Well, just dashing off a quick note to say that I'm alive. So hurray! I got vague, misleading directions from an old man outside of my home station, but that was my first and last major hitch getting here. I ended up stopping several people and asking directions, and finally received a ride from the very kind Mr. Takanaka. It probably wasn't a good idea to have a complete stranger drive me to the dormitory, but he made a kind offer and I didn't want to walk another two kilometers through the extremely narrow sidewalks of Shin-Kawasaki, dragging all my stuff along the whole way.

So, I have an hour to take a shower, and then all the new residents and the RAs are going to go out drinking (that includes me), so prospects for rest are grim for at least the next few hours : (

I really like the dorm here. The room is just barely big enough to cram all of the essentials in, but hey, it has all the essentials. And they also have a ton of free crap lying around the lounge (or rather, neatly placed therein), including silverware and daily household implements, umbrellas, etc. that previous students left behind in their rooms. The RAs, Tanaka and Hirose, are very good people, very relaxed and welcoming. I expected to get chewed out at least a little for showing up nearly an hour late (an especially bad thing to do in Japan), but the manager and RAs were quite kind and understanding. Well, those are a few quick notes on this madness- I'm going to take a very necessary shower...
...For which I have neither soap nor shampoo... (>_<;)