Getting Settled? Oh, Yeah—Here's How

Here is a verbal blast:

While you were enjoying the comforts of your cozy California homes & dojo, I was moving back and forth, back and forth, and yes, back and forth all weekend from the gaijin house (which kept back $100 for "cleaning"..."Cleaning WHAT??" I blurted, before remembering I was in Japan, at the mercy of a rental agency). Glad to be out of there..taking a while to recover from the smokers outside the shower room, the comatose roommate who was glad to see me go so he could share his space with his Japanese girlfriend. GOODBYE.

Transported things from the stash place at work (coat closet). Bought a grocery shopping bicycle remarkably similar to my former one, with basket in front, rack on back, and ONE gear. Can ride to work in 30 minutes. Next weekend, will ride into fable Ginza area.

A workmate gave me a coffee maker. I was thinking "O great, a stupid Mr. Coffee". Far from that! It's a very new and fancy National coffeemaker that does not use filters and even grinds the beans up. So far, I have no coffee beans, but it was a relief to have a source of hot water for tea & yum yum instant coffee. So far, Starbucks is the only coffee game in town. Sorry to say.

Discovered upon closer look that my apt surfaces are, in a word, GRIMY with the Tokyo air deposits. So, clean clean clean. Downside: late night delivery trucks. Upside: nicest looking "bedroom" ever--tatami mats, lovely sliding doors & closet doors. Finally, my own shower room with ofuro (deep bath).

Now, material goods will slowly arrive. By Friday the 3-burner stove and gas heater will arrive. Both are only a year old. Next Saturday my 11 boxes from California arrive. What did I think was worth shipping? Won't that be fun to find out. Hope I chose well. End of the month-my telephone line activates (have to now buy a phone), the large refrigerator, large desk & bookshelves, blessed washer & dryer arrive from someone who is leaving Japan after some 20 years.

Now it's time to gear up for administrative things like the Alien Registration Card, the Citibank account, etc. At work I'm putting in overtime (more money) but also getting adjusted to a feeling that has been missing from work for too long--being productive with something to do! What a nice feeling.

Two geraniums on the porch from a workmate who also moved to Tsukishima this weekend & gave me an old foam thing to sleep on until I order a real futon/couch. Sighted: birds that perch on the balcony rail. They fly up the canal & river outside the apt. unit. Big kingfishers, chickadees, usual sparrows, big honking crows.

Discovered in my block: a real sembei making shop of antiquity. Antique old guys inside sporting blue kasuri aprons (tres traditional) and split toe stocking booties. Sembei is the rice crackers wrapped in seaweed sheets. Danged good. What a great smell. Other great smells: the two local fish shops. I AM in the epicenter of Japanese fish.

Well, Tokyo is not a place to move to, breath in deeply and say "Wow, what a great place". It grows on you, incrementally. The sembei shop makes up for the trucks. Other adventures overrun the building clusters that bear a remarkable resemblance to an Alaskan canning factory town.