Missing Tokyo

Well, I`ve arrived in Fukuoka... First impression of this city: Smaller than Tokyo (any city might feel tiny after living there). Upon my arrival, I had no plan... No reservation at any hotel, no idea of transportation from the airport to the city core, no one to meet with, nothing. It was honestly my biggest mess-up in my travels thus far. But, I like a challenge, so it`s all good. From the airport I took a subway to Tenjin station, because a) I liked the name TENJIN and b) It seemed to be pretty much in the city core on the map. Luckly for me and unknown to me at the time, my school is also located in Tenjin ward.

Once off the subway, I found myself once again in a maze of people and honestly it was a little comforting because it almost reminded me of Tokyo (which I`m already getting homesick for but more on that later). After wandering around aimlessly looking for anything that says ホテル (hotel) for about an hour with no luck, I gave in on my pride and called Evan (the director of the school I`m attending). I explained to him my lack of planning, and appologized in embarassment. But, to my delight Evan is an extremely nice person and was more than helpful, he informed me that I was not too far from the school in fact, and he would meet me at the busy intersection just north of my current location.

So onwards I went. Evan met me there, guided me to a nearby hotel and asked if I would need help getting a room. Being overly sure of my self again, I bid him farewell and told him I could handle it from here. So he road away on his bike, and I made my way to the hotel lobby.

Unfortunately, I did not know it was Sumo season in Fukuoka and because of this the hotel would be overrun with semi-intoxicated salary men to the point that there was simply no rooms available to anyone who didn`t already have a reservation. After this was explained to me by the girl behind the desk, I turned around, and realised that once again, I was in a pickle. Worse, Evan had just left and I would feel like an idiot to have to call him again. どうしょう？ I thought to myself.

Then I realised I was only about 6 blocks from the school. So off to the school I went to seek help. Might aswell get a sneak peak at the school anyways right? Well, I arrived at the school alive, and made my way up the steps. It`s actually a really nice building with a good atmosphere conductive to learning and I should add the teachers are really nice too. To make a long story short, I found Evan at the school, we called a couple hotels until we found one that had an available room, and I took the Taxi there where I stayed for the rest of the weekend.

The hotel unfortunately has nothing to see or do around it within walking distance, and there was no internet either, so I spent my time watching Japanese TV. It was interesting to stay in a Japanese style room where the floors are covered with TATAMI mats, and sleeping in a REAL futon is EXTREMELY comfortable. Breakfast is served at the Hotel for free until 9AM, without any stove available (like I would use it anyways, right mom?), and only a water heater, I ate mostly CUP NOODLES, NIKUMAN, and POCKY or ICE CREAM for desert.

On sunday (today) I made my way to my homestay house. This place is in a town outside of Fukuoka that is right on the coast of the Sea of Japan, and is surrounded by both mountains and beaches. It`s really beautiful, but there is almost nothing to do here either. This is ok though, it will hopefully mean more time studying, less money being wasted, and some nice quiet before going back to the likes of Tokyo or visiting Kyoto. My host mother is a very kind older woman, and there is another student from GenkiJACS homestaying here aswell. He is from Germany, his name is Boris, and he looks almost identical to my cousin Mike but with lighter hair.

Anyways, thats probably enough to read for one sitting, and my fingers are getting sore. Off to check my e-mail for the first time in a few days.
- Timo