Busy busy busy busy.....BUSY BEE!

Yo! How is everyone doing this fine....day? ...night?
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 Meh, what ever time it is to you, I just hope you are enjoying yourself.

This evening marks the second weekend of me being in Japan. This past week, as you might have guess by the seemingly low amount of posts (at least it seems like to me...), has been a very busy week. Today was the Club Recruitment day and Opening Ceremonies for the new school year for the international students. Opening Ceremonies are very important to the Japanese school system. It marks a new beginning for the new students and a fresh start to life for the returning students. Faculty uses this opportunity to energize the students, while focusing them on a central academic and social goal of doing well for the school, themselves, and the community. These ceremonies occur at all school levels, including kindergarten/elementary school. Of course, where there is an opening, there is also a closing....meaning in ten long, yet quick months, I will be able to share with you about the importance of the closing ceremonies. :D

So that was my day today in a nutshell, but what else has happened this week to me??? Well, on Tuesday, I registered for classes. Then on Wednesday, my friends and I were taken down to the Shinjuku-ku (Shinjuku Ward/County) Office to officially register my residence here in Shinjuku-ku and apply for national health insurance. Then on Thursday, my friends and I were taken to Nagano Prefecture to see the Narai Road and Matsumoto Castle. And lastly, Friday! Collectively, we picked up our student ID's, finished up paperwork for Waseda U, got cellphones if we had the money on hand (which I did not....*enter sad face*, but haven't decided what I need from a cell either...) and then had dinner at the home of one of our CSU member's host families. The host parents were so sweet! We as a group felt welcomed and blessed by the generosity this lovely couple shared with us.

But, as life likes to be, our lovely dinner and fun was coupled with some difficult moments. Yesterday, we had two experiences that sandwiched the evening of laughter and love. First, on our way to our friend's host family's house, one of our trains was severely delayed. If you aren't aware of Japanese public transport systems, the vehicle is never allowed to be late. Only when there is an accident or unforeseen circumstance is the vehicle ever late. Yes, I am using strong words because I want to make a point. If the train, in this case, is severely late, you can expect the worst.  And this was one of those times.

The transportation system in Japan is absolutely amazing. There are billboards in the train stations and signs on the trains informing passengers of any delays and the reason for delays. For example, when I was here in Tokyo two years ago, I noticed one day while on the train coming back from church that one of the local trains had been delayed by an earthquake. Last night, while approaching our first stop on the way to the host family's house, I saw that one train had been delayed by a blackout (apparently it remained delayed throughout our fine evening since I saw the same message hours later...). But, the most common reason for delays that I have seen is thing called 人身事故"Jinshin Jiko"...or "Human Accident".

For those of whom have had the opportunity of hearing me speak about Japan, you might remember this topic. This term "Human Accident" is used for any situation in which a human was involved....technically.... But, this term is often used as a euphemism for "Suicide". Japan is known for its high suicide rates. In fact, one of the forests near Tokyo is the second most popular place for suicides, second only to the Golden Gate Bridge. Another popular way to go is in fact one of the easiest ways to go and that is by jumping in front of the train.

So what does this have to do with our night last night? Well, I did mention that one of our trains had been severely delayed, correct? Well, as we stood, pondering over why we weren't allowed past the gates into the next rail way system we had to ride, one of our friends who can read Japanese announced that our train had been delayed by a human accident. She, however, did not know the most probable meaning behind this term. It was truly a learning experience for all of us.

The railway gave free tickets to all of us who had been delayed. Though I had read about this kind of delay many of times, I had never experienced before.

Now that I have discussed a truly heart-wrenching topic, I had mentioned that we had two experiences that sandwiched our night of fun. Well, be glad that the second experience was not heart-wrenching nor sad, but it was worrisome all the same.


On our way back home from our friend's host family's home, a few of us fell behind and ended up separated from the group. Truthfully, this is not usually a problem because there are trains coming and going regularly, so one just has to jumps onto the next train. In Tokyo, The trains that are going to the same destinations as each other come within at least 30 minutes are each other with many being with just a few minutes apart. So, as I said, typically having someone miss the train is not usually a problem, however, it was last night.


There is one thing I did not mention, all trains in Tokyo picking up passengers at 12 midnight. Of course, last night, we naturally started heading home after 11 pm. In fact, our lead group caught one of the very last trains that headed back home. So, of course we were worried that our straggling friends were going to be stuck at the station where we had to change trains.

Fortunately, we all made it home, some just later than others. Unfortunately, our poor Japanese friend, who joined us for our dinner party and had been helping us out the last two weeks, waited for our missing friends at our exchange and ended up having to take a very long taxi ride home...

So, last night was fun, but it did have some sad and stressful elements to it.


On this note, I will end the post for the evening (it's at evening for me...) Next time, I hope to start and multiple-day post about the Narai Road and Matsumoto Castle in Nagano. These posts will include photos I took during our day-long outing to the great prefecture of Nagano!


'Til then, see-ya Peeps!