An update from the first two weeks after arrival.

(You can double click most of the images to enlarge them.....)

My work tried to help me by formatting my computer in English.

Unfortunately the actual keyboard on my work computer is printed with the Japanese format. As a result some of the keys do not match what is printed on them. For example the #2 key shows the " symbol on it, but if I push shift and press the #2 key it makes the @ symbol. I think that is probably the symbol that is shown on your keyboard. number of associates back home were able to send me a picture of the US keyboard so I know were the keys are.

Monday: (After arrival)
We spent half of the day filling out papers, most of which I did not understand. For all I know I signed a paper that says I will work for free for the next 2 years. We were also given a Hanko, it is a stamp with our family name engraved into it in Katakana, Kanji for Japanese. It has to be registered with the government and you use it as your signature on official documents.

Below is a picture of ours.

I received my work badge.

The system converts the katakana into English and can not be edited.

It says R. Hiyu Zu on it.

I asked if it was OK to smile for the picture, but they said completely no.

In the afternoon we were each taken to see 2 houses they had picked for us. Then we were told we must decide from the two. Some of the others forced HR to give them one more choice, but I was able
to pick from the two they showed me. It is difficult because they don't clean the home until after you select it, so you have to imagine what it will look like after that.
Here is our new home:

And one of the toilets that Kate spoke fondly about (I will do a feature on it later)

Tuesday:
3/4 of the day was spend registering with the government. I had to register with Takanezawa as an Alien and register my hanko to be official. Then register with Utsunomiya immigration. Finally we spent the rest of the day purchasing cell phones. Here is a picture of an actual cell phone we could have selected, it is a Transformer.

I picked a basic phone. Last years price was about $1000 us but now it is free. I paid the service fee for two years up front so my monthly bill for 1 phone will be $0.15 if I don't call anyone after 9pm and before 1am. I sat in Yamada Denki electronic store with the others for almost 5 hours for this. They play a theme song over and over again every 5 minutes or so really loud. I still cant get it out of my head "Y a m a d a D e n k i......" Today I also learned about the Yakiimo truck. I have not yet seen an ice cream truck, but the Yakiimo truck drives around yelling "Yakiimo, Yakiimo, oishii, oishii desyo.." over and over. Basically it is a sweet potato truck and I have tried them, they are very tasty and healthier than ice cream.

Wednesday:
Most of the day was spent setting up bank accounts. After that we visited the UEC "Utsunomiya English Center" They will be teaching us Japanese, and supporting the family. Finally back to Yamada Denki for internet set up and spouse cell phone. For the spouse phone I used $76 of my Yamada Denki points that I received from purchasing the first phone. As a result her phone was even cheaper. They have a video phone option that is pretty cool. I got fiber optic internet for the house. The price was only about $20 more per month than the DSL option. 4 more hours at "Y a m a d a D e n k i....." (insert female announcer voice to jingle here.) Finally off to the Monkey bar. It is a bar/restaurant in Utsunomiya that has monkeys that help serve, they also put on a show. The food was the worst Japanese food I have ever eaten. The sashimi was still frozen as well as the edamame. Although I am smiling in the picture in the previous post the monkeys seriously, I mean really badly reeked of pooh. At that point I decided that monkeys and food should stay separated.

Thursday,
Rejected from the work bus, because although we now have ID badges we did not have bus cards.
Missed the regular visitor bus that would get us to work in time to be picked up by our department so Matt and I spent $42 on a cab to get there in time. We did make it in time. We were given our bus pass and uniforms. I never realized how much I put my hands in my pants pocket during the day before I was given a pair of pants that have no front pockets. Shortly after I was shown my seat a guy stood up and yelled "sumi masen sumi masen, something something something Larry Hughes from America" After everyone gathered around 50-60 people? I was told I should introduce myself. Fortunately I had a cheat sheet in case something like this happened. I used a short version of my intro "not the one about being homeless and living in Utsunomiya station..." I think it went OK because everyone clapped after.

Next was car selecting. I really wanted a J Odyssey. It is not like our US Odyssey. When we arrived I went straight to the location were they were. Fortunately for me I am over 30 so there is an insurance break. That is what allowed me to come in under the cost limit. To my knowledge I will be the first to pull off the J-Odyssey. Unfortunately while I was grabbing that the RSX type R was snagged by Dundon. There was a new 4door Civic type R, but is was way over the limit. After that the options dwindled quickly. They had many Fit cars in the lot, but I refused to select any car I could purchase in the US. My parking space is limited so I had to choose a small car. I asked the manager to check the dealer network to find an type R hatch. He found one, but it did not have navi, and that would throw me over the limit. I requested an older one, but he rejected because he could not find one that was not highly modified. I said that was OK, but he has to guarantee the vehicle for 2 years and was not willing to do so. Finally I thought more and decided that it really was important for Kate to have the option to drive my car as well. The J-Odyssey is pretty big for Japan and the streets are narrow. It may be difficult for her to drive, so the option of a smaller car is important. I settled on a yellow Diva. It is a K car. Since it is so cheap I was able to get them to agree to install the following options: sports suspension, blue interior lighting, rear roof spoiler, and exhaust.

Finally it was time to get the family.

We headed down to Tokyo. On the way we stopped in Ueno.

There were many shops there to see.

In fact I saw the biggest tako (Octopus) for sale ever.

I asked Dundon to stand next to it for size reference.

I have plenty more to update, but again it is late and I think I have maxed out this page.

More one the way soon...