Jeff in Japan

Minor Update

Hey all,

So, not too much to report since last time. I'm officially feeling more Japanese now. I've got my foreigner registration card, my health insurance card, my pension plan booklet (majide!), my work access pass, my business cards, cell phone, and my inkan (personal stamp). I also took the liberty of purchasing a plastic Armored Core mecha kit. Sure the game had control issues, but it had some of the most kick-ass mech design I've seen (not too mention a totally wicked customizable UID).

Before:


After:


I also visited IKEA on the weekend.



It's the reason apartments all over the world look exactly the same! And I bought a good swatch of furniture, though it was far too heavy to carry on the train from Chiba (the White Rock of Tokyo) to Shinagawa (the Burnaby of Tokyo). But man was I tempted to try! I think if I hadn't bought the shelf, I would have gone for it! As it is they whacked me something like $50 CDN for delivery! Even still, it seems delivery is way more popular in Japan than in Canada. You'd only see *maybe* one or two people in Canada go for delivery. In Japan, EVERYBODY who bought something even remotely large queued up for the delivery service.



It was like an hour wait in line just to get to the desk! And they can't deliver my stuff till July 5th! (Which is actually the same day I get my Fibre internet installed, booya!) But I figured since the delivery was by distance (I was in the most expensive zone, fuck) and not by weight, I'd make them carry everything I purchased, save myself a little hassle!



Oh, before that I went to Akihabara to get my cell phone. After a few hours of walking around comparing prices and plans, I decided to go with AU, since they had some good free phones, and every plan is expensive anyway... The phone claims not to be bilingual, but I discovered the English mode anyway. Go, go me! It's pretty nice I guess. I miss not having T9 input, but I guess the Japanese input is good... I discovered it has the very peculiar ability to read the decimal value of bar codes. I cannot fathom anybody having a practical use for this particular function, but there you have it.

In other news, Valkyrie Profile 2 has been doing well,



And I bought an XBox 360 for myself for my b-day! Hooray! As soon as I get my furniture, I will declare my house the official hang-out spot!

And if you haven't heard, Crossfit Japan now has it's first student! w00t! Sakazume-kun, ganbatte! crossfitjapan.blogspot.com

That's all for now. Till next time,
Keep your stick on the ice!

- Jeff

posted by Jeff Sipko @ 23:22