I love this school.
One of the vice-principals is sitting at his desk, muttering away to himself in a high-pitched, nasal voice for his own amusement. He could do voice overs for cartoons. I'm sitting at a computer a couple of desks away, and though I suspect, I am unable to pinpoint the noise as coming from him, or not.
He stops, and takes a drink from his cup of tea.
I must have been staring at him with a puzzled expression on my face, because as soon as he looked in my direction he burst out laughing, apologised, and asked me to please not think all Japanese people are strange just because of him.
Recent Events
OK, its been a long time since I posted.
About ten days ago, I set off on a very busy day. First on the agenda was a trip to the Immigration Office to sort out getting a re-entry permit, which will enable me to get back into Japan after the Christmas holidays. Figuring that the precise procedure would be useful to write down and send to the company so that others may benefit, I took along my camera and some paper for making notes.
Then I got lost on the subways.
Yokohama has a subway system, and for some reason I assumed that the Subway Mintomirai Line was in some way part of, or at least connected to, the Yokohama Subway System.
Rookie mistake.
Japan doesnt follow the sort of logic I'm used to.
After changing trains on the way into Yokohama to take the subway, it ended up that the only way for me to get from the Yokohama Subway to the other subway line, was to go all the way to the big Yokohama railway station anyway, getting me there over half an hour later than had I simply stayed on the same train from the start.
Eventually made it to the right train, and was at Immigration in seven minutes.
Thankful that I had already filled out all the paperwork I needed, I was able to hand it straight across the counter, which sped up the process greatly. I was also glad I had brought my processing fee in stamps, because waiting in the queue to buy them there would have taken oodles more time.
This is one thing I find interesting. Immigration (along with certain other government branches, I believe) does not accept fees paid in cash - you must pay in postage stamps.
There have been people who did not believe me when I mention this fact.
Thankfully, for expensive transactions like this (my re-entry permit cost 6000 yen, or about $70) (wow, it seems so much more when I put it into dollars!), instead of having to stick one hundred and twenty of those little 50 yen stamps onto the page (and yes, that would certainly dry out your tongue in a hurry, leaving you tasting stamp glue for the rest of the day), they do indeed sell large denomination stamps for this very purpose.
Id planned ahead and bought my stamp at the post office the day before, so I wouldnt have to wait in line and waste time at Immigration.
My re-entry permit granted, photos taken for the brochure, I set off for part two of my expedition of the day.
My trip to Australia.
Legally, at least, I was in Australia for about half an hour. There was no passport controls, but the guards did want to know if I was carrying anything dangerous. (They didnt ask about live animals, this time..)
I was at the Embassy in Tokyo. This was the second Australian Embassy I'd ever seen in the world, and the first one I'd ever been into, despite countless trips to the Japanese Embassy in Canberra. The purpose of my visit was, of course, to cast my vote in the Victorian election due to take place three days later. Having left it far too late to register for a postal vote, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the Embassy was offering an over-the-counter service for the state election. They do this for the Commonwealth elections, but not usually for a state one. Nevertheless, they were doing it, so in I went.
Voting took no longer than it would have back home; indeed less so, because there was no huge queue of people at the polling station, just one person in front of me. What did take more time was chatting to the consular official serving as the electoral officer.
She was ex ANU, and had been involved in Kabuki until a few years ago. I wouldnt have recognised her except for her name, and she didnt recognise me at first either, until I told her my name.
After a suitable amount of reminiscing, it was time to pass back through the rather scary looking gates, back into Japan.
The Embassy is right around the corner from Japan's most famous landmark: The Tokyo Tower.
Thats right, the Tokyo Tower. I promise you, it exists, and in Japan is regarded as the most famous landmark in the country. I had never heard of the thing until I started living over here, and I dont think I'm alone in that.
See, I would have thought that Mount Fuji would have been a more famous landmark - but perhaps that is not counted because it was not constructed by a Japanese company.
The Shinkansen strikes me as a good candidate for a landmark - but possibly only because of that picture of the train streaking over a bridge with Mt Fuji in the background (ok, im seeing a pattern here) and cherry blossoms in the foreground. Of course, the Shinkansen moves around, so perhaps that renders it ineligible for landmarkedness.
Perhaps a castle, like Osaka castle, or Odawara castle, (from the top of which, I believe, on a clear day one can see Mt Fuji. (here we go again)). Once again, not elements of the country showcasing industrial prowess.
Anyway, I digress. There is a building called the Tokyo Tower. It is a 1:1 scale model of the Eiffel Tower, except that they put a bigger spike on top, so it is taller. Oh, and that it is painted red and white.
I went to have a look at this tower anyway, in the hope I would be blown away by its awe-inspiring famousness.
Its a tower.
I went and had lunch after that.
The next stop on my agenda for the day was the company offices in Tokyo. A bit of an unexpected visit, at least on their part, but I wasnt sure enough of my own schedule to be able to make appointments. As it turned out, I got a large amount of 'I dont know' from them, so went around the corner to the shrine to take some pictures.
Yasukuni Shrine just so happens to be that big place vaguely equivalent to the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Its supposed to house spirits of war dead, and ol' Jun Koizumi, the former Prime Minister, used to visit every year. This action would without fail would have a similar effect on China and Korea as would dangling it by the tail and brushing its fur backwards have on a cat.
Still, got a couple of photos, which yes, I know I need to post.
Getting nothing useful out of the company drained me a bit, so then I ate some curry and went home.
I left my backpack on the train, and my apartment keys were in it, so between getting the station staff to rescue it off the train before it went all the way back to Tokyo, and my going to the station where it was saved to rescue it, it took me an extra hour to get back to my nice warm little bed, where I had a milo and went to sleep.
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