Moving In

I have found an apartment and so I've been spending the last few days settling details and moving in. I ended up choosing the place that I found on Friday.

I called and met Marika, the landlady, and arranged to see the apartment at 5:00. I arrived almost an hour early but I made good use of this time to explore the neighborhood a bit and scout out the local stores. Then at 5 til, I went back to the building and rang the doorbell. 

I was slightly embarrassed when I realized that the Marika was a dance teacher and that had interupted the last few minutes of a lesson. I guess she didn't mind too much because as soon as the lesson was over she began cooking a special New Year's dish for me and another tenant. It became quickly apparent that Marika is a very friendly lady and has a much, much closer landlord/tenant relationship than normal. Just a few minutes after meeting me, she enlisted me in slicing meat for dinner. She made soft rice with herbs, which she told me is the traditional food eaten by Japanese people to cleanse the palette after the rich foods consumed during the New Year holiday. We also had fish sashimi and the Japanese version of my ancestors' pickled herring. Although not terrible, I won't be looking to eat more in the future. Probably, my appreciation was poisoned by my general dislike of seafood.

After dinner Marika gave me a tour of her apartment buildings. She has four of them. I ended up choosing a room in a building that is just one block from Nakai station on the Oedo subway line. This gives me direct access to Shinjuku and school by train. Better yet, because of the apartments location in centeral Tokyo, I'll be able to get to most of the city, including school by bike. It looks like I will once again be biking to school everyday. To make my commute easier, Marika is selling me a better bike. I should be able to make it to school in approximately half an hour.