I hate the Tobu Tojo Line

When you finish work for the day and are about to head home, until you find out that your train line has been suspended due to "accident causing injury or death" (人身事故)

Usually when they cite this, there's a pretty good chance it's a suicide. Most stations try to minimize this through the means of electronic gates that open and close only when the train doors themselves open and close so people won't fall (or jump) on to the tracks. The problem is not all stations have this set up, including the Tobu Tojo line. And since I have to go to and from Ikebukuro every week, the suspension of the train line makes commuting home an even bigger pain in the ass. 

Fortunately, I was able to take another train line to get back, which took me to Omiya, where I changed lines and took the Kawagoe line to Kawagoe station, and ended up taking a taxi home, as Tobu Tojo was still suspended more than an hour later. 

Japan is known for its trains always running on time, but that isn't always the case. Train delays happen more often than you think, especially during rush hour
 

Back in the game gym

 After several months, I have finally decided to go back to the gym. 

However, in a departure from the usual type of gym I go to - community gyms - which were typically cheaper and didn't require signing up for memberships, though the quality of the equipment varied from place to place - I decided to sign up to a franchise gym instead. Anyone who has been to one of the many franchise gyms in Japan will know that they are not cheap, with some costing over 10,000 yen per month alone, though the upside is that those gyms are 24 hours, have better equipment, and are convenient by being in much better locations, such as near train stations, making it ideal for those who want to go straight from finishing work. 

The reason I signed up for a gym membership this time is, well because of distance. Now that I don't have a car (fortunately, given the continuing rise in cost of petrol these days), the community gym isn't as easy to get to. I would have to take the bus for 40-50 minute trip one way, pay to use the gym for a session, and then take the bus for another 40-50 minutes to get home. Factoring all the costs associated with that, and doing a quick cost comparison with the gym I signed up with, the community gym (and round trip) was cheaper. However, this is only if I go twice a week. If I'm going more than twice a week at the franchise gym, it actually turns out to be cheaper, plus It won't take me nearly an hour to get there. Also, the gym is 24 hours, meaning I can go there on my way back from work, whereas the community gym's hours limit me to going on the weekend.

In addition, there's a campaign running at the gym I signed up for which lasts until the end of the month. Basically, I sign up and pay for my key card and the last day of this month, and the monthly fee for July is waived. Plus, after a month, I can go to any location to use the gym, which will be good for times that I will need to go out of town for work for an extended period of time (and beats just sitting in a hotel room watching youtube all evening).

It will be nice to finally get back in to it, but given my back injuries from last year, I need to be extra careful when getting back in to it. Once again, I'll be starting from nothing, though there's nothing wrong with that. Better I take my time, and perhaps focus more on control this time, as opposed to trying to quickly get back to what I could lift back at my peak and risk injuring myself again.

Racial profiling by Japanese Police

For those not aware, Japan is surprisingly xenophobic, despite being known as a county that is surprisingly polite. But this article beings to light a lot of racial profiling coming from police, people who should be protecting and serving all who live or visit Japan.

On the one hand, it is good that attention is being brought to this issue. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be taken seriously by the people who are in a position to rectify this. Not sure if it's a translation issue, but in the above article the National Police Agency (NPA) issued an advisory to not question foreigners in a way that would be perceived as racial profiling. Notice the wording - almost like they're saying it's OK to do so, but don't make it so obvious. Why not just say "don't racially profile people" or "don't be pulling up foreigners unless you have reasonable cause to do so" ?

Fortunately, my run ins with the police have been very few, with probably only two encounters ever. The first of which was when I was travelling to Tokyo with a friend for a holiday, and an undercover police officer flashed his badge, and wanted to see our passports, and then asking questions to the purpose of our visit to Japan (hint: it was travel).
The other time was a bit more irritating. In preparation for starting my ALT job back in mid-2016, I decided to go to Kyoto and spend a week with my gf before heading to Mito. As soon as I got out of the arrival gate at Kansai international airport, I was approached by an undercover officer, who wanted to see some ID. Again, I showed my passport. Hadn't even got out of the airport, and already being I was being hassled. Probably didn't help I was wearing a black leather jacket in the middle of a hot August day. 
Since I had been living in rural parts of Ibaraki for the past 5 years, I have had no run ins with the police. Though, now that I'm in Saitama, I hope I not to have any encounters with police, as I have heard stories from foreigners being frequently harassed by police, for ... being foreign, more or less. 

I won't deny I don't have the answer to this, but unless Japan wants more foreigners to work in Japan, and for tourists to come back in numbers again, the government and police need to start taking this problem seriously. 

Golden Week in Saitama

Being Golden Week this week, my girlfriend and I went to Kawagoe on Tuesday. This year seems to be significant not just in Saitama, but also across the country, as for many people, it has been two years since they did any significant travel during Golden Week. Of course, this also means a significant boost to local businesses that have been struggling since the start of the CCP virus in 2020 (or 2019 depending how you look at it).

Because it's Golden Week, we decided to rent kimonos to wear for the day. Compared to buying a kimono, renting is a significantly cheaper option, considering neither of us wear kimonos on a regular basis. My girlfriend booked an appointment online in advance, and we showed up to the rental store in the morning. She was getting her kimono all prepared at the front section of the store, while I was guided to the back for the men's section. I was a little bit nervous, being my first time wearing a kimono (whereas my girlfriend has worn kimonos previously), though the process was surprisingly made easy. There was a simple guide on one of the hangar racks for sizes which were also colour-coded accordingly. I picked out a black kimono which was about 5500 yen to rent, and the staff went about putting the kimono on me. Obviously, it was a lot quicker to get me all dressed up compared to my girlfriend, though it wasn't too longer after before we headed out. 

Obviously being 3 days of public holidays, it was busy with people. Many of the shops had long lines waiting to get in for dining or to purchase snacks or foods. My girlfriend lined up to get skewered eel, but I decided to skip on getting eel. I have eaten eel before, but I wasn't a fan of the oiliness. After that we had a walk around, and got our photos taken by one of the shrines before we decided to pray at the there. We had a look at various other shops, but since we were catching up with a friend later in the evening, we weren't looking to have a big lunch (if at all). However, we tried some soy flour ice cream served with red beans - and unlike typical soft serve ice cream, we found this particular ice cream to be surprisingly creamy.

Also a lot of shops were selling the usual soft serve ice cream, though there was one store that was selling watermelon-soda flavored soft serve, which I just had to try. For 200 yen, it wasn't too bad at all. I ordered one for myself, but apparently the shopkeeper mistakenly heard me say two (this was all in Japanese) and by the time I realised it, it was too late to change. Oh well, I gave the second one to my girlfriend, and she fortunately enjoyed the flavor.

One particular food that Kawagoe is famous for is sweet potato (さつまいも). At the souvenir shop in Kawagoe station, they sell many snacks based on the sweet potato, whether it be biscuits/cookies or cakes. However, the most popular form of the sweet potato that was being sold at various shops on Tuesday was sweet potato chips. However, just about every shop and stall that we went to was completely sold out of the snack. It wasn't until much later in the day that we finally found a shop that was still selling the snack. 

Another shop we went to had something unique going on. They had a "workshop" where you could make your own candy in a similar fashion to glass blowing. Apparently due to a lot of people wanting to do it, we were able to make a booking, though due to the time, we decided to have a café to rest our feet, as we had been walking non stop since before lunch time. 
After some time at the café, we went back to that candy store for "candy blowing" I guess is what you could call it. The staff will guide you on the process (along with reading the instructions that are on the counter). While my gf was able to do it with no problems, I wasn't so fortunate. The first step requires you to blow hard initially, but not too for too long, which I ended up doing and bursting the candy bubble. Luckily the staff were able to mend mine up and I was able to continue the second part of the process which is gently blowing while rotating the candy to ensure that it inflates equally. Though mine didn't turn out as nice, it was still a fun experience, and was a pretty cheap activity to do too. 

Eventually, we went back to the kimono rental store to return our kimonos, but the staff wanted to take photos of us, which we didn't mind. My girlfriend also asked to take pictures using her phone, before the staff helped us get out of our kimonos (after ushering me to the back in the men's section, obviously). I found after we left the shop that the staff apparently want to use our photos for their website, and asked my girlfriend for the ok, which she said yes anyway. While I have no problem personally, I just found it weird that they only asked my gf only, and not ask me about it (and it's not because of language barrier either, communicating with the staff in Japanese was not a problem at all). But what's done is done.

Though we did have a date night a little while ago, we haven't actually done anything like this since we moved to Saitama prefecture. We have both been pretty busy with our own things - with me being out of town during the weekdays, while she has been busy with her thesis. It was an enjoyable time, and I hope we get another chance to do something like this some time soon. 

Getting used to city life again

For the most part, I have settled in to my new place in Saitama prefecture. One of the things I've noticed since coming here is foreigners are much more common to see around compared to the five years I spent living in Ibaraki prefecture. It will take a bit of getting used to again. 

Though, given Ibaraki has had the honor of being named the worst prefecture for many years now, I guess I shouldn't be surprised in the difference between the two prefectures. Not to mention that Saitama prefecture is pretty much next door to Tokyo. From where I live, it takes less than an hour to get to Tokyo by train.

However, now that I no longer have a car to use, getting around has been a little inconvenient, but not overly difficult. Today, I needed to go to city hall to register may new address. Fortunately, from the train station, it was about a 10 minute bus trip. The procedure wasn't that difficult - it was more waiting on my part, after presenting them my residence card, and my moving out notice from my previous city, along with the statement of my current job description to highlight that I don't need to the national insurance and pension (due to my employer handling these things, I fall under the social insurance and pension - this means that those two will be directly deducted from my salary by my employer, as opposed to me having to go to a convenience store every few months to pay)

Tomorrow, I need to take my medical examination, which I had been putting off until after the move. Fortunately, my employer was kind enough to make the booking for me. Then come Friday, I'll be officially starting my new job. 

ようやく引っ越した――――！！

After the past two days of stress, including 12 hours of driving to  move much of mine and my girlfriend's things, last minute tidying up and packing, I have finally moved in to my new city. Well, technically, I'm in a hotel right now, as electricity hasn't been set up in my new apartment yet - though it should be done by tomorrow. 

As for where I have moved to, I will not specify the city, but I will specify the prefecture, as I am no longer in Ibaraki prefecture anymore:

I also need to set up my water and gas utilities tomorrow, but electricity is more of a priority. Of course after that, I need to go to city hall and register my new address.