up (and then down again) the Skytree. Isn’t it fantastic: The Skytree was built over four years, and since its official opening on May 22, 2012, is the highest tower in the world, standing 634 m tall. Its main purpose is that of a broadcasting tower; it was built so high to avoid interferences from all the skyscrapers in Tokyo. And while they were pouring the concrete, they also built a shopping mall beneath it (of course), an aquarium, a planetarium,… The Skytree has two observation decks, the first one is called Tembo, where there are – actually on three floors (called 340th, 345th, and 350th floor) – a 360 degree view over Tokyo, a souvenir shop (of course) and a restaurant, as well as two cafés. Smaller attractions there are holes in the floor of the lowest deck, and very cool interactive maps of the surroundings where you can zoom in and out, change the view from day to night, and look at the history of the city.

From the Tembo observation deck you can take one of two elevators an extra 100 m up to what is called the Tembo galleria, a wonderful walkway that takes you up in a spiral to the highest point you can reach in the tower as a visitor: the so-called sorakaba point at 451.2 metres. Needless to say that this is exactly the spot to take a selfie… The galleria is very nice, especially if you like steel and glass, but I think it is only worth the extra 1000 YEN on a very fine day, because the view is the only thing you have up there. I am sure the view is spectacular – if it is clear enough, that is… Although it did not rain yesterday, it was very hazy, and once again, I could not see Mount Fuji.The tower became very crowded just before sunset, and Tokyo by night is indeed quite a sight! Once again, the whole experience is very organized: People leave and enter the tower and even the two decks on different floors, so people in/out, or up/down will never get in each other’s way. You can buy an advance ticket which allows you to enter the tower without queueing up for a ticket (and, according to the space that is allocated, the queues can be very long indeed), but they are more expensive than if you just go and wait in line. I did not have to wait, as it was Tuesday afternoon, but I guess that the Skytree will become very crowded in the weekends.

Okay, a few more facts about the Skytree to satisfy the nerd in me (and in other people as well): As mentioned above, it is 634 m high, the numbers can be read in Japanese as “mu-sa-shi”, which is a nod to the old name of the area in which the tower stands. At the base, the Skytree’s cross-section is shaped like an equilateral triangle, but the higher you come, the more and more round it becomes – this progress is depicted in the elevator as you go up, by the way – and the Tembo observation deck on 350 m already has a circular cross-section. This makes the base very stable, and the top is such that it can withstand high winds easily. Depending under which angle the Skytree is viewed, this change of diameter shows a different shape from below.

At the centre of the tower is a 375 m high concrete pillar. This and the steel structures surrounding it can move independently to absorb up to 50 % of the shock from earthquakes. Interestingly, this appears to be an ancient way to construct high buildings – traditional five storied pagodas were built using the same principle.The tower is painted a special type of white, also coming from old, traditional sources, and in the night it is lit by LED’s in two different styles that alternate daily – the purple one I saw uses a colour that is reminiscent of the old Edo court, when the Shogun and the samurai were still in charge of Japan. There are four elevators to the Tembo deck, and, if you can believe the display in them, their maximum speed is 600 m/min. Well, we did not travel very long, that’s for sure. Two more elevators – this time with a glass door and a glass top to “heighten anticipation of the visitors” lead to the galleria in 450 m height.

Wheel

What is this? Now that I have a visa, and health insurance, and can legally stay here without worries for a whole year – and it does not even feel like such a big achievement. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that everything turned out so well, and that I now have more time and possibilities in Japan, but…

Right now, all I can see is the next hurdle, and the next hurdle, and then the one beyond it. All those little things to do, that each by themselves are no big goals, nothing to get excited about. It’s not that I’m not satisfied, but I realize that I still stand at the beginning. May this be simply a sign of getting old? That one has seen so much that one has a farther vision and knows what things will be coming further down the road?

Well, further down my road right now is a short visit to Tokyo to jump over one of the hurdles mentioned above. I’ll go tomorrow and will spend a night. I wonder if you can go up the skytree at night?

Account

Today I crossed another thing off my list: opening a bank account. Once more, the experience was pleasant as everything was rather organised, except for a tiny little hiccup (which was entirely my fault), but the clerk managed it bravely (and in a rather un-Japanese fashion).

I opened an account with Shinsei bank, as I have heard that they are the most foreigner-friendly bank, and also because you can withdraw money from essentially every ATM in the country free of charge. It took me a while to find their branch on Shijo street, and when I entered, all I could see were the ATMs. I looked confused, so the security guard that was there (every branch of every bank seems to have at least one) approached me, and when I said I wanted to open an account, he pointed up the stairs to the office. Interestingly, on the ground floor, there were only three ATMs and a drugstore playing noisy music.

Anyway, once upstairs, I presented my brand new zairyu card and asked to open an account. The clerk pointed me to a computer and helped me enter all my information: Name in Katakana and roman alphabet, address, occupation,…

The little hiccup occurred when we came to the field “phone number”. I don’t have a phone, neither mobile nor landline and I tried to explain that to the clerk. She answered essentially “no phone, no account”, which I found odd (and I am seriously wondering if I could get a phone without a bank account, by the way) and tried to convince her that a phone number is not necessary, after all, they could send me an email… Nope, she insisted, no phone – no account. I relented and asked if I could give her the number of my landlady and she said if the landlady would be okay to receive my phone calls from the bank, that would be all right with them. Unfortunately, I did not bring the piece of paper where I noted down my landlady’s phone number, and I don’t know it by heart as we usually communicate per email… So, I asked whether I can just enter any number, and if it was okay to change the phone number later once I knew the correct one. And – I was already prepared to leave and start afresh on Monday – the clerk said yes to my scheme! Honestly, I did not expect that, kudos to that clerk!

After filling in the online form and checking the Katakana over and over again (I have a difficult last name, at least for Asians, and I used a way of transcribing it so that the pronunciation will be correct), I had to wait a few minutes for another clerk to take over. I had to sign the account application form, where instead of my signature I chose to use a hanko, a Japanese seal. I know that this means I’ll have to bring the hanko every time I go to the bank, but as I do most of my stuff with internet banking anyway, I hope it won’t be too much hassle as long as I’m not turning senile and keep forgetting the thing…

After that, we were almost finished. I was immediately issued with a bank card (I could choose between some 10 colours and went for the black although I have to admit the bright orange one had something too…), received a comparatively small pile of extra paperwork, and was promised that everything I’d need for internet banking would be sent to my address in a registered letter within 10 days. After asking about transfer limits, and being instructed about how to register for a credit card, we were finished and I left very happily. Interestingly, I was never asked for an initial deposit. The whole procedure (including the fight about the telephone number and answering my questions requiring two clerks) took maybe 30 minutes and I can start banking right away. Once I have any money, that is…

Residence

Ladies and Gentlemen,
it’s time to celebrate. Please sing with me:

I’m an alien…
I’m a legal alien…
I’m an Austrian in Japan…

Okay okay, I was a perfectly legal Austrian in Japan even before yesterday when I was still on my tourist visa, but now *celebrations* I have received my residence card – zairyu card – and thus I am now a resident of Japan. For one year counting from yesterday!

Getting the zairyu card was actually rather straightforward. Yesterday I went to my soroban teacher so we could fill out the final forms and put some stamps on them. We also printed out some of the paperwork we used for the certificate of eligibility, just in case. Armed with yet another stack of papers I returned to immigration yesterday afternoon, and paid 4000 YEN for my change of status of residence application. They only needed the forms this time, but it seemed that the immigration officer made some copies from my old file. Anyway, it took only 15 minutes – and then I was presented with my very own zairyu card, what a relief!

Today, early in the morning, I performed my first duties of my newly gained residenceship: I went to my ward office to register my address. Of course all the forms are in Japanese, but there was a very nice officer who spoke very good English to help me filling them out, and afterwards I even noticed a few example forms translated into English posted here and there. I had to wait maybe 10 minutes or so while the clerk processed my application, and then I was presented with a sheet of paper containing my residence card code, whatever that is, probably in case I lose the card itself? Also, my address was put – using neat little stamps – on the back of my residence card.

From there, I moved on a few metres further to another counter and asked to buy health insurance. I had to fill in another form, put my signature on a tiny little spot maybe 15×15 mm (Japanese people use hanko), and then I waited again for another 10 minutes or so. Then I was presented with a printout detailing the payments I’ll have to make and I already received my health insurance card and I’m allowed to see a doctor immediately. Health insurance for the first year (i.e., until March next year) is 2000 YEN per month because I did not have any income the last year. On presenting the card I will have to pay only 30% of the costs, the rest will be paid by the insurance automatically, as long as I see a doctor who is using the system.

So, the biggest things are accomplished! There are now a few smaller things I’ll have to do, but those only feel like a bonus. The next few things on my list are opening a bank account, getting a library card, a bicycle, and a haircut. Not necessarily in this order. Now that I have a residence card, I can also get a mobile phone, but at this moment, I don’t really need one, so…. I’ll keep you posted in any case.

One year. I have one year in Japan.
Anything can happen in one year…

Gotcha!

It’s here! My Certificate of Eligibility has arrived Saturday morning. It is a single sheet of heavy A5 paper, in nice colours with all my details and the details of the soroban school. And with my photo – also in colour. It’s the first photo I have submitted, not the one I had to resubmit – WHAT?

Anyway, this certificate of eligibility is not the same as a visa, in fact, it’s just a prerequisite for obtaining a proper visa to stay in Japan.Thankfully, I can change my current temporary visa to my visa for cultural activities right here in Kyoto, without leaving the country. That is certainly a plus and makes things easier – or so one could think… Below follows the fourth episode of our drama “Fun With Immigration”.

I went down to the immigration office this morning, with my passport and the certificate of eligibility in my backpack and a huge smile on my face, as you can imagine. I thought I’d show them the papers, they’d say “Great!” and issue the visa without further ado. So, I showed them the passport and the certificate, and I had even brought a new photo just in case, and they said “Great! Now please fill out all these forms!”

It turned out that those are the exact same forms I filled out so painstakingly three weeks ago. No, actually not exactly the same – three weeks ago the header of the form said on the right “Application for Certificate of Eligibility”, this time it says there “For Extension or Change of Status”. Everything else is completely the same. I would only be slightly annoyed by that, I mean, I do have time, but… they also required a form with details about the soroban school and teacher, exactly the same (except for the minor detail mentioned above) that we have given them three weeks ago; and of course it has to include my teacher’s signature…

So much for “without further ado”. It was my teacher’s day off today, so I will spend tomorrow to go see him – again – so we can do some paperwork – again – and then go back to immigration – again – to hand them a stack of papers – again – and hopefully they will process the whole thing as quickly as possible. Again. And I hope that I’ll get my foreigner’s ID as quickly as possible. And the real fun thing about this is, that with said foreigner’s ID in my hands I’ll have to go and register at the ward office responsible for me – which is around the corner of my soroban school, about 45 minutes north from here…

I have come to the conclusion that the whole immigration procedure is part of a sophisticated selection process, in best Darwinian style: Entrance to Japan is permitted only for the most stubborn…

Insides

We are having a serious attack of builders in the house. Well, actually, it’s only one elderly guy, but he’s everywhere and nowhere, making lots of noise or none at all, all the time, or not at all… and it has been going on for the whole of last week, and he is not yet finished. I have no idea what the general plan is (we are usually not told anything unless we specifically ask), but one of the bigger things he has been doing was to replace the ceiling in one of the upstairs rooms.

The ceiling is a very simple construction of very thin wood planks (I guess less than 5 mm thick) nailed to a frame, so replacing it is very simple. It took him two days: One to remove the old ceiling, and a second one to put up the new one. I know this does not sound very fascinating, but these 5 mm of wood are the only thing between the upstairs rooms and the roof. As the house is around 100 years old, the construction of the roof is very interesting indeed – have a look:

The main beams are just trunks of more or less straight trees, and it does not seem as if much has been done to make them more fit for the purpose, like nowadays, when you cut them into long rectangular poles. Also, look at the roof: No insulation, only wooden shingles (and I bet they are not very thick either), and on top of that the roof tiles.

An interesting feature on both ends of the house are two large triangular pieces filled with small stones. I wonder what that is good for – maybe to keep the roof on the house during typhoons? Before you ask, yes even in Kyoto we can have very heavy storms, although the winds are not as strong as on the shore.

Do you see the cables winding so leisurely along the roof? Hello electricity! It does seem scary somehow, don’t you think? My housemate’s assertion that this is how it was done everywhere else as well only that it was usually better covered up, may be correct, but does not really make me feel better.

Finally, look at the top of the wall here: This looks like thin bamboo sticking out, doesn’t it? The house is old enough to essentially only consist of a wooden frame between which are earthen walls – and this bamboo wattling is used to hold the mud together better, I presume. (I think the correct architectural term for this type of house is “frame house” and the inner workings of the walls are called “wattle and daub” but I’m happy to be corrected on this.)

It is interesting to see, that the basics of construction have not changed much in the last 100 years or so. Think about it: nowadays, instead of wood and bamboo we are using steel, and the mud has been replaced by concrete, but besides that… In any case, I did not expect the house to be that flimsy, to be honest. At least I now understand in detail why it is so unbelievably cold in here during the winter…

Sleep

I don’t know why, but for the last week or so I have been terribly tired. The only thing I really want to do is to sleep – and when I wake up, I want to sleep some more. One of my housemates says he suffers the same, and blames it on the change of seasons. It is not too hot yet, mostly it’s one sunny day followed by an overcast one; also I don’t mind the heat. It does get light very early though, somewhere around 4 am, and there is one curtain missing in my room. My housemate says I may be waking up too early and not getting enough (REM) sleep, but just looking at my schedule, it does not appear to be the case; beside, I was always able to sleep at any time and any place. Anyway, I’ll have my routine blood test next week, so if there’s something physically wrong with me, I guess they’ll find out then.

South

Yesterday, I was up and out early because I wanted to check out another location where aikido training is held, near Kyoto station. The training started at 9 am, but because the bus did not go quite as far as I had expected, I had to walk farther than planned, and thus came a bit too late, which I found embarrassing… It was lovely watching the training though, and I think I will join this group; they all seem very nice (I have hardly ever met unpleasant people on the mat) and what I can judge from only watching, they are quite good as well. Interestingly, the whole atmosphere seems very relaxed, something I have never encountered in any of the Japanese dojo I visited before.

Anyway, after watching the training I walked around in the area. Toji temple is close by, a famous Buddhist temple sporting a large and famous pagoda, a bit south-west of Kyoto station. It is a large temple complex, with several large halls, the pagoda, an additional museum… One of the halls had an exhibition of large cloths painted (or dyed?) in dark blue – I think it was indigo, but I am not entirely sure. They were beautiful, and probably very expensive – there were some rather exquisite kimono to be seen, but none of them with a price tag. Other things were for sale, small fans and purses, for example, but I did not buy anything. Afterwards, I went to the station and, because I was looking for a Muji store in the nearby Aeon mall (which I did not find anyway), I had a belated lunch there – in a Korean restaurant. I enjoyed it very much; unfortunately the custom of serving unlimited side-dishes is observed in Korea only, which, given that my body cannot tolerate kimchi very well, was probably a good thing after all.

I then took a bus to City Hall, went to the Muji store there, did my shopping, and then walked home. After more than six hours on my feet, I was rather tired, but… we had a builder over to fix one of the rooms, which he did all afternoon yesterday, and all day today as well – and he did it rather noisily… I took some amazing pictures of the interior workings of the house and its roof by the way – I’ll share them with you in a few days, promised!