The Fine Art of Thumb Twiddling
The eikaiwa I’m working for has finally told me where in Japan I’ll be located: the Minami Ward (Minami-ku) of Yokohama. I’ll be living in an apartment leased by the eikaiwa, which means no up front costs and rent deducted from my salary, which is great, financially. However, if I’ll be working in Tokyo city (I won’t know for sure until I arrive and do orientation) that means I’m going to have a long train commute. The eikaiwa claim that no one will have to travel more than an hour to get to work but
a) I’m not sure I trust them, and
b) I don’t want to stand, breathing in people’s armpits for 2 hours each day.
If that’s the case then I’ll probably consider moving out into a gaijin house somewhere closer to where I work.
The apartments are meant to be furnished, but I think there’ll still be a few things I’ll need to buy on my arrival. For starters: a rice cooker. All the apartments are said to have cutlery, crockery and basic items for cooking on your gas top stove. But there’s no mention of rice cookers! And I want to try out some of the rice cooker recipes around!
I’ll also need to set up an internet connection, which may cost even more if there’s no telephone line in the apartment.
Hairdryer, portable media player for the long commutes, mobile phone, stereo system with mp3 support, USB key, external DVD burner for my laptop…..
I’m looking forward to shopping in Akihabara!
17 days to go…
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