Getting It Together

The week leading up to our first day at Doshisha (from the 18th September to Friday 22nd) was predominantly spent getting organised for university and establishing myself for the year ahead. Luckily, I finally bumped into Baptiste on Monday, and the two of us could go forth into the world of forms, documents and having to write our complicated address repeatedly, together as one united front.

As a result, we make frequent visits to Momoyama Goryomae, the next train stop from Mukaijima and also perhaps the most enjoyable place name to say – I think it is because the sounds are reminiscent of a baby’s first gurgled words, as if trying to say ‘Mama’, conjuring up soothing images of maternal love and care…or something. Anyway, it is also home to Fushimi Ward Office where we sort out our Alien Registration (wahey! I’m an alien!) with the help of a man in a strange t-shirt en français and gingery hair, but we need is help and he speaks English, so we’re not going to dish out style tips just yet (and we’re not exactly experts on the fashion du jour, so we keep schtum). We also pay a visit to the local NTT showroom to get hooked up to the internet, though we won’t probably get contacted about it for another week.

We also pay visits to the nearby Taito Station arcade for a whiz at Taiko no Tatsujin 8, the endlessly enjoyable rhythm action game where you bash a big drum with big sticks making a big noise in time with the music, an eclectic choice of which features the cream of the J-pop crop, reworkings of classical tunes and video game themes (we happily bash along to a Super Mario medley). There’s also Inobun Imaginary Airport, which doesn’t quite live up to its name, being simply a DVD/CD rental/purchase centre, but it is well-stocked indeed – plus there are banners for 24 season 5 on DVD, so I can finally watch the last few hours of said series when the appropriate volume is released in early November.

Running through the area is the Otseuji covered arcade and running in front of that is the railway line, as the gathered shoppers’ flow is interrupted by the level crossing barriers lowering and trains shooting past (one of which was emblazoned with Thomas the Tank Engine iconography). Arcade highlights include:

- The media centre, offering internet access, comics, DVDs, games, etc. Plus free drink refills!
- The videogames shop next door, home to a broad range of games and formats, bang up-to-date, stretching back yesteryear, and everything in between. I’m tempted to get a DS Lite, but they’re sold out everywhere, so there’s no danger of that at the moment.
- Mos Burger – a Japanese burger fast food restaurant near the McDonald’s, which offers a tasty and affordable Cheeseburger set amongst its wide selection. I have a conversation with a Japanese lady in English, French and Japanese about my year abroad. She advises against purchasing an electronic dictionary, as even Japanese are forgetting kanji, using it as a quick fix, and just as quickly forgetting them.
- A little okonomiyaki restaurant – okonomiyaki is a kind of cabbage and vegetable batter omelette filled with meat, fish, vegetables and such, which you cook on a hot plate in front of you…and it’s well tasty like.

While the arcade is also home to several banks, we do our banking at our local Mukaijima branch with its helpful staff (though it seems to take everyone in the branch to cash a traveller’s cheque) and TV set – watch old samurai flicks and kids shows while you wait! However, our attempts at using ATMs were not initially successful. Before we got our current cash cards (with a twee drawing of pixies gathering berries), Baptiste tried to get some cash out of a MasterCard booth down the road. With no English explanation and text-heavy screen, we daren’t select any options for fear of having the card munched up. As we look on in confusion, a female voice is piped in to the booth different to the machine. We panic and quit the transaction as the lady keeps talking, trying to offer assistance but we do not understand. She calls to us to try and help but we hotfoot it and hope we haven’t embarrassed ourselves too much.

Thursday is spent preparing for our placement test the next day, but we head out into Kyoto in the evening to meet up with Parn and Talyn. The station we get into doesn’t seem to be the right one, so we head along the main street running west to east and bump into Parn near the big department stores. We briefly say hi to his friends from his halls, Pan and Mint from Thailand and Dongu from Korea (all of whom we come to know better in the following days) and try to find Talyn. However, it proves tricky; although she’s been in Kyoto longer than anyone, Tal keeps getting the wrong stations and as she’s the only one with a mobile phone, getting in touch is not the doddle it should be. We tell Tal to stay put as we pace up and down some very long streets, only to find her where we started. Tired and a bit bolshy, we head to McDonald’s for late din-dins (for shame, I know, but they have White Grape Qoo! Ah, refreshing!). We decamp to a local convenience mart for ice-cream, and then head back home – it has been a brief meet-up and catch-up, but there’s testing times ahead and I want to look my best. But once we’re settled in, work and money permitting, the Kyoto crew will be partying f’sure.

Phew! I’m almost up to speed, so I promise this blog can begin to include more general observations, thoughts and pictures (camera purchase imminent – I assure you).