Old Surroundings, New Beginnings

I’m sitting in a cafe named efish that sits beside the river that flows through Kyoto. There’s a young acappella group practicing directly across the river from me. Based on what little I can hear, I think they’re singing a ‘One Direction’ song. I’ll have to thank blame my niece for even putting any form of ‘One Direction’ knowledge into my head. I’m also having my first coffee since arriving. Finding good coffee in Japan is like trying to figure out what’s wrong with your foot when your head is on fire.

If I’ve learnt one thing in my few days here – accepting that I am illiterate in this country is frustrating me. It’s something I’ve never had an issue with back home. There are several basics I have covered, but there’s so much more I have to learn before I can communicate confidently on a daily basis. Onwards and upwards! Ganbatte!

I’ll take this moment to thank Greg, Uwa-chan and Nakamura-san for helping me out so much in this first week (and prior to my arrival too!) as the house that I’m living in is unlike anything I’ll live in for the rest of my life. I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity.

My room has tatami mat floors, a hibachi (small heating pot), sliding doors and a small writing desk which I can just fit my legs under. When I open the sliding doors at the back, I have a view of a very small garden with a stone lantern. One of my first mornings while I was writing, a small wild ferret came running out from underneath the house to have a drink of water from the garden. I decided to name him Reginald. Reginald is a shy character, as he goes skittering off under the house next door as soon as he detects any movement whatsoever. I’ve seen him twice now and shall keep you apprised of any Reginald-related stories as they develop. Here are some pictures of my house for those of you who don’t like words so much…

There’s also a traditional Japanese toilet. Any foreigner who has been confronted with the prospect of using a traditional Japanese toilet will have had the same reaction, “How does one use this?” followed by several poses, squats and/or attempts at using it. My shower is near the garden and doesn’t have a door. I’m not sure whether the word ‘rustic’ is appropriate, as I’ve always been one to be all too aware of people misusing the word ‘rustic’ in Melbourne.

My first night in the house was spent drinking with Greg, Uwa-chan, Nakamura-san and his friend Shouji. We were up until 2am or so. Many, many drinks were consumed but I didn’t get drunk. In fact, I’ve consumed more alcohol than food since arriving in Japan, but I haven’t gotten drunk yet.

The following day, Nakamura-san spent time showing me around Kyoto and our local neighbourhood so that I can find home easily enough. Thankfully, the location of the house is in a very recognisable location and there’s a few different ways I can get to it. We visited a number of temples, the Gion district (one I hadn’t ventured to on previous visits) and ate at a local izakaya where I tried a number of Japanese dishes I had not previously eaten. Upon returning home, it was our turn to fulfil our neighbourhood duties for the week. So one night a week, residents are given a large piece of wood and two smaller blocks of wood attached to a flatter, wider piece of wood. The large piece of wood is used to close the back gate which leads onto Karamatsubara, the man-made river that runs parallel to the main river. After closing the gate, I then had to clap the blocks of wood together twice as I walked up and down the street. This, apparently, is used to remind local residents to beware of fires.

Wednesday through Friday were spent hanging out with Greg and trying to sort out a number of administration related tasks while I’m living here. Unfortunately, I arrived right in the midst of Golden Week, sort of like a national holiday that lasts for a week. This means a number of official places are closed and don’t re-open until Monday or Tuesday next week. One task was trying to sort out a new charger for my Asus Transformer Pad (my farewell gift from my lovely group of ex-coworkers at Red Bee) because my charger seemed to cark it (read: my own stupidity) when I got here. This involved visiting three different electronics stores and trying a variety of solutions, the only one that worked involved shipping a new charging unit from overseas. Turns out that all I needed to do was place the charging unit in a ziplock bag into a freezer for 30 minutes because the internal heat switch had been triggered.

On Thursday, we revisited a favourite bar of mine, Ishimaru Shoten. Ishi-san was working and it was great to see him again. His advice for me learning Japanese was that I’ll eventually develop an ear for it, and I should practice accordingly. After a few drinks there, we headed to a pizza place for some food and more drinks. Our final stop for the night was a bar called Henshitsusya (which is the equivalent of pervert or perverted, I believe) which is tiny, has a number of DIY oddities – bookshelves made of cardboard boxes, ventilation fan in the toilet being a small desk fan taped to a hole in the roof and hefty plastic bags covering the light sources, to name a few – but not overly perverse as the title may suggest. The owner has a very eclectic taste in music and gave me an approving nod when I correctly named ‘Gimme Shelter’ by The Rolling Stones. When I returned home, I was faced with a peculiar situation. The front gate was locked. I couldn’t figure out how to work the latch from the opposite side, so after much to’ing and fro’ing, I decided to just climb the damn thing. News of my physical feat spread like wildfire, as locals reported to Nakamura-san that they had seen ‘The Man’ scale the front gate. Upon hearing the news, Nakamura-san laughed and assured them that ‘Paul-san’ was not a criminal or a parkour enthusiast. Gaijin power!

Smaller stories of my time here so far – several women complimenting me on how ‘manly’ I am. Finding ridiculously cheap food prices – two beers and seven different deep-fried foods on a stick for approximately $10AUD, beer and five gyoza for approx. $4AUD, 700ml whisky highball for approx. $5AUD and more to be found, I’m sure. The cold I had before leaving Australia is STILL hanging around. Annoying.

Here’s a few more random things since I arrived…

I honestly don’t know why more guys weren’t lined up out the front of this cafe. And this next one, well, I don’t even know.

I guess that kind of sums up how I’m feeling. Only I don’t have a jewel box and I’m not a female. No comment on the sparkling marbles and pretty ribbons.

Mata ne!