Thanks, and Much Other News, Accounts Various and Amusing

Hey mum, you kick ass. Thanks for bringing Citibank to its senses. I've never made a phone call through Skype before, but I think it'll work.
And hey Kit, I've been sending emails for a while now, but I thought you might be interested in my life here (or rather, my stream-of-consciousness babble about my life here) so I'll start including you in the CC list. Is there a more current email for you? Anyway, I'll airmail you some eroge and assorted electronics from Akihabara ^ ^;

So, I was successfully able to set up a bank account in Japan (at Mitsui Sumitomo bank- at last!), after trying two other locations in addition to Citibank. I actually had fun, because I wasn't stuck for long at any particular place, and I was never put on hold : ) At Mizuho bank, I was told I needed the actual Alien Registration Card, which I'm due to get on the 30th (not the proxy certificate- The Certificate of Registered Matters, known to the Japanese by the absurdly complex denomination 登録原票記載事項証明書, or "

kirokugenpyoukisaijikoushoumeisho"- I picked up at the ward office today) (also, I needed to submit a copy of my bank book to the school by the 16th, so no good). I next tried Mitsubishi Tokyo bank, but I was told I couldn't sign and would have to have a stamp made. So I inquired at the stationary shop downstairs, and apparently while they can make stamps in katakana, they only have room for four characters. Also, they can't make the "baby letters" necessary to spell my name, and with only four letters, I couldn't write "O-SA-RI-BA-N"= O'Sullivan or "Jyo-n" = John. I would have had to go with "JI-YO-N." : / and I'd have to wait three days for them to make the silly thing. To hell with that.

Eventually the international center directed me to Sumitomo bank, the clouds parted, I received my bank book, made a preliminary deposit, and submitted the necessary paperwork to the school. I'm due to receive my stipend on the 30th; both the arrival allowance and the first month's stipend. I won't have to pay for housing until November, as rent is handled in seasonal chunks. Also, the system they use at Sumitomo for signing is interesting. Japanese people can't even begin to read English signatures, so in addition to the signature, we come up with a four-digit security number. So, every time I sign a document at the bank, I sign in the little stamp-box and add my four digit number.

I'll probably end up having money in both accounts, transferring money in cash from Citibank to Sumitomo as necessary to pay my rent. Also, Sumitomo has many more convenient ATM locations, so I'll probably use those on a daily basis and just visit the Citibank ATMs to withdraw titanic, mind-boggling sums in cash (this is my dream- only you can make it happen!). I made friends with a Polish guy named Daniel, whom I met at the bank, and we ended up talking for a couple of hours since he was also a student at Keio, and our business for the day coincided from the bank to the submission of papers to Keio.

I also checked the results of the Japanese language placement test (Maya took hers yesterday. Maya and I had an excellent evening out in Shinjuku the other night, and we ate at an Indian restaurant ^ ^; We'll probably go back during the day later to see the Shinjuku Central Park. And the Cat Cafe'! What, you ask, is a Cat Cafe`? A Cat Cafe' is a place where you can order coffee and cuddle little adorable cats for a set period of time. What can I say? Japan is the greatest country on the earth). Oh right, well somehow I placed into level 10. I have no idea how, but apparently I was able to bullshit many of the answers on the placement test convincingly enough that I was graded well. Level 8 is the minimum level required to attend standard university courses, so as of now I think the entire undergraduate catalog of Keio University, with some exceptions, is open to me. The highest level is 16, but the highest anyone actually placed was 13.

Oh, about the other night. I met up with Yuutaro (my irreverent, cynical, pro-suicide RA) in the lounge, expecting to walk to the Hiyoshi dorm and maybe get some alcohol at a konbini (Japanese convenience store; shortened transliteration of "convenience"). As we sat in the lounge, though, it became apparent that I had greatly misapprehended the situation, as one after another people either showed up or were otherwise roped into going. Yuutaro speaks fluent Japanese, English, and German (four of the guys in our group were German or Austrian, so there was a lot of Deutschenbabble going on). Eventually, in a group numbering between ten and fifteen, we walked to the station and left for Shibuya. At this point, I had a fair idea of what was about to happen.
Anyway, immediately (within two minutes) of exiting the station, we were in a convenience store buying booze. And then, booze in hand, we wandered from bar to bar, each one more full of smoke and people than the last, looking for somewhere that could accommodate the seven of us together (the group had split in two). Eventually we found a dark little basement standing bar with an armless, half-dressed female manikin standing watch by the doorway, at the bottom of the staircase. Choosing arbitrarily from a three-page menu of descriptionless, often original cocktails, the group proceeded to hammer itself into jovial near-incoherence. A young Japanese guy in the bar hugged me and told me I was "cool" because I said "hey" to him in Japanese.

The drink I remember best was called "Ichigeki, Hissatsu," which costs 900 yen and translates literally to "One Shot, Certain Kill." It was tinted green, came in a shot glass, and I don't remember much after that.

Just kidding.

After that, Yutaro somehow led us to a very hip night club called "Atom." We danced in a dark, hot, multi-floor haze of pounding music and cigarette smoke, pressed on all sides by writhing, anonymous bodies, on sweat-slicked floors. I almost died, I danced so much. And then, hours later, wreathed in a strangely sweet reek of sweat and smoke, I emerged with two other people and we proceeded to try to collect our senses in the fresh air outside. This was around four am. At five thirty, Yutaro and the rest of the group came out, we walked to the station, and returned home in a half-deafened daze to sleep until the afternoon. Not something I care to do again for a long, long time, but what fun.

Alright, that's all for now. My adventures in acquiring a cell phone will begin shortly!

- Jack

I believe I have caught a cold : ( I wonder if I should wear a mask as the Japanese do at such times...)