Cat Cafe!

Last Wednesday Zoe and I went to the cat cafe in Shiki. Finally! I've been meaning to go for awhile. Although my boy Ceasar must have known that I betrayed him and petted the other kitties because when I saw him on Skype the other night he ignored me. I didn't mean it Ceasar I swear!

For anyone staying in the Shiki dorms, the Nyancy Cat Cafe is literally a one minute walk from the dorms, and it's a great place to go just to escape for a little while, it's very peaceful. When you leave the dorms turn left towards the station and then turn left down the street with the Big A on it. Then turn right at the end of the street and it's just a little further down the street on the right hand side. They have a website too if you want to check it out.

This is going to get pretty photo heavy. I hope you like cats as much as I do! I'll leave the photos smaller than usual since there's so many, so click them to enlarge them if you want :)

The most awesome doorknobs ever. I must get some of these...

Kitty wonderland!

One big giant playground.

Sitting kitties.

Kitties in tubes.

Poser kitty.

Greedy kitty.

Not-as-grumpy-as-I-look kitty.

Strange kitty.

Fat kitty (who can surprisingly jump just as well as any other cat).

Short kitty.

Headless kitty.

Pretty kitty.

Awesome-eyed kitty.

Flat face kitty.

Sleepy kitty.

I was overly excited about feeding time.

My new friends.

More friends.

I swear we were just playing...

If you made it this far, well done. Nyancy have a very diverse range of cats, with Ragdolls, Munchkins, Scottish Folds, Norwegian Forest cats, Selkirk Rexes, American Shorthairs, Russian Blues, but to my dismay no Siamese like Ceasar. Although I don't think Siamese are a popular breed here so that doesn't really surprise me. Probably because they're so noisy :p There's a rabbit cafe in Harajuku that I want to check out before I leave in February too, so hopefully I'll have photos of that for you sometime. It would be nice to play with the bunnies since it's illegal to have them as pets in Queensland.

By the way, I've spoken to QUT and I've withdrawn from a unit without any academic (and I'm pretty sure no financial) penalty. I've also decided to do a fashion minor when I get back next year, so I suppose that's one positive from all of this because I couldn't have done that if I continued with Japanese.

Anthea xx

Trials and Tribulations

Hey guys, I'm finally feeling better and I've nearly finished my course of antibiotics (thank goodness, because I'm sick of taking damn tablets). I'm still a little snotty, which is a bit of a problem because in Japan it's considered rude to blow your nose in public, it's preferred that you just snort it back in. This is of course giving me headaches because of all the snot trapped in my head. It comes out for a reason Japan! Moving on...

As you probably remember, Rikkyo was contacting QUT about the number of classes I'm taking. That was 2.5 weeks ago and QUT still haven't given Rikkyo an answer. What's taking them so no I have no frickin' clue. They clearly just like messing with student's lives and well-being. Anyway I simply couldn't keep doing 10 classes, as a result I was having trouble keeping up in Japanese, and so I've dropped my Japanese classes. Sorry Aunty Mary, I won't be speaking Japanese upon my return like you requested. Unfortunately, this means that I'm now only doing the equivalent of 3 subjects back home instead of 4, which means that I won't be able to graduate at the end of 2014 as planned, but I'll be finishing my degree in the middle of 2015. Sorry Dad, guess you're stuck with me a bit longer, but I know how to cook teriyaki beef now! I still need to contact QUT about whether I'll be given academic penalty for dropping a subject, but fingers crossed it won't affect me.

Winter (or what I refer to as Winter) is well and truly here. Clearly my life up until this point has left me ill-prepared, because the Europeans are calling this Autumn. As far as I'm concerned, Japan decided to skip Autumn all together this year since the weather went from 30 degrees one day to 18 the next (literally) and hasn't looked back since. Yesterday was 14 degrees, and I simply don't know how to dress for anything below 20 degrees. And it's only going to get colder. For some of the people here it baffles them that I don't own a scarf or gloves. What the hell would I need them for back home? Clearly I need to go shopping, and I can see that this is going to be a somewhat expensive venture as after googling 'how to dress for Winter' it's come to my attention that not only am I going to need proper coats (not just the thin jumpers that I own now), but also jeans (not stockings), gloves, scarves, and beanies. But it doesn't end there...I then need new clothes to go under the coats because what I own now will look silly under a coat, and I need new shoes. Shoes will be the major issue since it's nearly impossible for me to find any here that fit. Usually I love shopping, but this just all seems so exhausting. I pretty much have to build a wardrobe from scratch, and this would normally excite me because it means I can reinvent my look, but it doesn't because it's a lot of money to spend on stuff that I won't even be able to wear back home.

My other issue is the saunas disguised as trains and buildings. I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to dress for indoors or outdoors because outside it can be 10 degrees but the second you step into a building or get on a train it's about 40 degrees. I got on the train in a light jumper the other day and nearly passed out from the heat. In Brisbane our buildings are warmer than it is outside in Winter, but not so hot that you want to strip down to a bikini. If I get sick again, I'm positive that it will be from the constant hot/cold temperature changes. Honestly, the whole concept just frustrates me. Getting dressed in the morning should be a simple process, but instead I have a tantrum every time I have to pick something to wear because the extreme hot/cold thing plus my lack of Winter fashion know-how just leave me feeling lost.

I'd better stop writing before this turns into a novel. I'll leave you with these photos of Halloween donuts. I finally went to the cat cafe last week, so I'll have photos of that up soon.

Anthea xx

I Cleaned Out The Pharmacy

Hey guys. This is a post about being sick in Japan. If you're thinking of living in Japan (or studying at Rikkyo), here's some info for you about my experiences.

I've been sick for over a week now, and I've missed out a tonne of fun trips with the other Shiki dorm occupants as a result. While this is by no means the worst cold that I've had, I've never had a cold last this long before. As soon as I think I'm getting better I end up with some new symptom. As soon as my cough went away I got an earache. Then it went away and my nose started running to the point where I had to blow it so much that I looked like I had a skin disease (thank God those masks that the Japanese wear when they're sick conceal this), and now I have a very painful jaw, probably as a result of the earache.

I never get earaches as a result of having a cold, so when this happened last Friday I figured that I'd better go see the health clinic at Rikkyo. This was a waste of time. He had a look in my ear, decided it was a 'bit red' and then referred me to a throat, ear and nose doctor. I dunno what happens in other countries, but in Australia if a doctor could see that I had an infection they would give me a script for antibiotics and send me on my way. Anyway I wandered off to find the special doctor with the use of the map that I was given, but that's the thing about Japan, there are no street names and the street numbers don't run in any particular order. I couldn't find the building and had to get to class so I wasn't able to get to the special doctor until today, being Monday.

The throat, ear and nose doctor visit was...interesting. The good news for those of you who don't really speak Japanese is that they have English versions of all the paperwork, and while the doctor didn't speak very much English she knew enough so that I knew what was going on. When I first walked into the room it was a bit intimidating. The closest thing I have to liken it to is a dentist's office. There's a chair with a big light above it, an assistant, and a whole table full of scary metal objects. No wonder the kids in the next room were screaming. She cleaned my ears to get all the wax out (which I have to admit felt good, like when you clean your ears with a cotton bud), sprayed some stuff in my nose and sucked out some snot (which was a little uncomfortable and kind of gross lol), and then put some sort of numbing stuff on the back of my tongue (probably to help with the sore throat?). I was then put on a nebuliser where I breathed stuff in first through my nose and then through my mouth. And all of this cost me about $15. Bargain lol.

I then headed downstairs to the pharmacy with my script (if you come from a country where a pharmacy is called a chemist, don't bother saying chemist, no one will know what the hell you're talking about). I couldn't read the script because it was in Japanese so I had no idea what I was in for until the pharmacist came out with this:

To anyone else needing medicine today, I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure I cleaned the place out. 5 DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEDICINE. SERIOUSLY? I have antibiotics, antitussives to help suppress my cough, tablets to help break down my snot, painkillers, as well as a general all purpose cold relief medicine. I need to take these 3 times a day, 6 tablets each time. The upside to Japanese medicine is that they seem to favour the little round sized pills. This is great for me since I struggle with tablets. The other interesting thing is that the meds don't come in boxes like they do in Australia, they just give you what you need. You also get a sheet with a photo of the pill, it's name, what it does, and how many to take (I guess this makes sense since you don't get a box). Luckily the pharmacist spoke a bit of English and was able to tell me what they were all for and how many to take, and that I could substitute my ibuprofen tablets for the painkillers if I wanted. All those tablets cost me only $12. Pretty sure I'd be looking at like $50 if I was in Australia, although I can't be sure because I usually avoid dosing myself up on 5 DIFFERENT TABLETS. This is also the first time I've ever taken antibiotics. You've broken me Japan.

So my advice: be prepared for your trip to Japan. Bring cold and flu medicine with you. I didn't bother to bring anything because I had the flu shot before I came. Do not be silly like me and rely on the flu shot alone, because if you do get sick and need medicine you will be sent on a wild goose chase to get it, and if you're like me and don't even have the energy to walk to the train station when you're sick you're gonna have a hard time.

My second piece of advice to Rikkyo students, if you need medicine because you have a cold, don't bother with the uni health clinic, go straight to a throat, ear and nose doctor. There's the one in Ikebukuro only a few streets from the uni that I went to (I can't remember the exact name, Nakai something or other), or if you're staying in the Shiki dorms there's one on the way to the Shiki train station. I'm not saying that you should avoid the uni clinic altogether, but it seems that for colds they will just send you somewhere else to get a script so you might as well skip this step.

That's it for now, I'll try and have some fun photos up soon, not that I've really been out of the dorm lately to have any fun though.

Anthea xx

Kaze

So...no photos, but a very quick update. Kaze in Japanese means both cold (as in the flu), and wind. They have different kanji, but the point is that both are hanging around at the moment. Yeah I came down with a cold just as we have a couple of days off uni. Go me. This means that I've managed to miss out on both a trip to Yokohama and a trip to Hakone. It's right now that I'm missing home a lot because there's no one to look after me. I had to make my own damn chicken soup and it just doesn't compare to the soup my Aunty made me last time I was sick. I also miss being able to drive places. I just don't have the energy to stand on trains to get anywhere when I'm sick (so I really hope I'm better by Friday when I have uni again, because having a cold isn't a good enough reason to miss class here).

We also have a lot of wind here at the moment. TYPHOOOOOOOOON! To be completely honest, I don't really get the hype about typhoons. Everyone is always like 'ooooooh watch out, be careful in the typhoon'. To be honest I think we get worse storms in Australia. Sure, there's rain and the winds are pretty intense (54km/h), but there's not really any trees here in Tokyo for the wind to knock over into houses and power lines. As long as you don't plan on leaving the house in a skirt and you have a super sturdy umbrella you should be fine.

And a quick update on the uni front, I'm still waiting to hear from QUT about my subjects. I'll check in with the office at Rikkyo again on Friday to see if they've heard anything.

Anthea xx

Out And About

Hey guys, sorry again for the lack of updates. I've been to talk to Rikkyo about the number of classes that I'm taking because I'm doing far more work at Rikkyo than I do at QUT and I'm having trouble keeping up and getting my homework done. Rikkyo reckon that QUT has stuffed up the class conversion somewhere down the track and that I'm doing more than I have to (WHICH I TRIED TO TELL QUT 3 WEEKS AGO), so they're talking to QUT for me and hopefully QUT will agree to let me drop a couple of subjects. Otherwise you may never hear from me again because we haven't even started working on large assignments yet.

I don't really have much to tell you because I've just been studying and not doing much else. I'll show you some photos that I've taken around the place though.

Here is Olivia and Angie and their victim Declan at lunch...

As part of our Modern Jap History class (see my previous post for details) we had to go on a walking tour from Ueno to Asakusa. Here's some pics from along the way. The third photo is of the display window for a store that sells fake display food. Yep, that food is fake.

Here's a pic from the inside of one of the stores in Harajuku. You weren't supposed to take photos, but how could I not?

One day I found myself in the last carriage of the train. Here's some photos out the back window.

And finally, last Sunday we went to the Rikkyo vs Meiji university baseball game. I'd never been to a baseball game (or any sporting game for that matter) so I was interested to see what it would be like. It was a lot of fun, but totally exhausting. Somehow we got seated right at the front with the cheerleaders, which meant that we couldn't avoid participating in their chants and what not. Which were never ending. We couldn't actually watch the game because we were too busy cheering, but Rikkyo won 5-1. We weren't supposed to take photos, but Olivia ignored the rules so I stole some of her photos...

So that's all for now really. Next Wednesday is a holiday for us, so on Tuesday I'll be going to Hakone for a night with most of the Shiki dorm crew. I believe that hikes to see views of Mt Fuji and onsen (yes, naked communal baths, doesn't sound so enticing when you put it like that right?) are on the agenda.

Anthea xx

Class Is In Session...

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't written in awhile, classes started on Monday last week and I've been really busy with homework already. Here's a quick rundown of the classes I'm taking. While most of the other students are only taking 7 or 8 classes I need to take 10. Thanks QUT. It's not like I wanted to have fun while I'm here...

Japanese J1S
This is my Japanese language class which I go to 3 times a week. I'm super lucky to be in J1S because it means my classes don't start until 10:45am. I'm struggling a bit with the content since apparently languages aren't really my forte and I'm probably the weakest in the class in terms of skill level, but the teachers are generally lovely and we have a cosy little class of 8 students so at least I'm not making a fool of myself in front of 30 people like I was in my classes at UQ. The biggest problem at the moment is the quizzes we get once or twice a week which we're graded on. The vocabulary we're required to know for these quizzes is about 80-100 words, and we generally only have a day or 2 to learn them. My brain just can't handle that so we'll see how I go. The strange thing is that we have the quiz and THEN we'll spend 2 lessons covering the content. Doesn't make sense to me...

Japanese Modern History 2
This class is a bit of fun, but if anyone plans to take this class you need to be prepared to give up a few of your Saturdays because part of the syllabus is to go on walking tours of historic parts of Tokyo. The upside to giving up your Saturday is that you then don't have to go to class that week. Unfortunately though, if your timetable is like mine, this just means you have a big break with nothing to do in the middle of the day rather than being able to go home early.

Intercultural Management
This is a great class, if you can get into it. What we weren't told prior to our arrival is that some classes are limited placement, meaning that only about 5 exchange students from the College of Business (CoB) are admitted to the class, and these spots are decided by a lottery. I was pretty damn lucky to get into this class, because QUT told me I needed to take it to get credit for my International Marketing unit. Phew. The professor for this subject is rather animated, and I'm not gonna lie, maybe just a little bit scary for the first half hour of the first lesson until you work out what he's all about. Another thing I wasn't aware of was that other than the 5 CoB exchange students, the rest of the class is Japanese students. This was a little bit intimidating at first, especially as in every lesson you get split into groups of 5, which generally means one exchange student per group which results in you becoming the centre of attention. The class really is very interesting though, and I recommend taking it if you get the chance. Just make sure that you do the weekly readings, as the whole class is based on discussions and it will be obvious if you haven't done them.

Japanese Culture 2
This was probably the class that I was the most excited for, although now I'm not so sure. I don't want to make a decision about whether I like it or not after just one lesson though, so I'll have to get back to you on that haha. The professor is interesting, although I found she had a tendency to ramble a little, and the homework seems a bit too much. Each week there is a reading that you need to do, and then you need to write a short reaction paper. This doesn't sound so bad, but this week's reading was 34 pages long. Hopefully this was an exception and future readings won't be so long, I simply don't have time for that on a weekly basis.

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Japanese Perspective
This is a graduate level class, and it should prove to be interesting if it's anything like the professor. He's a crazy Aussie, and I can't tell when he's joking or not. It's going to take me awhile to work him out I think, but it should be an interesting semester.

Business and Society in Japan
I haven't actually been to one of these classes yet, I was supposed to take another class instead but I got booted out of it because they had too many students and I had no prior knowledge about the subject (I'm sorry, I thought I was here TO LEARN ABOUT IT). This class is taken by the same professor who takes Corporate Social Responsibility though, so I'm going to assume I'll enjoy it based on that fact alone.

Marketing in Japan
This is the graduate level marketing class, and as the name suggests its about marketing in Japan. I think it looks at the retail sector quite a bit (and hopefully fashion) so this should be a good class. My only complaint is that the teacher (despite being a lovely lady) speaks English rather slowly (although I really can't blame her as it's her second language). Unfortunately this causes a problem as the class finishes at 8pm and I'm going to struggle to stay awake at times I think...

Marketing Positioning Strategy
This is the undergrad marketing class, and unfortunately it looks at the basics about where to position your company in the market. This is all stuff that I did in my first semester of uni, so I don't know how exciting it will be, but at least it should be a breeze in terms of assessment.

So that's all my classes, and my initial impressions. If any future Rikkyo students have any questions about the classes I'm taking, let me know and I'll try and answer as best I can. I'll leave you now with some pictures of the campus (minus a picture of the inside of the dining hall which I keep forgetting to photograph, but it truly looks like something out of Harry Potter). As you can see everything is very green, and they employ countless groundsmen to keep it looking like this.

Main entrance

Main entrance

Opposite side of the main entrance

I swear this is the only clock on campus, none of the classrooms have clocks and I'm yet to buy a watch...

There's one of these trees on either side of the entrance. I'm secretly hoping they get decorated for Christmas...

These tiny doors reminded me of something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And then I saw a tiny groundsman come out of one, just like an Oompa Loompa (without the orange skin).

Groundsmen at work. They were literally inspecting every individual piece of grass. They're INSANE.

Immaculate.

Outside the dining hall.

Leading up to the dining hall.

Proof that not all the buildings are brick...

View from level 6 of McKimm Hall.

Anthea xx