We’re a little over a month in at this point, and it feels like we’re starting to get settled. Government processes have begun, utilities have been (mostly) fulfilled, and I’ve even joined my Japanese class 6 months early!

Getting Official

Japan is pretty rigid when it comes to its bureaucracy. Whereas you might be able to navigate certain processes in the US by way of a clever tongue, good luck trying to do it out here. They just seem to not want to—or even know how to—budge. Government officials seemingly being “very sorry” they can’t bend the rules without being able to offer any reason is a common occurrence.

Case in point: One of the first days in Hakodate, we tried to sign up for internet access via Seri’s cousin. However, because we didn’t have a bank account at the time, nor did we have a valid photo ID, that proved difficult. When we went to city hall to try and get Seri’s government ID, they told her it would take 4 weeks to even mail her the application for the card, then another 4 weeks to process the application. Looking online to see if this was a general timetable or pretty accurate, it sounded like the full 8 weeks was no joke. And lo, we’re still waiting for the card.

Internet

Speaking of internet access, we’re not completely self-sufficient yet. When we got to Hakodate, we knew it’d take some time to sign up for the internet, but we weren’t really aware of all the steps involved. At first, we were utilizing Seri’s uncle’s wifi router next door. It’s old, however, and the signal was particularly weak the further we got from his house. Our solution was a mesh network. We knew we’d want a mesh routing system for our house anyway, so we bought a pair of Orbi routers from Amazon. When they arrived, we plopped one in Uncle Toshi’s house, and the other in the windowsill of Seri’s mom’s house.

The Orbi setup greatly increased our ability to function like 21st century millenials, but it’s not perfect. There are still dead zones in the house, and sometimes connectivity suffers due to whatever gremlins make wireless routers work in the first place deciding to not do their job—their only job. Fortunately, the friendly techs from NTT DoCoMo came to our house yesterday and installed “hikari” internet access. That’s fiber, which is a pretty big step up from what we had through Comcast in Oakland. But oh that it were that easy.

Japan’s internet setup works a bit differently than we’re used to in California. The physical line to our house is run by NTT, but the service itself is provided by one of a host of other companies. I’m not entirely clear on the division of operations, but the reality is that after we got the house wired, we weren’t able to access the internet. It turns out that our ISP, called plala, mailed us a welcome packet a few weeks ago, but we never received it. Without the contents of that packet, we’re unable to finish the final steps of the process, so our fancy new modem is sitting in my office, waiting to fulfill its promise of high speed internet access for the duration of our stay. We’re told an expedited welcome packet should arrive tomorrow. Until then, we’ve put the Orbi back in Uncle Toshi’s house so we can function.

Work

As for stable internet access, it’s been nice to have, but somewhat a headache when it doesn’t work seamlessly. A first world problem to be sure, but it is what it is. This has been compounded by the fact that I started back at work a few weeks ago as an offsite contractor. I’ve been filling my mornings delving into new technologies and processes in a similar but new role, but there have been a couple of unfortunate connection drops during meetings that I’m hoping to avoid starting very soon.

My hope with work is that, although I’m no longer in the office, my presence is still felt and I’m able to make major contributions that help the team. So far, things seem to be going well. I’m doing my best to provide value, even halfway around the world. I hope they feel the same way!

Japanese class

One of the primary things I want to accomplish in Japan is to get a better handle on the language. I’ve stopped and started various classes, podcasts, textbooks, etc. in the states, but everyone I’ve spoken to has told me the best way to do it is immersion. It’s long been a disappointing realization, but now that I’m here, I can’t squander the opportunity. As such, one of the things I researched while still in Oakland was Japanese classes in Hakodate. There were a few that were focused more on students living with host families, but not many options when it came to professional or recreational courses. Fortunately, I found one run by the city that looked promising—it’s even free! Unfortunately, it runs from May until March, which meant I would be out of luck for quite a while.

Even still, I emailed the instructor to sign up and secure my spot, and got a very nice response from the woman who runs the course telling me I should drop in and check it out, since I already have some experience with the language.

The class meets every Thursday for an hour and 15 minutes, and is taught entirely in Japanese. This makes sense, since the other 4 members of the class are from predominantly non-English-speaking countries (Peru, Turkey, China, and Indonesia), and only the gentleman from Turkey can speak English with proficiency.

I’d love to tell you I left my first class filled with optimism about how far along I was based on my previous experience, champing at the bit to dig further into my studies. It didn’t go that way. I felt lost almost immediately, like I was an outsider in a club that knew something I couldn’t possibly hope to figure out. It was depressing, and after class I hopped into the car to head to lunch quietly and feeling lost. This was the main thing I wanted to do here, and I felt like I’d failed before it had even really started. Before I left the class, I told the instructor I’d love to come back for a second meeting, but wanted to make sure no one else felt held back by my ability—or lack thereof. Even though it’s a free class, time isn’t really free, after all.

All that being said, I tried to put it behind me and regroup for the second week. I’d bought a textbook recommended by the instructor, studied the handouts from the previous week, and decided I’d record the sessions so I could play them back at home in case I needed to review something. I needed to be prepared to feel comfortable, because the first week was so different than I had expected, I worried I’d want to drop out and find some other avenue for learning (after all, I convinced myself, this isn’t my only learning outlet, just one of many).

Week two went a lot better. I still felt lost a few times, but things started to click and the format became clearer. I relaxed and tried to not think about points where I’d made mistakes, instead using them as learning opportunities. I’m certainly not “there” yet. I don’t imagine our stint in Japan will be nearly enough to feel confident having a complete conversation in Japanese, but it’s a start, and I’m glad I was able to make it happen sooner rather than later.

Becoming local

We’re getting better about getting around out here. We don’t have a car yet—something we’ll be researching in the new year—but I still feel generally capable going places, getting groceries, and doing everyday things. We’ve explored a bit of our surrounding area, and I’m sure that’ll be even easier once we’re able to drive. My office is set up how I want it. I feel like we’ve made purchases to fill in the gaps that existed in our new life when we arrived (although some things are still lacking—more on that in another post). It feels very foreign at times, but comfortable at others. Sometimes those differences make me groan, but other times they’re welcome changes from the US. I look forward to ever more experiences!