立命館の大冒険

My room on the day I moved in. A mess now, but it was nice and clean.

 So while typhoon Jelawat rages outside and I am stuck inside I decided I should probably do that long-promised post about my apartment at Koraku Heights. I've lived here for about three or so weeks now, maybe more. Like I said before, Koraku was not my first choice, but having seen what it is like I am glad I got the chance to live here. It's a 3 or 4 floor high apartment block situated behind another apartment block in a generally sleepy/quiet residential area just off Nishioji-Dori, which means it is about 15 minutes away from Ritsumeikan by foot. I really like the area since I get to have my privacy and live in peace away from the bustle of the main roads. However, that doesn't mean that it's perfect--there is a daycare next to the building and if you are a late sleeper the kids are normally loud enough to wake you up, there is a walk to the nearest konbini (not really an issue sometimes, but this is coming from me who lived right next to a scotmid last year in my Edinburgh accommodation!), and some neighbours can be noisy. Of course, this depends on who you are living with when you move in, so that isn't a fault of Koraku really, it's just that the walls are very thin! If you move here, make sure you don't make too much noise...otherwise there are neighbours who do (and will) complain to the landlord. Just yeah, respect your neighbours and all that good stuff.

Anyway, the rooms at Koraku have more space than I expected (in the main room, anyway) and you have quite a lot of storage space for clothes and books or whatever.

My desk and shelving units

My room came with a desk, a chair (kinda tiny and uncomfortable--but every room has different chairs/beds/household items, so it really depends on which room you get), two shelving units, a large sliding door cupboard/wardrobe, balcony space for hanging clothes, a single bed, a hanging rack, bath, shower, microwave, fridge, freezer, air conditioner, gas hob, small cupboard for food, shelving for kitchen items, washing machine, a separate tank/tap for hot water and one for cold, etc. It was better equipped than I expected!

Beloved Aircon!

Some things I had to buy were an iron, a kettle, rice cooker, folding table as extra counter space (there is none), ironing board, wireless router, etc. Just be aware you might have to buy those things. A good place to get second-hand, cheap appliances is a recycle shop (there is one a few minutes' walk from the large Izumiya department store on Nishioji-Dori) so you should check out what they have there if you want to spend less.

My bed is a bit bigger than a single but it's pretty much the same. Really hard mattress though, I think the only thing softening it is the futon they left on top of it. I can still sleep on it fairly well, so I don't really have any complaints. If you prefer to sleep on softer things, you could always buy a futon/extra bedding from Izumiya. They provided me with bedding but I think I was one of the few people who were lucky enough to get it, so I wouldn't depend on it. That being said, bedding isn't too expensive from Izumiya and in summer you won't really need much to sleep with since it is boiling pretty much all day and night long. I don't think I've used my duvet very much since I came. If you want to travel light and bring bedding, I'd say just bring a thin sheet to sleep with for the first month or two if you need it.

Got free bedding which is always good

Since I'm used to having a small kitchen, I find Koraku's kitchen to be a suitable size. I don't really cook or anything so I can't really vouch for the cooking experience, hahaha. The only thing is that there is very little space to keep anything. There is a cupboard for food or whatever you want to keep in it, but no drawers for cutlery or a place for me to keep pots and pans. I just make-do with keeping plates and bowls with food. Lots of space in the fridge, freezer is small but I don't really mind. The washing machine was a bit of a mystery at first but once you learn the basic functions and kanji it's not so bad. I do a wash most days and hang it out on the balcony and everything dries quickly.

                                                   

Shower/bath and toilet are in separate rooms, which is useful if you are having people stay I guess. Shower head placement is a bit weird, but that's probably because they expect you to squat when you shower haha. The bath is really deep...feel like I'm gonna fall in it one day.

Hob, fridge, sink, cupboards in kitchen

Even though Rits say internet is not included with Koraku, they actually set it up for you (or mine was set up when I got there) which was awesome as I was worried about that. Our landlord is called Tsukada-san, and he is a nice guy (he lives out back of Koraku where he works on his construction site. Pretty cool!) You pay all your rent to him and if you have a problem you should tell him about it, I heard he is very quick to get things done. However, he only speaks Japanese so if you don't know what to say you might want to bring someone who can express it for you. You only pay him an extra 1000 yen (about £8) a month for internet, which is amazing considering it is incredibly fast and reliable.

Pretty much everything I was worried about in Koraku turned out to be fine, so in the end I think it may have even been a better choice than House 50, which is still more expensive per month. I'm really happy with my accommodation!

Labels: accommodation, koraku heights, living, ritsumeikan, study abroad

So I've been incredibly busy since I arrived, which is expected. I apologise for the lack of posts documenting my experience to Kyoto anyway! I'm going to post an email I wrote to my mum about flying to Japan and my first night there, I wrote this when I was sitting awake in the hotel about 4am. Cursed jetlag. Changed a few bits here and there. My flight was Glasgow International > Dubai > Kansai International and all in it was about 18 hours long.

'I went through security in Glasgow fine. Took everything out my bag (took me a while), went through with no problems and spent about 20 minutes putting it all back in! Walked through duty free for a few minutes, thought about buying a watch but decided I might find nice ones in Japan instead. I bought a few styluses for my nintendo DS though. I went through the gate really early and spent a while waiting around and yawning. Emirates gave us a selection of magazines and newspapers to take on the flight with us so I picked up a few but ended up not reading them. Was nice to have the option anyway!

The flight to Dubai was a bit boring but mostly because I wasn't in the mood to watch movies, I watched the Raven and I slept for about half an hour (made me feel a bit more awake). The plane was noisy in the beginning which made it hard but I got used to it. Lots of empty seats on this flight for some reason, I had a row of three seats to myself! I wanted to call but the phone was $5 a minute ('only', they said!) and only accepted credit cards. They have a screen that shows you cameras from the front and back of the plane and a diagram of where you are. We flew over Warsaw, Iraq and Denmark! It was pretty cool. The plane food was nice too, they bring you a tray with all the food on it and you just eat when you like. Starter was salmon with creamy potato salad (not keen on the salad but I ate it!), dinner was chicken tikka masala with red peppers and spinach and dessert was a banana and toffee caramel tort. They give you crackers and bruschetta, a roll, a cup of water and cream cheese/butter as well. Lots of food! I wasn't hungry for most of the journey after that. Every so often a hostess would come by with drinks (fruit juice, alcohol, water, cans of ginger, etc) and you could have whatever you want. If you like alcohol I'm pretty sure a few drinks on Emirates flights were included in the price, pretty awesome.

We got to Dubai around 12:50am, which was 9:50pm in Scotland. Since it was dark you could see all the lights from Dubai below, it was amazing. The airport lights were all different colours and dotted about the place. The pilot told us the temperature was just about 40 degrees celsius...which is a huge difference to freezing old Scotland. I went out expecting to be cold for some reason but it was boiling. Glad I'm not studying in Dubai is all I'm saying! The airport was huge and very very fancy. It even had some sort of pond (lake? loch?) The signs were really confusing but I walked around a bit and found my gate eventually (they displayed it on the screens during my flight to Dubai so I knew which one I had to go to.) I wanted to see more of the airport but I was worried about missing my flight so I sat down at the gate and waited. Most of the passengers were Japanese returning to Japan by the looks of things. Flight didn't go on until 2:40am or something like that (Dubai time.)  At this point I was really tired and I just wanted to be in the hotel.

This plane looked a bit more advanced than the one from Glasgow and the staff seemed nicer--not that they weren't nice, it was just a feeling I got. Between them they could speak like...12 languages or something, it was mad. Including Japanese of course. This plane was packed and I was sitting beside a Japanese girl and an American girl. The Japanese girl was sleeping most of the flight and at one point I almost had to jostle her off my shoulder cause she kept falling from side to side. I slept for about 6 hours on and off every half hour or so, not bad for flight sleep I suppose. The other 2 hours I spent eating probably! We had two meals on this flight, all Japanese-y since that's where the flight was headed. First one was beef sukiyaki with carrots and onions (nice but I didn't like the onions), cold soba noodles (also surprisingly nice!), crackers, bread, and water. Second was breakfast, with seasonal fruit (mostly melon but with apple and I think pineapple?), fish with sesame sticky rice and baby corn, bread, orange juice, a hot croissant and jam/butter/cream cheese. I was so full.

I was so glad to finally arrive, but Kyoto was roasting too (about 33 degrees according to the pilot, at least it wasn't as hot as Dubai.) I followed everyone until I came to this room where everyone was standing waiting at doors. I was confused and thinking 'why is nobody going through?' but an announcement came on and a few seconds later a train/shuttle thing stopped there and everyone got on. Smart! Dubai had a bus that was like this too but the Japanese guy was a much better driver...HAH.

After that I came to immigration where a lady told me to fill out the forms to get a resident's card. She was really strict about lining people up haha. I kept forgetting to fill out bits but I got there eventually. There was a girl from Switzerland who was studying at Ritsumeikan as well but not for Japanese. Anyway, I went up to the desk and put the index finger of each hand on a fingerprint device and they took my picture. A few seconds later my resident's card was done! The guy told me to register it with an address within the next 14 days or else I'll lose my permit to stay in Japan. Luckily Rits help you do that during orientation, so don't worry too much. I went through to customs and just as I came up to the belt to collect my luggage a guy had taken it off for me, which was good timing. Signed out a card for customs and took it to a desk. The man asked 日本語ができますか(can you speak Japanese?) and I said a little, then he just took the card and told me to go through. I didn't have to declare anything...which is weird because I heard you did. But everyone was really nice.

When I left customs the Yasaka taxi service desk was right in front of me. I wanted to see this airport too but was too tired so I just told them I had a reservation and they told me the driver was late and they were sorry (a lot. In Scotland they wouldn't have even told me!) I went to Starbucks to get an iced coffee since I was really thirsty and I'd have none on the taxi. It's as much of a rip-off in Japan (if not moreso) than in Scotland, it turns out (540 yen for a small frappuccino). The cashier was really friendly so I felt a bit better about speaking japanese though.

When my taxi was ready I took my case out to the shuttle and the driver put it in the back. There was only me and a Japanese girl on the shuttle which was convenient. Scary coincidence though (yet again), she was a student from Ritsumeikan! We talked in Japanese for the entire trip, which took about an hour and a half. Mine was a bit broken but she was really nice about it and kept telling me I was めっちゃうまい(kyoto slang for really good) at Japanese! She gave me her phone number and email and told me to call her if I ever needed any help and introduced me to her mum when we dropped her off. She also offered to give me mosquito repellent as a present which was really kind of her, but I told her I would buy it myself. Such a weird coincidence.

Drove for a little while until the taxi turned into a tiny side street--it was so narrow I'm surprised the shuttle fit!--and my hotel (Hotel Chrysanthemum) was there. Got my luggage and thanked the driver and then checked in by writing out a slip with my details on it. The lady tried to explain the key box to me but I think you only need to use it if you're staying longer than I am. Anyway the hotel room was great; spotlessly clean and really cosy. They provide a nice bed, tv, desk, internet connection, mini fridge, shampoo, body wash, bathroom/shower, slippers, a mirror and air conditioning (which I left on all night but still couldn't handle the heat very well.) I think I was in one of the new rooms. Can't recommend this place enough, it was great for around £40 a night. I slept from around 12am until 2am, couldn't sleep for long due to the time difference. I adjusted to that in a matter of days, but for a while I was awake from about 2am onwards for most of the day. The tiredness didn't hit me as much as I thought I would, but that could be due to all the vending machine coffee I drank. No kidding what people say about Japan and vending machines, they are everywhere you turn. Not that that's a bad thing!


The hardest thing about being in Kyoto the first few days (for me) was the heat of Kyoto's summer. Unbearable. Even now it's still about 28 degrees celsius in my room most of the time. You start to accept it though. Just make sure you carry something to wipe sweat away with (wet towel, travel towel, wet wipes, whatever) because you will most likely be sweating. Next post should be about moving into Kouraku Heights, hopefully will get some pictures up of my room too. Until then!

Well I wasn't able to write up a post about my arrival sooner, I was suffering from pretty bad jetlag. I will update soon about how everything went hopefully! I am still pretty busy preparing for class and such. It has been unbearably hot in kyoto since I arrived and it's making me lazy...

This week has been all kinds of busy. I went back to Edinburgh on Monday to collect my visa, got lost for a bit trying to find an ATM since they only accept cash, but apart from that it didn't take too long. I got off at haymarket this time, saved me a lot of walking. The lady told me not to remove the certificate of eligibility from my passport/visa, so I folded it inside. The last thing I want is for it to be ripped off, hahaha. The visa is pretty neat, has the whole cherry blossom thing going on. Makes me wonder what other visas look like! I paid £23 since I'm getting a single entry visa, not planning to travel anywhere else (although Korea sounds cool, maybe another time!)

While I was there I stopped by to see one of my lecturers and was told to prepare for the Kyoto humidity and heat. Sounds awful, I don't deal very well with warm weather. Winter definitely sounds like the best season for me. Gonna have to deal with it though! She told me that bug repellent should be cheaper in Japan than over here since it's used frequently over there, so I decided to leave that sort of thing until I'm there.

Since our department also gives us a DSi for doing coursework abroad, I had stopped by to pick up 正しい漢字かきとりくん, a game on writing and reading kanji, and 逆転裁判：蘇る逆転, which is known as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney over here (Awesome game, one of the main reasons I bought a DS!) I feel like I'm cheating since I've already played the english version of this game a lot and know the plot, but I imagine it'll still be useful to play it in Japanese. Excited at the thought of buying one of the new Pokemon games too! Have to be careful how much money I spend on videogames in Japan, I fear for my bank balance. I went to the library for a bit to photocopy my passport just in case I lost it or I needed a copy. I still have to get extra passport photos/etc just in case I need them for any cards while I am abroad, should get around to that soon.

I got a new laptop to take with me since my old one has a faulty battery and can't operate without the charger, so I've been transferring my files over to it and configuring it the way I like. It's a Lenovo Z580 with a 3rd gen. i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, so it's quite speedy. Much better than my old Lenovo (U350), but I used it mainly for taking notes in lectures and wasting time online in between classes so I wasn't really looking for anything as powerful as the Z580. Seems like a good machine so far, just slightly worried about its wireless capabilities. I've read a few reviews online where it has trouble maintaining a connection, and it does seem at times like its signal strength is weaker than my U350's. Changing the balanced power mode option to maximise the performance of the network card has strengthened it a bit though, just hoping it stays that way.

Also ordered in travel adapters, travel towels, guides, etc. Lonely Planet's guide to Kyoto (yes I know, what a tourist) seems quite useful, though it doesn't cover much on Kita-ku/the general area Ritsumeikan is in. I am still planning to see the rest of the city though, so it gives me a good starting point. Kyoto has a lot more shopping centres than I expected, and a lot of restaurants and interesting places to see. I think I'll be quite preoccupied!

Only four days until my flight, so the next update will probably come from Japan! Hopefully everything goes well and I can give a good detail of my flight and getting to my accommodation. じゃ、またね！

Labels: edinburgh, living, ritsumeikan, study abroad, travel, visa